ACR Journal

CMYK / .ai CMYK / .ai CMYK / .ai acrjournal.uk 41 REFRIGERATION The Arctic Circle manufacturing facility in Hereford at Arctic Circle between jobs. Amy worked in sales and I was in purchasing… it was supposed to be a three-month thing over a busy summer! “I was planning a change of career anyway and it went well. I moved from operations into manufacturing, stores and logistics. Amy is now Commercial Manager and I covered for her recently when she was on maternity leave.’’ (The latest addition to the family is Edwin “… after my Dad, who was known as Eddie but called Edwin.”) Naturally evolved Eddie Gittoes died in December 2013, by which time Debbie had taken on the role of Managing Director. She is now Chair of the company and will continue to be involved in an advisory capacity, in addition to handling special projects and driving environmental standards. “So many people in this industry fall into it and then fall in love with it and carry on. That is the story for me. It has naturally evolved until I started to feel that I might be the best person to take this business forward. “I was only working here for about six months before my Dad died. We had a lot of conversations and I think he was happy that I was there. Now my Mum is very happy because I think she has wanted someone to take the reins who can bring new energy and drive into the business. “My Dad started out as an mechanical engineering apprentice and when he moved into refrigeration he found it frustrating because he believed there were better ways of doing things, but nobody was listening to him. So, with my mum, whose background was in accountancy, they decided to set up Arctic Circle, designing and assembling systems before the business became a full manufacturing operation. Innovation and training “I don’t think any one person is going to replace my Dad as the driving force of this business, but with the team he built and the one we continue to build, we have got the skills between us. I think he’d be happy to see me taking this step. “I’m passionate about refrigeration, and I understand it. I am by no means an engineer like my Dad was, but I’ll definitely try to get there.’’ Hereford-based Arctic Circle currently has 60-plus employees, more than half on A selection of the packs produced by Arctic Circle the shop floor building the bespoke packs for supermarkets which still form the core of the business, and has established an industry-wide reputation for its commitment to training and innovation. Mike said: “We take on about 8-10 apprentices every year across the business and it’s something we really try to invest in. Of course, we lose some people but they usually leave for the right reasons and go out into the wider industry and take our standards with them. “We train our apprentices as engineers first; they do mechanical and electrical before we teach them the fridge stu—, because my Dad always said that was the easy bit! “It has really paid dividends because the majority of our management and