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Case Study

Name: Shane Watling
Position: Production Scheduler
Company: Wespine Industries
Qualifications: 

• Bachelor of Business – Major in Marketing


• Currently completing a Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CIPM)

Age: 35

What is the main focus of your position?
I schedule production activities to make the most efficient possible use of resources in order to maximise sales and return on capital. To reach this goal I have to coordinate, prepare and distribute production schedules across all operations, maintain close contact with the sales and marketing team to ensure customer sales targets are met. I also calculate future capacity of production required to meet projected customer needs.

What is the most challenging aspect of your role?
There are lots of different stakeholders in our company all with different plans, so trying to match our production with our sales can be challenging, but at the same time it can be very rewarding. Also, as the role involves having a foot in both camps, it’s great to be able to spend my day to day in such a diverse and constantly changing environment.

To whom would your recommend your role?
Diplomacy is very important, dealing with people from not only different parts of the mill but also very diverse backgrounds.
To be a good people person is very important for this role.

What made you choose to work in the industry?
Working in a sustainable operation servicing the local Australian market, and not an export market, was a big factor for me.

Where do you see your future in the industry?
I can see there’s still plenty of career opportunities, so I plan continue to continue to study and learn more about other parts of the industry that I’m not as familiar with. There are plenty of other roles down the track, such as sales manager or production manager that I’m keen to explore.
 
Please note: We spoke to Shane about his career and what he does day to day. We hope you find this useful and interesting – but please remember, that all jobs are not exactly the same and other roles with the same title may be different in many respects. You should confirm all the details of a particular job with the organisation offering it.