Kora Downing

I started at Edison and Day as apprentice sewing machinist. On my journey I learnt many skills from sewing, cutting to cushion filling and upholstering dining chairs. I attended Webs college once a month to build on my skills. After my first year in training I picked up the job extremely well and was super confident on the machine and knew my way around the cutting table very well. I even drew out lay plans for jobs, and we created new modules for the company to sell and the team grew. There was me and one other person in the sewing department and he taught me everything I needed to know. When I had finished my training I passed with distinction. I was the later shown how to book in fabric and use the works system of booking them in. Day in and day out we did the same work and later, I was the only person left in the sewing department. I began to work my way up as I was a quick learner and I later became Production Admin Assistant, working alongside my manager.

My responsibilities as Production Admin Assistant:

• I provide job tickets for the upholstery team, this is by following the daily schedule and printing out the days jobs via sales order numbers.
• I order all sundries for the upholstery/spraying team this ranges from staples, thread, foam to paints and stains. When ordering I use interprise to create new purchase orders to email over to suppliers. After ordering I add the order I just made onto our warehouse excel so our warehouse manager can see what is due in and the order number.
• Sometimes I may have to talk to suppliers if something is wrong with an order or if an order is late or something was missing etc
• We have a spraying department which includes spraying tables or chairs with stains and paints, I have to provide our sprayer with job tickets and set him up with work so he knows what his tasks are.
• I have to quality check all furniture before it leaves the warehouse so it is up to quality standards for our customers.
• I also cut and sew, so first thing in the morning I will do all the tickets then proceed to cut out jobs in different fabrics for our sewer. This can be chairs, headboards or stools.
• Everyday we have a goal to hit of chairs made and sprayed, so it is up to me and the manager to make sure the team works hard to achieve this.
• I organise all the fabrics which are ordered, by booking them in on our system so me and the operations team know they are here and we don’t need to chase the supplier.
• I schedule orders into the works schedule so everyone is aware of what is being made and I make sure it’s scheduled and made in time for deliveries to avoid any issues with the warehouse manager.
• I will also fill in on helping our sprayer with sanding down furniture and wrapping any finished products.
• I have a meeting with my commercial manager every week to discuss any work issues/orders and make sure everything is running smoothly as possible.
• At the end of every month I do a stock take on all sundries the warehouse holds.
• I have to also use tools such as an electric cutter, scissor, foam cutter, hammer and drill.