Michael
Operations Manager
Clintock
My Job
As Operations Manager in one of Brown-Forman’s European facilities, my job is to ensure that best quality products are always available as required by our international distribution chain.
My Motivation
Motivation is provided by the daily challenge and responsibility as part of Brown-Forman’s global supply chain, and of playing our part in getting excellent products to market. Operating in a multi-country environment creates its own challenges from sourcing materials and services through to distribution of finished goods. This requires that our team avails of the considerable backing of Brown-Forman while retaining the flexibility of local decision making.
My Contribution
As a production facility in B-F’s External Manufacturing Operations our team’s primary function is to have consistent top-quality products available on demand to our consumers, and to play a full part in the development of new products and brand extensions. In so doing we strive to achieve our goals in an environment of continuous improvement in both efficiency and quality in the provision of goods and service.
What I Enjoy About Brown-Forman
The people and the products. Brown-Forman brands are the envy of the drinks business and since day one I have been proud to be associated with them. Who could not feel pride in being associated with the success story and local pride that is Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey? Brown-Forman’s culture has nurtured the best in its employees. Whether I am in the local office or travelling abroad with my international colleagues, B-F people are a pleasure to work with.
My Environment
Over the years, as Brown-Forman’s brands have made spectacular international progress, the work environment has always been positively challenging. From a manufacturing perspective this yields a requirement to manage such growth through prudent investment in new capacity and increased efficiency in existing plant and systems. In turn these challenges have engendered in the employees that healthy mix of enthusiasm and experience that keeps us buzzing. Where else will you get such a mixture of craft, exhibited in distilling and barrel making, aligned with up-to-the-minute expertise in engineering or IT.
My Opportunities
Since joining Brown-Forman, the company has afforded me every opportunity to further both my career and my own personal development. It is a company that greatly rewards effort, gives its full backing to further education, offers great opportunities to travel, and gives experience of best-in-class manufacturing and business management systems. On a personal level, I experienced a severely disabling injury earlier in my career. With the exception of their initial help in getting me back up and running, my disability has never since been raised by the company. My own career and personal advancement is unique testament to Brown-Forman’s employee development policies.
What the Brown-Forman Brand Means to Me
You can be travelling anywhere in the world and a mention of Jack Daniel’s will invariably act as a conversational ice-breaker. This applies equally to many of the other fine brands such as Southern Comfort or Finlandia Vodka. The sense of place, heritage and craft associated with these products is almost unique amongst today’s global brands. In a world where product life-cycles are measured in single years the Brown-Forman Brand stands for longstanding prestige, and pride.