At CWE, we’re proud to be part of the UK rail industry. We believe it’s a great place to work and that our friendly team showcases the best of the sector. In this series, Life at CWE, we’ll be providing a glimpse into the life of our staff. We hope this will give readers a sense of the work our brilliant people do and the diverse range of talents and skills that make up the world of rail engineering.
In today’s edition, we shadow ex TA Lance Corporal and current Goods Inward Inspector at CWE, Wayne Alton, to get an insight into how his military past helps keep the goods in and out process in line across the business.
What are your core responsibilities?
Monitoring everything that arrives on site. and leaves site is my main responsibility at CWE, which includes dimensional checks on round parts, parts that have more of a degree of complexity, and making sure all goods are safely and appropriately unloaded and loaded in and out. All this has to be documented, so I also take a lead on updating the spreadsheets on stock levels, signing jobs on TASC and making sure we have a record of everything that leaves and arrives.
General house keeping for other materials also falls under my job description, including keeping goods organised and visible and palleting up any goods that are to be booked out.
What do you find most rewarding about your job?
Seeing things go out of the door is the most rewarding thing for me here, I know how much time and effort has been put into the goods since they arrived on the shop floor, I follow their journey from arrival to departure, so it’s nice to see it complete.
It’s cheesy but I also find working with the people in my office really rewarding, we’ve got a great group of people of different talents and personalities but we all complement each other to get a great job done, so it’s nice to see everyone work together.
What have you brought to CWE?
Sense of humour! I’m joking of course, but it’s true that it is important to keep positive and happy when you are front of house so to speak. I see a variety of different people coming in and out of the business every day, and sometimes I am the only person that they see that represents CWE, so I pride myself on how I interact with them. I’ve also brought my mentoring skills. Along side my role at CWE, I’m a level 2 swim instructor and have been 1992, so I’ve got the natural mentor side to me. CWE are great at spotting talent, and we have a few apprentices trying to put their mark on this place, so it’s nice for me to be able to share my knowledge and watch other people flourish.
Which of your personal skills help you to fulfil your role?
I know I have touched on it, but my mentoring skills have really helped me in this role, because I teach the rest of the team skills that can help us all. I’m disciplined and organised, and that’s the main things that you need to do this job, a great deal of goods comes in and out of this place on a daily basis, so it’s important to keep on top of everything. My coffee making skills are good too! (haha!)
What is one tip you would give to another goods inward inspector?
Keep your emotions in tact, that’s for this role and any role, business is business and you have to be able to remember that; you can’t take anything personal, everyone is just trying to do their job. Organisation is a big one too, we’re in an industry where anything can happen at any time, so you have to keep on your toes and make sure things are running smooth enough, that if you do have to drop something for an emergency, you are covered and it doesn’t affect your day too much
