Spotlight On: Jason Smith, Senior Production Engineer and Product Owner (Bin Lifts)

Jason Smith, Senior Production Engineer and Product Owner (Bin Lifts) at Terberg Matec UK

1. Hi Jason, good to speak with you. Thank you for agreeing to take part in this month’s spotlight. Could you tell us how long you’ve been at Terberg Matec UK and what your role is?

Thank you, good to be able to contribute. I’ve been with Terberg Matec UK for eight years now, a milestone I reached just last month. I am a Senior Production Engineer within the business, as well as the Product Owner for bin lifts in the UK.

2. How would you describe your role in three words?

I work across almost every department within the business, particularly when at Warwick, so I would say my role is collaborative, innovative, and driven.

3. What are some of your key responsibilities? 

My role is incredibly broad and varied. Predominantly, as a Senior Production Engineer, I’m involved in contributing to our manufacturing processes, product development, and quality, among many other aspects of the business. As Product Owner for bin lifts, this has also meant that in recent times I’ve been charged with establishing a workshop for our bin lift operations within our new Unit at Warwick. This has involved building up a team from scratch, which is currently made up of six people with further plans to expand, moving some of our bin lift installation operations from our Warrington site to Warwick, and implementing new processes and tracking capabilities at Warwick to enable this move to be as successful as possible.

We used to have roughly 200 bin lifts a year coming through our production line, and this has now increased to over 700 a year, 100 of which are delivered from our new, fully operational workshop within our Technical Training Centre. This has dramatically freed up space at our Warrington site and meant that travel between sites to complete our vehicles has reduced significantly, improving our business’ carbon footprint. Being Product Owner also allows me to get involved with product development, field trials, and essential product testing to help support our colleagues in the Netherlands. I run a quarterly meeting with this team to offer crucial feedback as to the performance of these products within the UK market. There are big and exciting changes on the horizon for our bin lifts in the UK, so all I can say for now is watch this space.

4. What did you do before becoming a Senior Production Engineer and Product Owner?

Prior to Terberg Matec UK, I worked for a company that specialised in dust and fume extraction across various roles. This included installation, design, sales, contracts – you name it. However, for several reasons it wasn’t the right fit for me. I soon joined Terberg Matec UK on the shop floor as a Workshop Engineer which I did for two years before an opportunity came along for me to become a Senior Technical Engineer. One of the business’ longstanding members was retiring, so I took on the challenge of filling his shoes. I was very much thrown in the deep end with the role, which ended up being a phenomenal learning curve for me. I was dealing with technical queries from customers, working alongside the workshop, and joining our Field Service Engineers out on jobs. After nearly three years, I decided to take the next step as a Senior Production Engineer and then took on the role of Product Owner for bin lifts just last year.

5. Why did you decide to join Terberg Matec UK and what makes you want to stay? 

My brother actually did his apprenticeship at Terberg Matec UK, so I already knew a lot of the people he worked with and established a few relationships with these colleagues. When he left to go travelling in the February of 2018, I joined in the April. I’ve continued to strengthen these relationships and build many new ones across the whole business since then. As well as this, the sheer size of Dennis Eagle means it’s able to offer multiple benefits and development opportunities. I’ve progressed a lot over the years and the diversity of my responsibilities throughout that time have kept me interested and engaged.

6. What is your favourite thing about working at Terberg Matec UK? 

Honestly, it’s the variety. There are always new challenges to overcome, new projects to get involved in, and a constant line-up of opportunities that both engage and reward you.

7. What is your proudest achievement so far?  

My proudest achievement has been setting up our new workshop in Warwick. I had a significant hand in taking this from an empty shell to a fully operational function run by six members of staff now turning over a high output of vehicles. Now our customers can enjoy an improved experience as we continue to reduce the lead times on bin lift installation as well as further our drive for better sustainability across the business.

8. Do you have any specific goals or ambitions for the future of your role? 

I’d really like to continue to push forward the areas we’ve been working on; driving greater efficiencies, improving our processes, and expanding our operations. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the free space at our Warrington site will evolve over the next five years, helping our business truly live up to its full potential. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, there are several exciting projects on the cards.

9.  Final question: who are you outside of work?  

I’m pretty much always on-the-go when it comes to work – it’s always on my mind. Because I can’t sit still, any spare time I do have I spend either doing some D.I.Y. or fixing up cars. Most importantly, I value all the family time I can get with my wife and two young children. More recently, I’ve taken to fishing around where I’m based in Cheshire, which gives me a nice and rare chance to switch off from the world for a while.