Safety and quality are all-important to TERRAM. The man who leads our efforts to keep everyone safe and our specialty materials consistent and high-performing is Mark Wenn.
What’s your job title?
“I am the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) and Quality Assurance (QA) Specialist for TERRAM in Maldon.”
How long have you been working at TERRAM?
“I have been working at the Maldon facility for 5½ years. During this time, I have been employed as a quality manager, compliance and quality specialist, quality engineer and warehouse coordinator before taking on my current role in December 2016. I have previously worked as a lab technician, regional security manager with BT as well as in warehousing management. I started working in quality management with my previous employer where I progressed from operations management within a document archive.”
Can you explain a bit about what you do?
“My main focus is ensuring that we have the correct processes and procedures to ensure that all my colleagues leave the site in the same condition as when they arrived. I also ensure that people have sufficient training, information and supervision to undertake tasks in a quality manner whilst never losing focus on safety. Basically, I ensure we do what we say we do.”
How do you make sure the department is at the top of its game?
“Safety is our first priority here and quality is the standard against which we are measured. Ultimately, quality is what the customer sees of us and from their perspective they want to receive the right items, in good condition, fit for the intended purpose and delivered on time. We ensure this by constantly reviewing our performance, and continuously improving our processes to ensure the customers get the level of service they deserve.”
Tell us a bit about TERRAM accreditations. How can customers be assured of the quality?
“As far as the site is concerned, we’re certified to ISO9001, 14001 and OSHAH 18001. From a product point of view, we are certified under the CE Mark regulations to supply goods in the European Union; we also are certified to ASQUAL for the French market and NorGeoSpec for the Nordic region. We are independently audited against all of these standards, ensuring the quality of the products is maintained.”
Do you work as part of a team?
“I have close ties with the manufacturing team, including the process engineer, manufacturing manager as well as the supply chain manager and the operatives within the factory and warehouse. We have daily operational reviews and weekly safety reviews, which are cross-functional. These form the basis of our performance reviews and highlight opportunities for improvement.”
What’s the best thing about your job?
“The job really appeals to the nerd in me! I love doing things right and identifying areas that can be improved. Working with a wide range of people is also very satisfying.”
What’s the most challenging thing about the role?
“Time management is the key to ensuring that all requests are met but sometimes that can mean some major juggling to ensure everyone is happy.”
What do you think TERRAM offers in terms of your business function that’s better than anyone else’s?
“We have a great health and safety record here at Maldon and we have well-trained, dedicated people at all levels of the business that are committed to the safe operation of the site and the production of quality goods for our customers.”
What’s your proudest personal moment at TERRAM?
“I was the certified 1st Lean Six Sigma Green Belt for the site and I’m very proud of the stock accuracy improvements made when I was managing the warehouse. TERRAM has a long history of excellence within geotextiles and at Maldon, we are a part of that history. We are continuing to improve and diversify the brand and that is something that we should all be justifiably proud of.”
Anything else to add?
“Working at TERRAM is much more fun than you would probably think!”
