The People of CastAlum

Continuing our employee interview series, hear from our Procurement and Health & Safety Manager, Chris Roberts, about how he has progressed his career at CastAlum.

Chris Roberts has been with CastAlum for nearly all of its twenty-year history! Keep reading to learn more about his experience and advice for anyone looking for a career in procurement. And if you’d like to join the team, head to https://castalum.com/careers or visit the link in our bio!

“I originally came in to CastAlum to set up the stores for all departments. Since then I’ve progressed to Purchasing Manager, and subsequently to my current role of Procurement and Health & Safety Manager.

Day to day I manage the stock levels while ensuring we stick to our budgets! Now more than ever it’s important to ensure that we don’t run out of any critical parts or have breakdowns in the supply chain. There are also ongoing contracts to manage, renew, and renegotiate, such as in our workwear contact. On the Health & Safety side I work with the engineering team to ensure that the risks involved in working in a factory are kept to a minimum and that we comply with all relevant legislation.

CastAlum is a great place to succeed in work and progress your career. The company supported me while I completed my degree and masters in Purchasing and Supply. The role allows me to work with many great people in all the different departments, and I’ve really appreciated the flexibility of working and managing my own time. It’s also really enjoyable to work with and develop relationships with our suppliers. As we depend on them to produce the goods it’s important to keep strong connections!

Procurement is such an interesting career I’d definitely advise it to anyone who was interested. My suggestions would be to get qualified and then work on understanding your environment as much as you can. A career in procurement can span many years, and I found it was important to get my head down, get qualified, and show commitment to CastAlum. In turn they’ve done the same and supported me throughout!

My favourite work saying is ‘Identify the need through to fulfilling it’, which is what I aspire to do!”

Follow us on LinkedIn for more employee interviews, and to learn about life in a Mid Wales foundry! Or if you’re interested in joining the team, head over to our Careers page.

Chris Roberts
Procurement and Health & Safety Manager