The biggest thing that Production Coordinator Kris McCloy has learned at Purmo Group is that speculation is futile – you must see all situations first-hand to gain an in-depth understanding of the situation. Being responsible for co-ordinating Welding Line activities at Gateshead, UK, safely and efficiently, this mindset has served him well.
Under McCloy’s supervision, the Welding Line seeks to meet the objectives related to Safety, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), Productivity and Volume Key Performance Indicators (KPI), which are reviewed on both a daily and weekly basis. He also assists with employee organisation, which includes planning for sickness, holidays, overtime and headcounts.
McCloy’s passion at work is, perhaps surprisingly, studying failing KPI scores of various areas, trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
“Understanding how we failed motivates me to dig deeper into a particular situation and find out why,” McCloy says.
Getting more involved with day-to-day operations
McCloy has a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but he wound up in a Manufacturing coordinating role. Entering the company in 2013, his initial position of Systems Engineer was solely to assist with the implementation of the ERP system, which was designed as a probationary job. Straight after, he went on to assume the duties of Process Engineer, starting in 2014.
“In 2018, I felt like I wanted a new challenge so decided to pursue the role of Production Coordinator in order to have more involvement with day-to-day operations. Even more importantly, I wanted to have a larger influence on the direction of the welding departments,” he explains.
A challenge can make things more interesting.
So far, he has enjoyed running the Welding Line. “The best thing about my job is seeing positive results from a project that we have been working on. It is very rewarding knowing that the level of safety has been improved or a chronic loss has been eliminated,” he says.
However, there are no easy victories in this area since the low-hanging fruit has all been picked over the years, making new improvements really challenging.
“But a challenge can make things more interesting,” he says with a grin. “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”
Desire to see the big picture
Coming to Purmo Group, McCloy’s initial goal was to work in an engineering and improvement based position, which came to fruition during his time as a Process Engineer.
“Following that, I had always aspired to play a role where I would oversee multiple departments, which I am currently working towards in my Production Coordinator role by overseeing the welding processes at Gateshead.”
In the future, McCloy would like to oversee a high-profile project and manage the project team; for example, he’d love to get a crack at developing a totally new product.
