Job Description
The British flower market is worth £1.2bn and MM Flowers supplies fresh cut flowers and bouquets to the U.K.’s and Europe’s leading flower retailers. We grow and source the highest quality and most beautiful blooms across the world, delivering colour, passion, and inspiration through breath-taking bouquets.
Established in 2007, MM Flowers has grown exponentially every year and is based in a purpose built, state-of-the-art facility in Alconbury, Huntingdon. MM Flowers employs over 900 people who are dedicated to delivering exceptional quality and service to our customers.
MM Flowers’ values and behaviours form the basis of our culture and are a guide to the way we work as individuals, in teams and with our customers, They can be used as a guide and a reference to support processes such as team development, performance management, recruitment, identification of talent, and on-going coaching to support the delivery of our ambitious growth plans.
Creating Meaningful Moments that do good for people, and our planet.
We are currently looking for a Factory Technical Manager
There are two primary elements. Management of the quality assessment process, the staff responsible for monitoring and assessing quality compliance of our UK operations and the raw materials used in production of finished goods. Compliance is measured versus specifications and internal and external, processes and procedures. The interpretation and reporting of data will drive recommendations to help deliver continuous improvement and is customer facing. The second part of the role, is responsibility for managing site standards, ensuring that MM meets all its requirements for audits. This is a new role and therefore the scope and role definitions can be adjusted as it is embedded in the business.
The primary objectives of the role
- Application of knowledge regarding both raw materials, finished goods and understanding manufacturing processes
- Management of the day to day activities of the quality department including personnel, H&S, cost control and quality of work
- Confident and concise communication of key findings and opportunities to a diverse audience base
- Agree and help set quality standards for the operational areas of the business ensuring that internal and external customer expectations are met
- Build robust metrics to demonstrate performance variability/consistency
- Confidence and ability with data capture, management, presentation and dissemination
- Robust organisational and planning skills ensuring a relatively small team can provide meaningful, long-term trends of performance and investigate and evidence control of spikes of quality under- performance
- Link QC raw material data and APEX information to provide an overall quality assessment of MM
- Confident customer engagement where MM is seen as an extension of their businesses and able to provide objective views of the strengths and weaknesses of MM and its supply chain
- Development of novel solutions to long-standing industry challenges of consistency of finished goods
- Sound understanding of HACCP and applying the principles to a QCP system thereby ensuring compliance with relevant quality, safety, legal standards
- Technical governance in place to assist in delivering audit compliance
What you can already do
- Good level of higher learning and/or equivalent work experience
- Full driving licence (Essential)
- High level of IT literacy with extensive knowledge of Microsoft Office
- Using knowledge of cut flowers, great people skills and a data led, analytical approach to problem solving and continuous improvement.
- Experience of the horticultural/retail industry beneficial
- Understanding of breeding, growing and post-harvest of fresh produce
- Basic knowledge of plant biological and physiological processes
- Excellent organisational, problem solving and analytical skills
- Passion for all aspects of horticulture and interaction with customers
- Strong desire to put customer needs at the heart of the business
- Resilience - The cut flower business is very demanding particularly during the annual 3 ‘peaks’ e.g. Valentine’s Day etc. and seasonal range changes
- Acumen to identify commercial opportunities driven by technical differentiation
- Ability to work in partnership with stakeholders at any level
- Pragmatism – ability to step back and make considered response
- High attention to detail
- Flexibility to demands of work schedule
- Desire to travel (sometimes at short notice)
So, what’s the package? When you work at MM Flowers you get more than just a salary;
• Holiday allowances are calculated on your days worked and you can find your allowance in your offer letter.
• Pension Scheme - You will be auto enrolled onto the company pension scheme after 3 months. At present we operate an auto enrolment scheme where you will benefit from contributions from us.
• Onsite Parking – free parking is available onsite
• Recommend a Friend Scheme – £250 is payable to you when you recommend a friend who is successful through the application process and successfully completes their 3 month probationary period.
• Career Progression – we actively encourage employees from within the business to consider roles which become available and whether that be within their field or want to consider a cross functional move.
• Wonderful working environment– we are all working in a modern contemporary purpose built State of the Art facility.
• We are committed to an open ethical and fair working environment and have a Whistleblowing Policy in place to ensure complaints and concerns are handled appropriately
• We work with an Occupational Health provider to support our employees both mentally and physically.
• Four times a year we run amazing Peak promotions with daily prizes to win.
• We gather employee feedback annually to look at how we can continually improve the employee experience.
• We work with Grocery Aid who provide confidential 24/7 Helpline, 365 days a year for anyone who is working or has worked within the grocery trade, regardless of length of service providing emotional and practical support to help through a difficult time
• We celebrate diversity by running a calendar of events throughout the year.
• We have an active Employee Forum creating a safe space to encourage ongoing open dialogue about how we improve the employee experience.
• We are affiliated with Stronger Together who provide guidance, training, resources and a network for employers, labour providers, workers and their representatives to work together to reduce exploitation.
MM Flowers are a proud equal opportunity employer, and we understand the benefits of nurturing a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, sex, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, genetic information. Applicants who require a reasonable accommodation to complete the job role advertised are encouraged to apply.
We believe we can only achieve our potential if we employ a diverse population of people, ideas, and perspectives. We are committed to grow our workplace culture, encouraging team members to feel unique valued and engaged, enabling them to achieve their full potential.
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