How many people are permanently at the UK site and for which fields of activity are they responsible?
We have five full time employees and one industrial student placement. This comprises of two service engineers, two office staff for spare parts enquiries and then myself.
What challenges do you face in your daily work?
Since the start of the Brexit transition and the coronavirus pandemic, we‘ve had to be flexible and agile to support our customers with technical support and ensuring spare part deliveries remain continuous and on time.
How is the communication between the UK location and the production sites?
The communication is good and we are constantly enhancing our working relationships with the manufacturing sites to streamline our processes to guarantee we deliver a full and complete service to our customers in the UK & Ireland.
Have there been any changes in everyday life as a result of the UK leaving the EU? Or are there still future ones to be feared?
We were as prepared as we could‘ve been before we left the EU. We set some clear procedures and standards with our sister companies within the group, and so far we have not encountered too many problems. There have been occasional delays during the transition phase, however trading and freight appear to be coming back to an acceptable level.
What are the steps from the initial discussion to the purchase of a machine?
Sometimes our customers have very clear expectations about a project and machine specifications therefore the tender schedule is clearly defined. However, it can be the case that our customers need supporting with new concepts and developments. Now that CDE Packaging has joined our group, we are very well placed to support these types of exciting opportunities.
Has there been anything particularly memorable about your job to date?
We have been involved in some incredible machinery projects over the last five years and it is a pleasure to see some of our customers grow and cement themselves as leading food and dairy manufacturers for a long time to come. IMA DAIRY & FOOD is driving innovation and excellence.
