Meet Charlie Utterson, Senior Manufacturing Cell Leader at Chemring Countermeasures UK site in Salisbury. Working on the Spectral, MTV and Impulse Cartridge products, with responsibility for a team of over 65, Charlie shares his career progression at Chemring.
Tell us a bit about your current role.
My role involves looking after the production team, hitting targets, ensuring good standards and high levels of safety, and continuous improvement. On an ongoing basis, we all work on the ‘route to lean’ programme to help improve efficiency across the site.
Describe your career path to date and how you got to this point.
After college, I was working part-time and wanted to go full-time. I heard about vacancies at Chemring and the idea of a four-day week was quite appealing. I joined as an operator in 2015 on the early shift in the Spectral department. I did that for two years and then moved onto the night shift as it offered a bit more money. The Process Leader suggested I go for a team leader role. There was an external training company on-site at the time, and so I went for an interview to get on the team leader course. Thankfully, I was successful, although a bit nervous, as I had zero leadership experience in manufacturing at that point.
I completed the course while working on the night shift for 14 months. Around that time, a safety incident happened at the Salisbury site, and I moved on to support the restart and rebuild of the factory. I was then involved in creating the new standards for the buildings and the upgrades.
What professional development or training have you received?
I’m currently doing a Chartered Manager Degree at university, which involves studying on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to complete the assignments and work on my portfolio. At the moment, it’s all being done virtually over Microsoft Teams, but hopefully, we’ll be back at Uni soon.
The course is going well so far, and the workload is definitely hotting up. It’s really helpful, though, to have such a supportive manager, and it involves a lot of self-discipline too. I would recommend it to others if they’re considering professional development.
I really enjoy my role, and I’m still learning on the job. During the course, we learn about team roles and how your management style influences those around you. It certainly makes it easier to see and apply the theory when you’re studying while working. I generally get on well with people, and I enjoy working with a wide range of different teams. I’m interested in the challenge of how I need to change some of my behaviours to get the best out of the team.
What has been your career highlight so far?
There have been a few defining moments. People have said to me that I’ve been quite lucky in that whenever I’ve felt ready to move up, an opportunity has presented itself. I think the old saying, “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”, really applies to me. Chemring has given me the opportunity and helped plug any gaps in my experience, so I’m prepared to take on the next challenge. There’s still always more to learn, though.