Lee Peters, Regional Operations Manager

Department: Operations

"I love how fluid and far ranging my day can be and equally I enjoy the challenge of overcoming difficult situations, especially when it involves the whole team coming together to deliver a solution."

Working up through the ranks

“I joined BOCM PAULS in 2002. The company was then taken over by ForFarmers in 2012. Collectively, I have worked for 18 continuous years for the business and have worked in numerous departments and roles.”

“I initially started at the Bury feed mill as a Fork Lift Driver but quickly moved into the control room as a Process Operator, which meant I ran the presses on shift. After a few years, I moved over to the extruder plant. At the time it was being commissioned and I was therefore able to learn how it operated and produced the raw materials for our starter feed products. As a team we soon learnt that the plant was capable of a lot more, so we began to develop a portfolio of pet food products in collaboration with one of our key customers. This in turn led to further development of the plant and the introduction of an Extruder Team which I became the leader of.”

“During this period of time, I also attended night classes to qualify as an Electrician. The company allowed me to transition and move into the Engineering department, where I took the job role as a Maintenance Engineer for several years.”

“I have always maintained an interest in health and safety whilst working in my previous roles and after carrying out specific training. The company then created a dedicated role which I accepted and as a result I became the Regional Compliance Coordinator for East Anglia. I was responsible for looking after all Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) compliance related matters.”

“My career then progressed into operations and team management based roles including, Mill Manager and Operations Manager at the Burston feed mill. I also relocated to Radstock in Somerset and became the Operations Manager at that site. In the summer of 2017, I returned to East Anglia and took on my current role as Regional Operations Manager. It’s been quite a journey and I have learnt so much along the way.”

A smooth supply chain

“My team and I are responsible for all aspects of the supply chain, this includes manufacturing and logistics. In East Anglia we operate across two sites, Bury St Edmunds and Burston. My role is to ensure that we have a smooth supply chain and the products we produce consistently meet the highest possible quality standards. Logistically, they need to be delivered on time and in full, so our customers can get the best possible results and performance on farm.”

“Within the two mills, we have compound manufacturing lines which produce pig, poultry and speciality feed in various different textures and formats. At the Bury St Edmunds site we produce a range of pet food products for key customers. Additionally this site has an extruder plant which produces key raw materials for our range of VIDA products.”

“From a logistics point of view, we have our own bulk delivery vehicles which vary in terms of capacity, this enables us to be flexible. We also operate a pallet delivery fleet which operates out of the Bury St Edmunds mill. A range of our products are warehoused, packed in 25kg bags and delivered straight to farm.”

Navigating through the pandemic

“Like everyone, I have had to introduce social distancing and additional sanitisation precautions to my daily routine. As a UK supply chain company, we were already looking at promoting working from home opportunities. With the current pandemic, this has simply accelerated that process and has pushed us to embrace these opportunities.”

“We are currently restricting any site visits to essential visits only. We have also had to adapt in terms of our interaction with external bodies for tasks such as auditing. This has presented a challenge for obvious reasons but one that has been overcome with great success by the whole team pulling together.”

“A huge amount of work has gone into ensuring that we can continue to keep ourselves, our staff and our customers safe whilst maintaining continuity of service. The key areas of focus are mainly around personal contact and segregation, so we have introduced different measures ranging from restricting the number of visitors on site, introducing control measures to altering the working patterns of staff.”

“Social distancing is a huge challenge given the complex nature of our operations. Our drivers are maintaining social distancing rules whilst on farm and on site to protect themselves, our customers and their colleagues. I have to say that all of the operational teams have done a fantastic job at adapting during this challenging time, to ensure feed is produced and distributed without interruption.”

“We of course are continually reviewing our procedures and control measures in line with Government guidance and continue to adapt and introduce protocols where necessary.”

Opportunities

“During the last two decades I have seen, and continue to see, a lot of change as the business grows towards the future but the one constant is the continued dedication and commitment of all of the people who work within ForFarmers, many of whom often put the needs of the business and our customer’s before their own.”

“I have benefited in my own career from people who have given me the opportunity to progress within the business, and nothing gives me greater satisfaction in my role as a manager than to provide opportunities for others to progress and succeed in their own careers.”

One team, one goal

“I am fortunate to have an extremely dedicated and focussed supply chain team within East Anglia who all strive to be the best at what they do. Operations stretch way beyond your average ‘9 til 5’ and my team continually go above and beyond to meet the needs of our customers for which I am extremely grateful. I think it’s good that we have different personality types and individual objectives within my team, but we all ultimately share the common goal of wanting to make ForFarmers the very best that it can be for the future of farming.”