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Employee Profile: George Scarff
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Getting to know our Materials Manager
Family Life:
George lives with his wife in Johnstone with both his son and daughter and their families just a stone’s throw away. Ever the doting grandfather, he says that nothing makes him happier, than spending time with his grand children, the youngest being three and the oldest fifteen, giving George plenty to keep him busy.
Work History:
George joined Smith & McLaurin on a date that is particularly easy to recall - 06/06/1966, as a store boy where he was responsible for packing our sheeted material into reams of 500 sheets each (we no longer do sheeted material) and shrink wrapping them to pallets. Always the go-getter, George moved into being a guillotine operator within a year of joining the company, he perfected his skills for approximately fifteen years, after which he joined the management team as Group Finishing Manager for the three Smith & McLaurin sites at the time (Kilbarchan, Portlaoise and Hillington). This was followed by him joining the production management team and finally led to his current role as our Materials Manager and part of our Planning team, who are the backbone of our company.
George was not always at Smith & McLaurin; in 1973 he took a brief break from the company and started working at a local Chrysler plant. However, with the unhealthy work ethic and strike-culture prevalent at that plant, it was lucky indeed that George was asked to return to Smith & Mclaurin to pick up where he left off and he gladly accepted the offer and was back with us by April 1974. For a self-adhesive laminator, it is gratifying to see how many of its employees “stick” to their jobs and more often than not, like George, they almost always return to the company.
As our Materials Manager, George deals with different aspects of planning, purchasing and logistics, the three things which are affecting our industry the most at the moment with the recent increase in materials costs due to a significant leap in the price of pulp following the devastating Chilean earthquake as well as mill strikes in Europe.
When asked about these issues George’s answer is refreshingly up-beat, he says “These are definitely difficult times, all our major suppliers are pushing for price increases, causing us to have to balance the effect of these higher costs by increasing our own prices. However, I have to say that it is in times like this that we realise the true value of our strong supplier and customer relationships, built up over years of working with these companies. I believe, that because of this, we have been lucky enough to have weathered the worst of both the recent recession and the materials cost increases, without compromising on quality. I think that very few companies of our size have this kind of understanding from their markets.”
George is a veritable mine of information and anecdotes about Smith & McLaurin, having been with the company through the rough and the smooth. If like me you ever have a question about the company, just give him a call and he’d be happy to help!
Interests:
George’s biggest passion is his family and his four grand children. However, before becoming a family man he used to be an avid supporter of the Celtic football club and was a very good snooker player and competed in local tournaments and won prizes. While he hasn’t played for a while, I’ve no doubt that he could get a “one-four-seven” with ease (I had to look that up!). He enjoys travelling with his wife and his favourite holiday spot is anywhere in Spain, but he’s absolutely certain that he would never move abroad as he would miss his grand children too much.
Future Plans:
George believes that Smith & McLaurin is definitely on the right path to success. He added that he was happy and proud to be a member of such a progressive and customer focused management team and that he wouldn’t be surprised if Smith & McLaurin was around for another 160 years.
You can contact George on +44 (0) 1505 707733 or by emailing george.scarff@smcl.co.uk.
Posted on 16 July, 2010
