This woman's work

this-woman-s-work
this-woman-s-work

Mike Richardson meets Cambridge Performance Composites' new managing director, Jenni Alexander to hear about a woman's role in what is often seen by many as a man's world.

Mike Richardson meets Cambridge Performance Composites’ new managing director, Jenni Alexander to hear about a woman’s role in what is often seen by many as a man’s world.

Behind every great man there's a great woman, and the same can be said about Cambridge Performance Composites’ (CPC) production director, Dave Herod and his recent appointment of Jenni Alexander as managing director.

When I last spoke to Herod in our September 2012 issue, he was looking to step back and make a key appointment – someone who can help cover the roles he would normally perform, freeing him up to focus on his core skills. “I’ll also be able to spend more time with customers, build closer relationships and understand their requirements,” he stated at the time.

That was then and this is now, so with Alexander now onboard, I’ve decided to meet up and learn more about the woman behind both man and manufacturing.

“I first became involved in the composites manufacturing-related activities in 2004,” begins Alexander. “I quickly realised I needed to gain a proper understanding about these processes, and set about learning as much as I could by working closely alongside the composites-related people I was with at the time. If you really want to get on, it’s down to you to go and find these things out for yourself, so I worked briefly in laminating and trim shops to understand how the production side of the business all fitted together.

“I worked predominantly in a production office within a procurement team and eventually became composite procurement team leader, looking after the purchasing of all the composite materials and subcontracting composite work out to external suppliers.”

However, Alexander says that the more she became involved in the subcontracting side of the business, the more she became frustrated when deliveries were late and quality issues would arise.

“I decided to move into a production planning role with a composite subcontracting company that spanned the workload of five Formula 1 teams, which was a real baptism of fire. Armed with 10 years’ production management/purchasing experience in the composites industry, I was just beginning to think about my next career move, when I got the call from Dave Herod at CP Composites. Several meetings later, here I am.”

Whilst Alexander acknowledges that the managing director’s role at CPC is an “amazing opportunity”, she feels that women don’t always get taken seriously and are still under represented in management roles.

“It’s very rewarding to be recognised for your skillset and capabilities, and having the opportunity to prove your worth. Having worked in a ‘male-orientated environment’ for most of my working career, sometimes it’s hard to get your voice heard, but as long as you are prepared to put in the effort and thoroughly learn what it is you are talking about - as well as appreciating the people and the environment you are working in - then you will eventually succeed.

In terms of outlining her visions for CP Composites in going forward, Alexander is looking for that extra something that will make CP Composites stand out from the competition.

“The reason we’ve managed to continue growing is based on maintaining the quality of the products we produce and also being incredibly dynamic and flexible. Having worked on both sides of the fence, I know exactly what each side expects and this should serve me well in pushing our quality and delivery levels even higher.”

Alexander is looking forward to managing CP Composites move into a new facility in the early part of 2015 and is keen to ensure that when the company moves, it gets it right first time.

“Although I am now involved in looking after the business on a day-to-day basis, I’m very aware that we mustn’t try and run before we can walk. We need to be true to ourselves and true to what we produce. We now have a really good skillset of people onboard, and in the composites manufacturing sector, it could be argued you are only as good as the people making the parts. It’s predominantly a manually-intensive process and often, this skill goes unrecognised by those outside the industry.

“We want customers to be impressed by our new facility when they visit. We’ve involved our existing customers’ regarding what they would like to see from us, as the last thing we want to do is go off at a tangent. This has helped us to focus, channel our energies and not try to get too big and too clever. We’ve made provision for an additional autoclave, as well as upgrading our inspection facilities.”

According to Dave Herod, one of the main reasons for bringing Alexander into the role at CP Composites is to develop new business opportunities.

“Having Jenni on board removes a massive amount of pressure from me,” he states. “It frees me up to concentrate on core skills, enhance my CAD and engineering capability and further develop in-house training. We now have a better operational structure; everyone knows exactly what their role entails. It gives me the confidence to go down on the shopfloor knowing production issues will be rectified so I can go out into the field and drive the business forward.

Alexander meanwhile, is adamant that CP Composites continues to demonstrate that it is serious about being in this business for the long haul.

“It’s often about perception within the composite manufacturing industry,” she concludes. “When a customer visits a facility, they aren’t necessarily looking at the quality of parts being manufactured. Many of our existing, and potential customers will want to look around our production environment and get a ‘feel good’ factor about the kind of supplier they are in partnership with.

“Looking ahead, I would like us to be in a situation where we don’t experience massive peaks and troughs of workload. A year from now, we want a sustainable business that allows us to take on additional ‘full-time employees’ that are kept busy, thus generating further investment in capital equipment. Whilst we’re taking one step at a time, we don’t want to be left behind either.”

www.cpcomposites.co.uk

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