Who are you?
Tom Smith
Pricing Manager
I joined the company back in 2008, fresh out of University, in a role as one of the Formulators. Over the years I became increasingly involved in the pricing side of the business and in 2016 a dedicated Pricing department was formed where I have been working ever since.
Both areas of the business require you to be numerate and to have a good eye for detail and so the transition into pricing was quite a natural step for me to make.
What are the current challenges you have in your role?
Recent events around the world, particularly the war in Ukraine, has led to some incredible volatility in the raw material markets. Not only directly in terms of the supply chains for materials that come from Russia, for example Phosphoric Acid that is used in the production of Phosphates that we buy, but also the knock-on effect of significantly increasing energy prices upon our suppliers, our own business and the inflationary impact it is having upon the economy. The challenge for the pricing team is to ensure that we are covering these cost rises sufficiently within the pricing of all of the various products we produce.
Communication is key to this - when our local and global purchasing colleagues advise of an increasing cost we need to respond quickly and identify the risk areas to our business so that we can reprice any affected products accordingly in a fair and equitable way.
What do you do in your spare time?
I am keen to get outside as much as possible whether that be going out running, playing football midweek or my latest hobby, cycling along the local trails.
When my wife has evening Hockey training, I seize the opportunity to fire up the PlayStation!