London, UK
Orders and production coordinator
at Howe London
Howe London is looking for an orders and production coordinator to join its team in London.
Background
The showroom of Howe London is located in Pimlico road, Belgravia, while our warehouse is ten minutes away in Battersea.
Christopher Howe has been dealing in antiques and creating his own designs since the mid-80s. Traditionally made bespoke furniture now makes up more than half the business where emphasis on craftsmanship has won Howe a dedicated following amongst the world’s best-known interior designers
There is a team of 14 people based between the showroom and our Battersea warehouse.
Job title: orders and production coordinator
Location: Battersea, London SW11
Hours: permanent, full-time, Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 6.00pm
Benefits: 20 days annual leave entitlement, pension scheme contributions
An exciting opportunity for a highly organised and practical individual to become part of the Made by HOWE team. This full-time role involves responsibility for coordinating the day-to-day delivery of our main line of furniture.
The ideal candidate should have a keen eye for detail and a proactive mindset, with a strong interest in furniture making and craftsmanship to ensure all orders are produced to the very highest standard, through clear designs and quality control, in a cost and time efficient manner.
This role offers the unique opportunity to learn from the industry’s finest craftspeople as well as Christopher himself. You would be a part of the Made by Howe Orders team, reporting to Jack (our head of manufactured furniture), working closely with our 20+ workshops, Kitty (our orders coordinator) and of course Christopher.
Previous experience in the furniture industry would be useful (though not a requirement) but a genuine desire to learn and be part of the craft furniture making process is essential. As the business continues to grow there will be ample opportunity to grow your skills and leave your mark.
Driving to visit workshops will be necessary so please be prepared to travel domestically – but this will rarely be overnight.
Key responsibilities
Manufacturing coordination:
- taking orders from customers, assisting them with selections and working through manufacturing details
- place orders with workshops and liaise with them through to completion
- general production support ie packaging, samples, branding etc.
- manage customer fabric and supply stocked parts to workshops in a timely manner
- instruct and organise couriers to keep orders on track
- ensure furniture is clean and protected for delivery
- assisting in the development of new products
- schedule manufactured items to maximise production and see potential production bottlenecks ahead of time and work to reduce them. In parallel, define lead times without constricting sales
- support other orders team members where required
Quality:
- carry out and record quality checks on manufactured items
- visit workshops in order to catch quality issues at the earliest possible stage
- look out for potential problems and pre-empt issues during production, post production and delivery
- resolve issues and formalise any changes to design/production in order to prevent recurrence, to make quality issues rarer and less significant
- help build quality into new products
Cost control:
- monitor our production costs and maintain fair pricing for us/our workshops
- minimise costs where possible through intelligent/batch manufacturing
- feed cost of manufacture back into the design process
Ideal candidate:
- an interest in craft furniture with a practical understanding of how things work and are made
- proven experience in a busy manufacturing environment
- a high level of organisation and ability to manage a large number of orders simultaneously, with one eye always on timescales and costs
- a diligent and precise team member who has the ability to be able to communicate detailed information in writing, verbally and through drawing with both customers and workshops
- quality minded and able to see problems before they occur. A systematic approach and ability to identify robust solutions to problems
- competent computer skills are essential (we run on Apple Mac)
- full, clean driving licence in order to drive between workshops
- calm and level-headed approach essential, together with copious amounts of common sense