Polypipe LineLife Magazine

Issue 1 – Spring 2019

To the future… and beyond!

Futurebuild 2019 At the start of March, we exhibited at Futurebuild… p12

The Offliners!

Meet the team p20

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See page 5 2

Image: © Sportsvista

Editor’s hello The future starts now.

Welcome to the future. The future looks like this: we’re all reading a magazine called LiNe LifE. Why? Because we’re all talking to each other, sharing our news, celebrating our achievements. And why is the magazine called LiNe LifE? Well, I’ll let you figure that one out!

This year we’ve already seen a lot of change at Civils. Our new MD Steve started, along with Michael, our Marketing and Development Director. We exhibited for the first time in years at Futurebuild. You’ll have already seen that we’ve created a new way of communicating across the business. Hopefully you’ve all seen and are becoming familiar with the Polypipe People logo that will be a signature on all our internal communications going forward. There’s lots more too, but I’ll let you carry on reading…

For the first edition of LiNe LifE I wanted to include a theme, something that aligned with what we’re doing. So, what’s a better theme than, ‘the future’? We’re all heading there anyway! Now we can share the journey and the vision and we can make sure we’re all on the same page… quite literally!

Chloe Ordish, Editor.

We’ll be issuing our new magazine quarterly. The next issue will be available in June.

If you want to be featured in the next LiNe LifE please email me. And if you have any ideas for future issues, please get in touch with your content and thoughts.

On behalf of the LiNe LifE team, we hope you enjoy the first issue!

Contents: A word from the MD Here come the Girls!

News roundup Case Study News Who knew/Who’s New?

4 5 6 8 10

Futurebuild 2019 12 People Pages 17 Doing Good 18 A Day in the Life…

19 Offliners 20 Competition Time!

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A word from the MD I’d just like to start by following Chloe in welcoming you all to this first issue of our new Polypipe Civils magazine. Being fortunate enough to have seen an advanced copy, I have to say it looks great and will play an important role in improving our cross-company communication. So a well-deserved well done to the team who’ve worked hard to pull all the content together in such a short space of time.

Another thank you has to go to everyone I’ve met and presented to through my first few weeks. In trying to cover as much of the business as possible over this time there are those, unfortunately, that I’ve yet to meet – hopefully I’ll get the opportunity soon.

Without exception, the exchanges I’ve had have been constructive and I would encourage you all to continue expressing your opinions as it is vital in helping develop how we work together.

That’s where our new Polypipe People initiative comes in.

You’ll have seen from the posters, emails and updates that Polypipe People will be at the centre of our engagement programme. Developed around the feedback from last year’s employee survey, it will ensure a balanced approach to investment across all the areas you’ve highlighted as critical. And our social lives won’t be overlooked. The new ‘Offliners’ team, who you’ll get to meet in the magazine, are, so I’ve been reliably informed, currently working-up a calendar of events that will be revealed shortly.

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From a business perspective, it’s impossible to ignore the impact the current Brexit uncertainty is having on our industry and the wider economic landscape. There is a lot of tension in the market which is delaying decisions on investment - a situation that is not being helped by ongoing global trade issues. That said, there are opportunities for growth which is where the new strategy, which I’ll be rolling out over the next quarter, will be focussed. It’s important though that we all continue to push for our half year numbers so that we can continue with all the initiatives we have in the pipeline.

As you know I’m keen to emphasise how important getting the details right will be in pushing for greater success. It’s a drive that’s already seeing change – well done to the operations team at Horncastle, the fresh, new-look office is a great step forward.

And finally I’d just like to mention that Polypipe must be a good omen to Gillingham FC (my team if you weren’t aware) as they are now 12th in the league. When I first joined, they were 18th so perhaps promotion beckons!

Hope you enjoy the magazine.

Steve.

Here come the girls!

Polypipe saddles up for sponsorship of fledgling female cycling team The RFDA is a Yorkshire-based female youth cycling team for riders aged 12 to 16 that will be competing in regional and national road and town centre series races throughout 2019.

We have a long history of supporting UK cycling teams, even owning our own racing team in the 2015-2016 season, and regularly entering teams to compete in amateur and charity cycle races in the UK and across Europe. Have you seen the jerseys?

Read more in the article below: Article: www.polypipe.com/news/ polypipe-saddles-sponsorshipfledgling-female-cycling-team

Support the team on social media Twitter: @RacesceneFDA Website: www.rfda.co.uk Instagram: racescenefda Facebook: @RacesceneFDA

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News roundup Civils and Lintels joined us for a week of training On the 11 February we welcomed Civils and Lintels to our Horncastle and Loughborough sites. We showed them the full scope of our manufacturing facilities, how we work and how we can support their sales operations.

Mark Shearer, Business Development Director – Key Accounts Merchants, commented: ‘I’m really pleased with the commitment and enthusiasm shown by everyone and would like to thank Civils and Lintels and colleagues from Civils for presenting such an in-depth training programme!’

Read the full blog here: www.polypipe.com/news/ training-civils-and-lintels

Benefits for all You’ll have already seen that we have introduced a new benefits provider, Network Benefits. Make sure you check it out, and see what deals you can get on gifts and flowers, home and DIY, food and days out.

Enjoy: • Discount codes – follow the redemption method, provide the discount code at the checkout • Gift cards – enter your amount and follow through to the checkout, it will come via post • Digital gift cards – as above and you’ll receive it via email • Gift vouchers – choose the amount and checkout, the voucher will be posted Get started – visit www.networkbenefits.co.uk and enter the code PCLNB19 as an access code in the new registration section. It only takes a few minutes!

Operations: Horncastle In Progress - Replacement of Unit 2 Lighting with new Energy Efficient LED Lighting

- New screws and barrel for Compounder 2 which will improve the mixing of the materials and the output of the machine.

- A new Fire Alarm system for Unit 1 & Unit 2 Factories, as we’ve expanded factories, we’ve upgraded to alarms that are all integrated.

- A new Testometric compression/tensile rig for QC to carry out daily performance checks on the pipes produced, which will allow a rig to go next to extrusion lines E21 & E22 allowing tensile testing of the spin welder joints at the line.

On Order - A new ITIB PVC Land drainage perforator to perforate all sizes 60mm – 160mm. This is to replace the existing unreliable Rollerpaal Perforator.

- A new High Speed Saw for E19 Extrusion Line. This is to enable consistent cutting of pipe lengths on smaller faster diameter pipes, such as 94mm.

- Additional silos to increase storage capacity for HDPE pellet.

These will be fed from the existing compounders.

- A new Screen Changer for Compounder 2 to improve separation of contaminants, and reduce screen changes

Employee Forum The Employee Forum has been set up across the business to help strengthen communication channels within the business; in particular, looking at areas such as welfare, continuous improvement, learning & development, company strategy and performance as well as health, safety and environment. The first two meetings at Horncastle have been very positive and productive.

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as well as allowing the smaller auto screen changer to be fitted to the compounder at North Road.

Operations: Loughborough We’ve bought a CNC Router – this is a machine that automatically cuts our own sheet work which we will utilise for our Ridgistorm-XL fabrications. This will provide health and safety benefits by reducing the use of power tools, as well as providing efficiency, cost saving and design flexibility for our customers. The machine represents a £55,000 investment and we’re ready to have it on site as soon as possible.

If you’re based at Horncastle and would like to contribute some ideas or suggestions then please speak to one of the representatives on the forum: Scott Galey, Ian Baines, Ben Quantock, Pietro Ormetto, Dominic Szwarc, Paul Maltby, Stephen Campen, Jami Lay, David Hill & Martyn Bassford.

The meetings are held quarterly and the next meeting is planned for April.

The Employee Forum meetings at Loughborough will start in April.

LDP courses

L-R: Leon Rose, Matthew Sharp, Natalie Woodfield, Natalie Smith, Zoe Piggott, Freddie Day

The Polypipe Group Leadership Development Programme is designed to support and develop managers as leaders.

It’s a practical course of six days over six months covering managing continuous improvement, systems thinking, project management, basic problem solving, motivation and people skills, collaborative/team working, effective use of data and decision making – quite a list! Each course finishes with individual improvement project presentations to the Polypipe Management Team. Successful delegates are awarded a completion certificate in recognition of their achievements.

Natalie Woodfield, Commercial Project Manager completed her presentation on 26 March – more detail on her project below.

Manufacturing clean up

The manufacturing management team at Horncastle were challenged to tidy up their office space with a mass spring clean. The guys took it on board and within a week transformed their desks and surrounding areas into a well organised professional, working environment. Andy Janney noted it was “not easy for some and that some of the items found could start up a Polypipe museum… However, as Steve said in his intro, our fresh, new look definitely merited the cake that was enjoyed by all after the clean-up was finished! The challenge now is to get all areas of the office and factories to the same standard.”

LDP focus with Natalie Woodfield The Loughborough office has had a makeover, all thanks to Natalie Woodfield, Commercial Project Manager.

Using everything I learnt on the LDP programme I wanted to focus on improving induction training to new employees and introduce intermittent training points for existing colleagues.

We are very lucky in Civils to have colleagues in each department that have been with the company for many years. This is why it is important that we do not lose momentum, we focus a lot of energy into training people as they join. It is easy once you have settled in to get lost in day to day processes. Having a system in place to reaffirm people’s values, identify further training requirements for each individual and continuously improve confidence in keeping with our fast growing product range.

Our first steps are the implementation of the social/learning zone, training workshops and introducing categorisation into our KPI checks to show data for specific training requirements.

We encourage everyone in Civils to use the suggestions box now in place to share ideas on how we can continuously improve.

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Department news

Financial Times with Adam Woolgar, Finance Director Welcome to your regular finance update for Polypipe Civils. I thought I would start by reflecting on the 2018 Polypipe Group Results which were released in March. Overall the Group continued to drive forward with sales increasing by 5.2% (including acquisitions) and profit by 1.9% despite mixed market conditions.

Within Commercial & Infrastructure particular reference is made to the challenging first half of 2018, with tough market conditions and the adverse but a significant increase in performance in the second half, largely through self-help measures and marginal market improvements.

From a Civils perspective, this significant increase created challenges across all departments and the Directors would all thank you for your contributions in achieving the turnaround in the second half of 2018.

Moving on to 2019, Polypipe Civils has had a mixed start. We have exceeded our 2018 performance and both our Duct and Sewer ranges have also exceeded budgets. Further, we also have favourable input costs against our budgets helping our margins. That said, we have fell some way short of the overall budget for the first 3 months

and need to ensure we make all sales opportunities count. We have seen positive signs during March with both our intake and sales increasing but we need to ensure that we maintain this momentum consistently going forward.

Exceeding the 2019 budget is still absolutely achievable but whist we are currently behind budget we all need to challenge ourselves in terms of minimising spend where possible to maximise our ability to exceed Polypipe Group’s expectations come the end of the year.

Supply Chain with Stephen McDuff, Supply Chain Director

We delivered a wide load to Avant Homes earlier this year, with the help of police escorts, because if its size!

Hauling wide loads or oversize loads can be a daunting challenge. There are many variables you must consider prior to taking on these jobs: permits, route selection, required truck and bed size, escort cars, load securement, and of course, oversize load/wide load signage. I am proud to say we have a team that can meet these challenges!

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with Maria Menga, WMS Commercial & Technical Specialist

We recently manufactured a huge rainwater harvesting tank – the largest we have ever manufactured – for Wimbledon tennis club. They are knocking down the tennis court and building, which was built in the 1950’s and replacing it with a new basement carpark, with underground walk ways to the court for the tennis players, a VIP entrance, clubhouse and a covered court.

Working with the engineer at the design stage Sean Norris, Neil Genders, the technical team and I, provided a suitable option.

The tank was buried five meters deep and has antimicrobial lining as the water will be used for irrigation for all of the plants around the tennis courts.

I worked with Carey’s, the groundworker at tender stage, to explain the design and ensure they tendered with our proposal. Carey’s did go out to other manufacturers at order to place stage, but couldn’t find anything that could match our overall design, quality and price.

Case study news

Getting served

Walking the walk with Lewis Robinson, WMS Commercial & Technical Specialist Catherine’s Walk in Barnsley is a 5.7-million-pound residential development of 54 new homes. The client is ENGIE and the project had a public open space area which required an adoptable high specification attenuation tank solution.

The timelines and budgets were very tight. Despite this, we were able to come up with a viable commercial offer that met the client’s and ground worker’s budgets.

Due to our technical expertise, we were able to provide the client’s designers with full drawings in minimal time and come up with a solution that maximised the development footprint whilst satisfying all Yorkshire Water’s technical requirements.

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Who knew?

Who’s new?

Terri Boyce is a three time world gold medal winner!

Terri has been working at Horncastle as a Purchase Ledger Clerk for a little over five years and her hobby is Field Archery, in fact it is her absolute passion.

“I have been an archer for 31 years now and had the privilege of competing all over the world including Australia twice and South Africa, other countries include Italy, Austria, France, Germany, Portugal, Hungary and of course the UK. Field Archery is totally different to what you may have seen in the Olympics where a competitor stands at a given distance and shoots at round coloured circles, Field Archers compete in woodlands and hills and our targets are 3D foam animals or pictures of animals, this is simulating hunting, but please know, I am no real hunter and I could no way shoot anything living. People often liken us to Robin Hood though! We also do not have given distances but the targets are placed in various places around the woods and you have to guess the distance which is not so easy as they may vary form 5 – 80 yards away, so I have to be pretty good a judging distances and believe me, I often get it wrong and you may lose that arrow as it sails off into the distance and they are not cheap!

I have won three world gold medals and one world silver medal, plus numerous gold and silver European medals which I am extremely proud of. My other claim to fame is I have won many National titles too.”

Marta Mendes Credit Controller, Loughborough What would you bring back, that’s not around anymore?

If I could bring back something it would definitely have to be the Quagga: The Quagga was half zebra, half horse. It’s been extinct since 1883. I find exotic animals fascinating.

How do you usually spend your weekends?

What did you do before you joined Polypipe?

Before working for Polypipe I was working as a Financial Credit Controller for a media company based in Leicester city centre.

Where do you see yourself in the future?

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“I have been an archer for 31 years now and had the privilege of competing all over the world…”

I see myself as a top-performing employee in a wellestablished organisation like Polypipe. I plan on enhancing my skills and continuing my involvement in related professional associations. Besides that, I see myself being the very best mother I possibly can to my little boy Jayden.

I really enjoy resting on the weekends, after a long week. I enjoy lazing around the house and doing absolutely nothing, however that never really happens.

On my weekends I usually go grocery shopping, I take my little boy to football practice, I enjoy going out for meals and catching a cheeky drink with the girls every once in a while. My favourite part of the weekend is Sunday, on Sundays I insist on going out for a Sunday roast or preparing one from scratch. I enjoy having friends and family over to join the Sunday buffet once in a while too.

Name one thing on your bucket list I would love to visit the Dominican Republic.

Anna Bennett has qualified for the GB age group ITU 2020 world duathlon championships!

Anna is our HR Business Partner who works across the Horncastle and Loughborough sites and, if that wasn’t enough ground to cover, in Anna’s spare time, she competes in triathlons and duathlon races too!

“I competed at the weekend in a standard distance duathlon; 10k run, 40k bike & 5k run, my time was 2 hrs 21 mins & 54 sec (see splits below). I came second in my age category and qualified for the ITU 2020 World Standard Distance Duathlon Championships taking place in Almere near Amsterdam, Holland in September next year.”

Follow the link to the race she did: www.trisociety.co.uk/events/clumber-parkduathlon/ Find her times below:

10km Run Transition 1 40 km Bike Transition 2 10km Run

45:29

1:23

1:10:13

1:39

23:10

Sian Muxlow, Production Admin Apprentice, Horncastle What did you do before you joined Polypipe?

I worked at Kingston Restaurants and was a senior member of the team. I was there for two years during which time I gained all my basic health and safety certificates. I found that whilst at a restaurant I wasn’t using my brain as much as I wanted, however since moving to Polypipe I’m already working on great projects!

Where do you see yourself in the future?

I don’t really have any long term goals at the moment.

I just want to better myself and learn more so I can progress in the future. I’m only young and although I have achieved a lot already, there’s still much more I want to do. I’ve just bought a house, and in the future I want it to look exactly like a show home!

What would you add to Polypipe to improve it?

I think a common room would be great with sofas. It would be a nice large place to relax and get away from our desks at lunch.

How do you usually spend your weekends?

I spend them mostly with family, and if my partner is off work, I’ll spend it with him. We’ll go to the beach because we’re only round the corner from Mablethorpe.

We like going to the cinema and shopping for house and garden stuff.

Name one thing on your bucket list…

To travel and learn other people’s cultures. If I had to choose one place to go to now, I’d choose Antarctica.

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Futurebuild At the start of March, we exhibited at Futurebuild, ‘the number one destination to explore and tackle the biggest challenges impacting the built environment and beyond’ “It has been years since Polypipe Civils have done an exhibition on this scale, and the decision for us to exhibit at Futurebuild was not taken lightly. We felt the timing was perfect for us to be able to introduce our new Design Guide and raise awareness of our whole ‘Green Urbanisation’ messaging and new marketing style. We’re pushing the boundaries and inspiring the planners, landscape architects and contractors to think about us as more than a product manufacturer; We offer the expertise and solutions to create a whole range of intelligent

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water management solutions that enable multifunctional benefits to be added to any development. The re-brand of what used to be ‘Ecobuild’ to ‘Futurebuild’ was a perfect fit to launch our future vision and allowed us to engage the key decision makers.”

Rosie Cheetham, Marketing Manager, Loughborough Read more here: www.polypipe.com/futurebuild

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We had lots of visitors of the show come to our stand, and also we had many visitors from Polypipe! Take a look at their thoughts: Sean Robinson, Business Development Director - Specification

Kostas Tettas and Tom Rankin, Technical Engineers, Loughborough

“I was nervous and apprehensive to start – thinking, did we have the right messaging? Are we in the right space?

Kostas: “My colleague Tom and myself had the opportunity to visit the Futurebuild show and have one day of networking, learning and attending seminars.

However, the feedback and interaction was better than expected. All conversations were relevant, we interacted with all types of customers, from architects, consultants, clients to county councils, who all seemed to express the same issues, they want to add green to developments but weren’t sure how.

The Design Guide certainly is going to be key to those conversations moving forward, all we need to do now is up our game, further up the supply chain to architects, landscape designers and clients. We now have the satisfaction that we are in the right space and have the right tools to do so.

We shouldn’t stop there, our thoughts, proposition, literature needs to evolve.”

Luke Hudson, Technical Engineer, Loughborough

This show was a nice opportunity to develop our skills, see the interaction of our customers with our products, discuss with our colleagues and suppliers about the trends and of course see our competitor’s solutions.”

Tom: “Myself and Kostas attended Futurebuild on the last day of the show and was very impressed with what was on offer from not only Polypipe, but everyone at the show.

Getting to travel down was very beneficial for our technical team as it gave us a chance to engage with customers face-to-face and to see what else is happening in the market, something we would like to do more in the future.

As you can see from the picture, Kostas was like a child in a sweet shop and was never happier (except from when he saw the Harry Potter shop in King’s Cross that afternoon).”

Ashley Bell, Quality Manager, and Peter Danby, Buyer, Horncastle

“I thought that the event was a great way to see how others within the industry present themselves in comparison with Polypipe. It seems that environmental sustainability and more specifically sustainable urbanism is the hot topic right now and Polypipe’s focus on presenting the InfraGreen side of the business shows that we are looking to continue leading the way with future civil engineering challenges.”

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“We thought that the Futurebuild event was a big success and it was great to see Polypipe with active participation at the show. We have an important message to deliver and the stand display filled us with pride. The event also had many fascinating seminars and workshops exploring many key topics and challenges for all stakeholders.”

When we weren’t too busy on our stand, we made sure we went to lots of seminars. After all, every day is a school day!

That’s a Director from ACO! He was not going to get a copy of our new Design Guide from Andy Cullum!

The secret’s in the soil… one stand visitor couldn’t get any closer! Joe Anderson knows how to sell!

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Erm, whoever said three’s a crowd hasn’t witnessed the Permavoid effect!

Sebastian Bowen did a sterling job in the crush.

Screens around the stand allowed visitors access to all our solutions.

Sean found a nice spot to rest… however he still had to work on a presentation for that night!

Upcoming events 16

Specifi Landscape - Bristol – April 9th EUGIC – Here East – April 10th – 11th Specifi Landscape - Leeds – June 11th Specifi Landscape - Manchester – July 2nd

Specifi Landscape - Glasgow – September 4th Specifi Landscape - London – September 24th Specifi Landscape - Birmingham – October 22nd Highways UK – Birmingham NEC – November 6th – 7th

People Pages

Baby news Your future Polypipe employees!

Ritchie Robinson and Gemma welcomed Louis, born 11/08/2018 weighing 7lbs 6oz

Dave Barber and Jenna welcomed Thomas, born 12/12/2018 weighing 8lbs 10oz

Kelly Moon and Josh welcomed Tommy, born 02/01/2019 weighing 7lbs 10oz

Retirement Sue Wileman is our Credit Controller who works at Loughborough. After many years keeping check of our finances it is time for Sue to put her feet up, spend time with her husband and enjoy her retirement. We wish you a very happy time at your caravan, taking it easy and living your best life!

How long have you worked at Civils?

13 years on May 2nd.

What’s your plan for your retirement?

I plan to spend more time at my Caravan in the Lincolnshire Countryside, fishing and walking the dogs. Also, I hope to spend more time with my family.

What’s some advice you’d give to current workers?

Communicate and respect others.

What’s something you’ll miss from Polypipe?

The people, especially my colleagues in finance.

In another life, what job would you want to do?

Ideally, in another life it would be to be a full time wife, mum and grandma.

A note from Becky Clarke, Finance Manager I’ve worked alongside Sue for my whole career at Polypipe – it has been an absolute pleasure and all of us will sorely miss her.

I can speak for everyone when I say we will all miss her terribly; her wit, sense of humour, her advice and her sunny disposition.

Throughout her time here she has built some incredible relationships with some of our biggest customers and is well-liked and highly respected by all those who have contact with her.

We now need to nominate another person to order the bacon cobs for Friday mornings!

Have a wonderful retirement Sue – you deserve it.

Have you got some exciting news to share?

Then please email me at chloe.ordish@polypipe.com

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Doing good

The adventures of Ed and Brandon Ed, RXL Fabrication Process Engineer, and Brandon, Business Administration Apprentice, took on the Yorkshire three peaks challenge in preparation for the National Three Peak Challenge earlier this year.

They have both decided to take on the Three Peak Challenge to raise money for charity.

We will be keeping you up to date with their progress and their attempts to make it to the top, three times, in their vlog.

Visit their Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/brandon-shreeves

Watch their first vlog here: https://youtu.be/J3KGlLFro6M

All aboard the Evergreens miniature railway!

We’ve been working with Evergreens Miniature Railway at Keal Cotes near Stickford, to get them on the right tracks! www.evergreensminiaturerailway.org For the last twelve months, Evergreens has been constructing a raised 5inch gauge track and are well underway with the 71/4 gauge ground level track. With 300 feet of track installed, it now needs to create a raised platform for the track to be mounted on.

Polypipe has provided all the materials for this great project which is local to Horncastle. A big thanks to Peter Danby, who is a buyer at Horncastle, for supporting this project.

Once they get to a safe position they can once again set about opening to the public and running birthday parties all whilst encouraging local children to consider engineering when they leave school.

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We will be sure to keep you posted about the developments of this project in the future...

A day in the life of Ashley Bell Ashley is the Quality Manager for Civils, who works at Horncastle.

Ashley has worked at Polypipe for 19 years, starting off in fabrications, where he stayed for four years, then he moved into the quality department, and worked in the department for 10 years then got promoted to manager where he has been for the past five years.

Find out how a typical day looks like for Ashley…

“First, I get into work and check emails.

The usual emails I get are shift reports on how production has gone in the last 24 hours, looking for any potential issues, like if a product or material has been rejected. This happens if it hasn’t met the criteria and specification. If there are any issues, the Quality Control (QC) team will segregate the item from stock and begin investigating why this has happened and try to ensure something is put in place to stop it happening again.

We also check for any supplier or customer issues as they come through. We also go through project lists, looking at adding improvements to projects for any new developments and looking at parts of the processes to ensure any new policies or changes meet the specific standards.

In our office, we have a materials part to our lab where we look at testing the properties of the materials we produce and buy in to make sure they’re suitable for our pipes and other products. From a product testing point of view we have a suite of test equipment to ensure we’re constantly monitoring the quality of our products. Each product or material that we produce goes through a specific test programme dedicated to the standard it is produced to or the application requirements prior to release.

We will also review the bills of materials of parts as part of our weekly routine to ensure our material is accurately consumed. And, in my typical day, I’ll oversee the QC function, supporting the team to deliver its work to the highest standards.

I spend a lot of time in various meetings ranging from operations, improvement to safety and production meetings.

I genuinely enjoy work and making a difference and base every decision on what I believe is best for the company and our customers.

Outside of work, on a typical work night, I’ll get home in five minutes, greet the kids, who are Enza who’s four and Iris who’s two and we’ll have dinner and play and then once they’re in bed I’ll sit down and relax!”

Thanks Ashley for your time - Ed.

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Meet your 2019 Offliners!

We’re starting the future of new, fun, out of hours’ events! All the Offliners got together for the first time on Thursday 21 March.

Name

Josh McMeckan, our new Offliners Host Job Title

RST XL Project Scheduler Fun fact - I love TV quiz shows! I once had an audition for Pointless!

Best event you’ve ever been to? - An organised fun day where we had multiple activities! Paintballing in the morning, escape room and inflatable obstacle course in the day and a murder mystery evening!

What makes a great event? - Ensuring everyone has a good laugh, that it’s fun with different activities and they leave with a smile on their face.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? - I think it will help bring us all closer so we can work as one team and understand each other a lot more.

Also to have some fun!

Name

Name

Job Title

Job Title

North Road, Yard

Quality Supervisor

Fun fact - Love a good laugh, life’s

Fun fact - I once jumped out of an

too short.

aeroplane!

Best event you’ve ever been to? - I’ve been to Glastonbury five

Best event you’ve ever been to? - NYE fireworks in Hong Kong

times.

has to be the most spectacular!

What makes a great event? -

What makes a great event? - An event has to be

To make sure everyone has a great time.

interesting, fun and it is key that the all attendees enjoy it!

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? -

Why do you think Polypipe should have events?

Polypipe should have events because it keeps the morale in the work place high and generates a happier workforce who are more productive. It’s also nice to see the company giving back and that makes you feel that you’re not just a number.

Running events as a business is important as it can aid in boosting staff morale, encourage team building and help meet new people that you may not cross paths with in day to day or working life.

Mark George

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Adam Patrick

Name

Name

Job Title

Job title

Health, Safety and Environmental Co-ordinator, Horncastle

Admin Assistant, Horncastle

Neil Williams

Fun fact - I was exposed at work!!

Best event you’ve ever been to? - Watching either Faithless or Reverend & the Makers.

What makes a great event? - It’s an individual choice, to be honest. I like going to watch the England cricket team because 1. I like watching cricket and 2. I like collecting autographs of cricketers past and present and 3. The fans just go to enjoy themselves, while sat in the sunshine, sipping ale with their mates.

Jami Lay

Fun fact - I have a degree in fashion.

Best event you’ve ever been to? - My wedding day, it was in a field, relaxed and there was plenty of food! Or Bingley Music Festival which had a good line up.

What makes a great event? - The music has to be great to make a good night out.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? Events boost morale, keep people included and it’s nice that the company invests money into the workers, so people feel appreciated.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? - It will improve friendships.

Name:

Kev White Job Title:

Area Sales Manager, Infrastructure – North West Fun fact - I coach an U6 Grassroots football team.

Name

Helen Blowers Job Title

Finance Assistant, Loughborough Fun fact - I once got to fly and land a helicopter.

Best event you’ve ever been to? - My first black tie charity event with the Leicester Tiger’s rugby team.

Best event you’ve ever been to? - I would probably say Aintree grand National or NFL @

What makes a great event? - Location, venue,

Wembley as it was different from the norm and everyone enjoyed it even though it wasn’t something they thought they would like.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? -

What makes a great event? - Something that keeps people engaged and that they enjoy and talk about afterwards, and then they can also look forward for the next one.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? - To bring people closer together, so people to speak to others that they may deal with every day but not see them face to face, team bonding, and to make people feel rewarded.

Name

Christine Revill Job Title

Apprentice Engineer, Horncastle Best event you’ve ever been to? - Charity head shave which I took part in!

What makes a great event?

entertainment and most of all the people.

Because it’s a chance to bring everybody together in a fun and enjoyable way.

Name:

Chloe Ordish Job Title:

Digital Marketing Executive, Loughborough Fun fact - When I’ve broken bones or injured myself in the past I’ve always carried on… I’ve finished a netball match or a P.E lesson.

However, the only time I demanded to go to A&E after falling over was when I had a French test in my next lesson. Turns out though, I had actually broken my arm.

Best event you’ve ever been to? - I went on a school trip to New York when I was in Sixth Form, we experienced everything possible in just four days, the teachers couldn’t have planned it better.

A good atmosphere where everyone can be themselves and enjoy it. Also, a theme which everyone can get involved in.

What makes a great event? - The planning! There’s

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? -

Why do you think Polypipe should have events?

To get rid of the faint divide between departments and allow employees to bond; this will make the workplace a happier place to work and improve performance.

nothing worse than waiting around, being cold, hungry or bored!

Events ultimately bring people together, they’re something to look forward to and talk about for years after. Ideally at Polypipe we need to create a happy community.

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Name

Name:

Job Title

Job Title:

Business Development Co-Ordinator, Loughborough

Production Planner, Horncastle

Fun fact - I love music, and like to

don’t tell everyone).

Amy McAllister

sing on the karaoke.

Best event you’ve ever been to? - Choco Fest (Chocolate Festival) in Melton Mowbray.

What makes a great event? - Making events fun, create interactivity with games and fun.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? -

Paul Hunt

Fun Fact - Fully Qualified Chef (but Best event you’ve ever been to? - Robbie Williams Live at Knebworth.

What makes a great event? - Lots of laughs and everyone enjoying themselves.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? - We

Strengthens teams, promotes creativity and boosts morale.

have hundreds of employees and it’s about time we had some team bonding and let our hair down, (for those with any left!).

Name

Name

Dave Clowes Job Title

Senior Team Leader, Horncastle Fun fact - Turn a frown upside down.

Best event you’ve ever been to? - Christmas day celebrations on Bondi beach.

What makes a great event? - The people, forward planning, organisation, entertainment, a good destination and refreshments.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events? They bring people together. It’s nice when colleagues know your name.

Natalie Woodfield Job Title

Commercial Project Manager, Loughborough Fun fact - Being voted Polypipe’s funniest colleague 2018!

Best event you’ve ever been to? - Work - Rainbows Gala Personal – Royal Ascot.

What makes a great event? - Charity auction, last person standing bingo and getting to meet the ex-footballers and families supported by Rainbows.

Why do you think Polypipe should have events?

Creates a community, taking the time to get to know each other in a way we wouldn’t have time for on a day to day basis.

The Employee Assistant Programme (EAP) The EAP is a 24/7 helpline service designed to provide an early source of practical and emotional support when facing issues in your home or work life.

• It’s nationwide 24/7, 365 days a year service • 24/7 telephone counselling and manager support • Personal financial and legal information • Health and wellbeing support • Access to an online portal for further advice and support • It’s all completely confidential How to get started To access the EAP, call 0800 107 6147 or visit www.colleaguesupport.co.uk and get started by entering the code 72135 as your username and password.

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Complete the Sudoku and send back a picture of your completed grid to chloe.ordish@polypipe.com If you’re selected from all the people who send back their grids, you could win a £25 shopping voucher.

The deadline is Tuesday 30th April.

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4 6

5 8

7 1 2 3 9 4

1 7

6 5

5 1 5

9 6

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Competition time

Sudoku

7 1 2 5 9 9 8

4 2

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Prize winner Last year we asked for your feedback for this new newsletter for a chance to win a £50 high street voucher.

A massive congratulations to Mark Westerman, from Horncastle who is the winner!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to give us suggestions and feedback. Well done Mark! To claim your prize, please contact Chrissie.

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Thank you to everyone who took part in raising money for Red Nose Day 2019.

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