Meet Martin Q&A
9th May, 2024
We’re happy to announce a new member of our core team, Martin Harper, as Production Manager, following on from the great work Doug Heslop achieved in this role before his retirement.
At Aquaseal, our team members are the reason we’re able to produce bespoke orders to such a high quality.
We’ve asked Martin a few questions about his career so far, day-to-day life at Aquaseal and what he envisions for the future.
How did you get into the rubber manufacturing industry?
I hadn’t heard much about the industry, but as I did more research on Aquaseal Rubber, I was highly impressed with the products produced and the industries that they deliver into.
What is your biggest career achievement so far?
My biggest achievement so far is not just one singular event, but a more collatable of events that have helped me develop into a seasoned professional.
From my early career, I relished the opportunity to work on continuous improvement projects. I have won awards in implementing Kaizen, where I studied business improvement techniques, and studying for my Yellow Belt in Six Sigma where I used data driven information to make improvements within the business.
One particular project that I worked on was within the automotive industry. The project was to look at the none right first time (NRFT), where we set a target to improve this by 4%. The team smashed this, and we improved NRFT by 23%.
What does your day-to-day look like at Aquaseal?
My Day consists of starting work at 8 am. Where I will walk the shopfloor to discuss the objectives with the team members, and any snags they may have that need addressing. This normally takes me around 30 minutes to get through.
Then, I will mostly be at my desk, looking through emails and following up with any production-related issues. From there, I will look at my production schedule and update with completed orders and add new orders to the planner. I will also look at sales orders and quote customers on their requests.
Throughout the day, I will continue to walk the shopfloor, ensure the orders are on schedule and solve production issues.
Why were you inspired to work for Aquaseal specifically?
The position advertised had so much variety that I knew from the tools that I learnt over the years; I would be able to implement within the business.
I enjoy wearing different hats throughout the day from mentoring my staff, managing site health and safety, dealing with sales queries and driving production to be complete right first time in full.
I see longevity within Aquaseal rubber, and the opportunities to grow as a professional.
