Cool for cats

Going shopping with Sarah Sordy, operations manager at Mars' Birstall petcare factory, is anything but dull. "When you go into a supermarket and pick up something you know you've made, it's fantastic. I remember doing that with my first can of Whiskers, picking it up and shouting: 'mum, mum, I made this'." After overcoming the bemused looks of fellow shoppers, Mrs Sordy Senior must have reflected on a certain inevitability to the scene. "As a small girl I was fascinated by taking things apart and building them back up," reflects Sordy. "My dad's an engineer. I was fascinated by Lego and origami. At school , I was always most interested in maths and science and wanted to find a career where I was a problem solver." The catalyst for a career in engineering came, naturally enough, from the chemistry department. "I've got a lot to thank my chemistry teacher, Mrs Riley, for," says Sordy. "She fostered links with RAF Cranwell and enabled me to go on a two-week work experience. I've been in my flight suit, walking round the hangars and got the opportunity to go in a Harrier jump jet." The flight path to Mars Making Jumbone chews might seem like a million miles from jump jets. Yet, for someone whose kick always came from project delivery, Sordy's move into pet food manufacture made sense. "All the way through my career, it's always been about problem solving," she says. Sordy pursued her passion with a mechanical engineering degree at Birmingham University. There, a chance encounter with a job description for a production engineer took her on a flight path to Mars. "I was leafing through some jobs literature and the production engineering description absolutely caught my eye," she says. "'Being involved in fast-moving consumer goods, looking after production lines, installing new ones, working as a team to get product on a shelf – the tangibility of that just struck me." Sordy was soon experiencing the challenges for herself. Her dad had worked at Mars and, after deciding she was 100% committed to a career in engineering, she put herself forward for the firm's graduate scheme. "My dad was a Martian – that's what we call ourselves," she jokes. "That made me think: 'I need to be really sure I want to go into Mars and not just doing it because dad did'." Qualifying on merit, Sordy began a debut placement at a Mars pet food site in Peterborough, she explains. "My first placement was to install a new oven for a dry pet food line. We ripped some of the factory apart and put new columns and beams in – it was a big undertaking," recalls Sordy. "The day of switching everything on was my 23rd birthday and I was rushing around, tearing my hair out. My team took me to one side and said: 'have a cup of coffee'. I said: 'I can't, I'm too busy.' And then they brought a birthday cake out. It was just fab." Keeping pace with Britain's booming pet care sector Fourteen years later and Sordy is aiming to rekindle the same esprit de corps at Birstall. She took the ops role two years ago after successful spells in project and chief engineering posts at Mars' pet food factory at Melton Mowbray. Her latest Mars mission will see her spearhead a 30% expansion in factory capacity as the site vies to keep pace with a UK pet food market lapping up growth faster than a thirsty Labrador. Sales of treats have doubled since 2004 as Britons look to reward Fido or Felix for every belly roll or standing somersault. Mars, among others, is reacting to pet lovers' growing desire to pamper their four-legged friends by offering care and treat ranges with added health benefits. Pedigree Dentaflex, for example, promises a tasty chew that combats canine gum disease while containing less than 1.5% fat. Pet crazy shoppers are tipped to drive the treat market to nearly £600 million value by 2017, a near 10% growth every year for the next three years. That's a lot of doggy drops and kitty biscuits to cram into Birstall's ever-expanding production schedule. "We've doubled our volume in the last three years," reflects Sordy. "We've increased production through adding new lines as well as productivity improvements. We've added lines, we've improved them and we've speeded them up." Bringing the people with you More than £20m is being invested in new kit in a bid to help Birstall match demand. But the really priceless task, as Sordy is well aware, is to bring along the people who will power the shiny new plant. "You can't get anything done just through your own sheer hard work, will and determination. It's about how you take the people with you." And selling works better than telling, Sordy advises. "It's about involving people in the improvements, generating ideas, training them and working with them to deliver," she explains. "Everybody likes to run it their way because they know best. So how do you convince people standardisation or SMED activity adds value? People need to see tangible results." They also need an arm round the shoulder amid all those bar graphs, adds the Mars chief. "If I'm asking someone to do something and it's going to be a pain in the arse for them, they're not going to want to do it no matter how many ways I ask. You've got to find the common ground – what's in it for both parties." The art of good line management, adds Sordy, is getting close enough to know what makes your people tick without being too close to feel comfortable about ticking them off when necessary. "One of the things I find is you've got to strike the balance between big sister, line manager and mentor," says the ops manager, who has 15 immediate reports and has won multiple internal awards for line manager excellence. "You protect your team, you want them to do well, but you're also there to give them a kick up the bum when they're not doing so well. By understanding them, you know which buttons to press. Emotional intelligence is the key." Sordy balks at the idea that being female offers an advantage in this area. "Some of my male colleagues have great empathy in their line management." she says. "My sister is a primary school teacher. Two girls born to the same parents and logic says we should be similar, but we're like chalk and cheese. So whenever people talk about generalisations, I struggle with that." It's a mindset forged from a career that has flown in the face of accepted wisdom. "I remember a couple of years in to my career looking around the room and realising I was the only girl there," says Sordy. "Up until that point, I hadn't thought about it... things are changing. Having women in senior roles in manufacturing is less and less unusual but it's still not the norm." A fact bought crashing home when Sordy visits her hairdresser. "When I say I'm a factory manager, they say: 'what does that mean?' There's a lot of interest because it's unusual. I'm not sure how many female engineers wander in to get their colour done." That can change in the future, Sordy insists. All we need is the commitment and compassion to go and talk to young people. Oh, and don't forget the king size pack of cat food. Sordy says: "I remember showing a group of students a 12-pack of Whiskers and saying there are 12 pouches, four varieties, three of each – how do you think that gets in a box? You could see them thinking: 'we never thought about that'? You could see them rise to the challenge – it is engineers who can spark that. Manufacturing is a sexy place to be. I know that, you know that, we need to share that." Signpost: Sign up to WM's Females in Factories campaign to showcase the exciting career opportunities on offer in UK manufacturing to young women at www.worksmanagement.co.uk/fif Sarah Sordy's to-do list 1) Inspire the workforce to buy in to change: The fairground waltz would make a fitting backing track on Birstall's PA system over the coming months. A dizzying revamp will see fresh product launches, new production lines, equipment and faces added to the factory. Sordy's key role will be integrating old faces and new behind a SPEED (acronym) continuous improvement programme that includes 5S, SMED and visual management elements and a 'My Business, My Birstall, Our Future' culture change initiative. "The thing we're trying to focus on is how change is going to affect you and make your day-to-day life different," explains Sordy. "My role is to make sure we focus on the right things and to we're taking our guys with us. It's got to be more than just their responsibility to fill in a time sheet." 2) Motivate and manage reports: Sordy has 14 direct reports including five apprentices and is indirectly responsible for a further 150 people. "As a second line manager that's when you really notice the difference. You can't do it for your line managers, you have to support them." Sordy advocates versatility as the secret to successful management. Good managers build empathy with their teams, she says. But they also have the ability to switch from carrot to stick in the right situation, she adds. "Balance is the key. Is today the day for the hard message or does someone need an arm around their shoulder?" 3) Take time out The shopfloor have grown used to the sight of their ops manager making an early morning appearance with eyes ringed by goggle marks. "I swim a couple of mornings before work," says Sordy. "The guys will all take the mickey out of me when I rock up with goggle marks. It's a great stress reliever and I can be powering up and down the ball and in an instant have a great idea." Sordy also relaxes by playing for a local netball team. Fittingly, the Birstall ops manager occupies the centre position: the lynchpin of the team who co-ordinates every move "We lost 21-15, but we came off the court buzzing. If everyone's given their all, you can't ask for more than that, "she says. "Some of the feedback from the guys in the factory is similar. When they're having a tough day and the machine has broken down, that's when they want the support and slaps on the back. Every team wants to be rewarded for their effort." 4) Inspire the next generation Sordy is a STEM ambassador and active in several education outreach programmes. "If you don't get to people at a formative age, what you're not able to do is pass on the positive messages about manufacturing and engineering," she says. "It's hilarious when you're away with sixth formers trying to a build a project in a kitchen in the bottom of student accommodation. Slowly, you see them make the connections." Sarah Sordy factfile Job: Operations manager at Mars Birstall, which manufactures pet care and treat products. The company is part of the Mars group, which makes Snickers, Milky Way and the Mars bar. CV: Achieved MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Birmingham University then successfully applied to the Mars engineering graduate scheme for the company's pet care division. The two-year scheme involved three placements in project, reliability and industrial engineering across multiple pet care sites. Sordy moved onto a full time project engineering role at Mars' wet pet food site at Melton Mowbray and was promoted to chief engineer. She took the ops manager role at Birstall in 2012. Biggest kick: "Problem solving, working as part of a team and seeing something tangible at the end of the day. I can only deliver what I do through and with the rest of my team." What the operators say: "It's great to work for Sarah. She's a progressive manager, never standing still. She's always out here on the shopfloor and has ideas to move forward."