Sharing best practice from one EMR site to the rest of the business is one of the most effective ways the company drives improvement across its more than 60 UK sites.
Tom Docherty, EMR’s Operations Manager for Yorkshire and the East Midlands, is using his new regional role to improve the recycling of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) across six locations and create a more consistent service for EMR’s customers.
And, when it comes to customer service, Tom’s philosophy is a simple one:
“We don’t give anyone preferential service, whether they’re a member of the public bringing in their family car or a business delivering 10 or 12 cars a day. If you treat everyone well, provide all the necessary information and give them the best price you can, it should leave everyone happy.”
Tom’s promotion followed a successful period managing vehicle recycling at EMR’s Leeds site. So, what’s his secret?
“I was determined to find the best way to ensure people recycle their vehicle responsibly with EMR, give the best price and make sure they were happy – I seemed to do a good job, and was promoted to Operations Manager. This is a regional role and allows me to implement what I’ve done in Leeds at six other sites.”
While Tom is proud of the improvements he has made at EMR Leeds – and keen to repeat his success at the other sites – he has also found working with these new sites has provided many new ideas.
Ultimately, Tom’s goal is to create a consistency across every EMR site in his region.
For someone who now spends his life in close proximity to ELVs from every manufacturer going, Tom says he isn’t much of a car enthusiast.
“I’m no expert in cars – I just know how to recycle them efficiently and safely. But there are people around the business who have decades of experience and a real passion for cars, and you can’t put a price on that knowledge.
“For EMR to keep improving and growing, you need a mixture of people who know cars inside and out and those who, like me, can come into a site with knowledge about the latest technology and how to integrate it.”
Moving from Prison Officer to recycling expert was a career change which took some getting used to.
“I started out at EMR working in the non-ferrous department. There was a lot of training – learning about the different grades, prices, how to deal with customers.”
Tom says that it was the initiative that he showed in this role which gave him the opportunity to switch to the ELV team, and he hasn’t looked back.
