George Davies

Experience

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  Iberian Salads

  Sept 1997 - Feb 1998

  Production Assistant

  Key responsibilitiesSupervising the harvest of Baby Salads and Herbs by checking order levels of packhouse and directing harvesters to what crops to cut and how much. Assisting the weekly crop forecast: to inform the UK packhouse of forthcoming supply. Crop planning: Instructing tractor drivers what seed, rate and where to sow based on production forecasts from UK packhouse. Daily Crop walking to assess the crop quality, find the optimum planting/harvesting area, irrigation/fertilizer requirements and pest/disease issues. Discussing and recording chemical applications and monitoring their affect. Assisting in sampling and record taking in honour of due diligence programs.AchievementsGaining a good understanding of production and quality issues associated with producing a product at its point of origin.Becoming conversant with native Portuguese colleagues in their own language, in order that I could get the farms objections fulfilled. Show less

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  Bourne Stir-Fry

  Apr 1998 - Mar 2000

  Agronomist

  Key responsibilitiesCreating, monitoring and reviewing beansprout crop protocols on a daily basis. Schedule and conduct testing on chemical and microbial parameters within the dept. Ensure that systems are in place and tested to ensure product is traceable back to supplier and forward to packhouse. Organizing the day to day management of supervisors and staff in the dept. Prepare the dept for audits and visits from customers, visitors and government agencies.AchievementsSenior company managers having the confidence in my ability to manage the dept on a day to day basis after one year of employment. Being nominated by the company for 'Young Grower of the Year' in 2001. Tailor making the crop protocols from those originally derived from J. Pao to achieve the objectives required for Bourne Stir Fry's product specifications. Show less

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  J. Pao & Co. Ltd, London

  Apr 2000 - Apr 2008

  Technical Manager

  Key responsibilitiesDept Head, organizing job roles of sub-ordinates through appraisal and dept budgets - Manager of The QA Manager, and a Night Shift consisting of a Supervisor, QA and 4 staff.Reviewing and updating the companies Quality Management System, ISO 22000 and HACCP, then implementing and challenging it throughout the business.Programming and conducting the companies audit schedule, crop trials and due diligence.Liaising with customers on product quality and leading customer audits on day of visit. Procurement and supplier auditing of companies annual £500,000 green mungbean (GMB) material from Myanmar and China.Achievements.Reducing non-conforming material in GMB from daily incidents in 2000 to zero incidences in 2007.Using processing and product knowledge to 'convert' customers to a new processing method so the objectives of increased product shelf life by 3 days and reduced factory costs were achieved.Identifying a GMB variety to better fit the companies sprouting specification than the present land race varieties.Reducing the companies training budget for staff by 25 to 50%, by sourcing out training grants, government funded training and competitively priced training organization.Implementing a computerized quality management system (Q-Pulse) into the factory and training key staff (at reduced part funded cost) in its use. Implementing new quality standards into the factory, such as EFSIS Higher Level in 2003 and ISO 22000 in 2008. Show less

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  Wealmoor Ltd

  Apr 2008 - Jul 2008

  Customer Technologist

  Key responsibilitiesTechnical contact for Waitrose and 'Organics' (Tesco, Morrison's and Sainsbury) accounts.Creating, reviewing and updating specifications and supplier assurance files.Undertaking investigative research projects.Assessing and discussing with staff, product quality at the packhouse on a day to day basis.AchievementsRegular discussions with customer technologists on product and quality matters.Reviewing supplier assurance, packaging specs and ethnical questionnaires in advance of a Tesco Food Manufacturing Standard audit for another Wealmoor site. Submission of a project on the issues affecting raw material during transit.Conducting taste panels with staff and presenting the results to Directors. Show less

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  Teleconnexion Ltd

  Oct 2008 - Dec 2008

  Telemarketer

  Key responsibilitiesCampaigning on behalf of The Learning and Skills Council and Business Link to correctly targeted potential clients at SMEs and SchoolsGetting the clients approval to accept the service offered by the LSC or Business LinkAccurately completing and signing The LSC and Business Link recordsSummarizing and all data collected on a day to day basis for review by senior management.AchievementsMeeting day and weekly appointment or permissions targets set by managementCovering for incoming calls on both active and inactive campaignsAssisting in the coaching of agencies and new workers on their first day of Show less

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  Place UK

  Feb 2009 - Feb 2009

  Beansprout Consultant

  Key responsibilitiesWrite a commercial report for Place UK, appraising the beansprout industry in the UK.Create a business plan for Place UK including potential commercial opportunities in The UK.AchievementsCreation of a 35,000 word market appraisal and a business opportunity presentation for the Directors of Place UK.

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  Supreme Food Service

  Apr 2009 - Sept 2010

  QA Manager

  Key responsibilitiesQA Departmental head of the Dept of Defense (DOD) Supreme Prime Vendor (SPV) product range. Manager of 2 Asst QA Managers, 3 QA Supervisors and 16 QA Inspectors, as well as a Claims sub-Dept consisting of a Claims Officer, Claims Assistant and 2 QA Administrators.Providing QMS for 4 x Supreme DOD warehouses in Kabul (WH1, WH3, WH7, WH10), which receive, store and dispatch dry/ambient, chilled, frozen, water and short shelf life fruit and vegetable products.Ensuring that the receipt, storage and dispatch of all SPV products conform to both SFS and DOD's SOP's, policies and protocols, so that goods are delivered to the customer (serving US military soldiers on active duty in Afghanistan) in a fit and wholesome condition.Ensuring that claims against the supplier or carrier are thoroughly documented and a photo journal is completed in order to objectively justify that the liability of the issue lies with the supplier or carrier and not with Supreme.To conduct regular organoleptic taste panels and statistical sampling on the SPV product line to ensure its compliance to agreed product specifications. Objectively appraising the QA staffing requirements for the QA dept to meet the needs of the businesses. Reclaiming $4M USD of costs from the carriers (Maersk and APL) and suppliers arising from non-conforming product arriving at Supreme warehouses in Afghanistan.AchievementsAchieving annual VETCOM approval for WH1, WH3, WH7 and WH10.Promotion from Asst QA Manager to QA Manager in September 2009.Providing QA Managerial cover for the Bagram WH (Government Furnished Materials warehouse). Show less

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  Supreme Logistics

  Oct 2010 - Aug 2013

  QA Manager

  Key responsibilities• Assisting agri-businesses in Afghanistan, The Middle East and West Africa to design and implement food safety and quality management systems in order to supply US DOD SPV and UN contracts with fresh produce and processed agricultural commodities.• Providing the Customer Service Relations (CSR) dept and QA dept of Supreme’s fresh produce consolidator JAFCO, as well as the Procurement and Central QA depts at the main logistical office in Dubai, UAE with both commercial and technical advice in my capacity as Group Subject Matter Expert (SME) for fresh and processed fruits and vegetables.• Responsible for providing technical approval for all fresh and processed fruit and vegetable product lines across all accounts (US DOD SPV, UK MOD, UN, NATO (NPSA), ISAF).• Responsible for periodically reviewing and updating all fresh and processed fruit and vegetable specifications held on Supreme’s QA SharePoint Intranet website.• Developing fresh and processed fruit and vegetable technical specifications for new contract bids based on the customers requirements.• Conducting 2nd party fresh produce supplier audits and gap analysis reports in The Middle East, Europe and Africa to GLOBALGAP, CENTCOM, Codex Alimentarius and internal Supreme standards.• Target KPI’s for 2013 include developing a business plan for GLOBALGAP associated membership for Supreme Group and becoming registered with GLOBALGAP as a ‘GLOBALGAP Farm Assurer’.Achievements• Completion of 68 F&V product line technical specifications for The UN Africa (Sudan) account and 109 F&V product lines for the NATO (NPSA) account so Procurement Team can purchase the necessary technically compliant product at the lowest cost to the business.• Monthly benchmarking of the US DOD SPV FF&V against current technical specifications, so the lowest priced technically compliant products can be identified for F&V consolidator JAFCO, a BU of Supreme. Show less

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  Supreme Group

  Sept 2013 - Sept 2014

  Senior Category Manager

  Key responsibilities.- Sourcing compliant FFV and IQF veg from international sources for UN missions.- Sourcing FFV, frz veg, baked goods and short notice stock requests of all food and beverage categories locally or regionally for the UN missions.- Procuring FFV in the most commercially advantageous manner, ensuring highest ethical compliance standards and timely planning.- Ensuring products and vendors are properly vetted.- Providing bid input for new and existing tenders.- Assisting Claims Team with product or vendor challenges.Achievements- Ivory Coast: Product savings of €21,000 EUR per period (4 weeks) found through the identification of FF&V from international sources which are compatible to be shipped together without affecting shelf life and quality. P&L for the sub-category was turned from a loss of €6,000 EUR to a profit of €15,000 EUR per period.- Ivory Coast: Product savings of €11,000 EUR per period (4 weeks) found in the local FF&V sub-category through the identification of local growers rather than traders.- Liberia: Transportation savings of $146,000 USD per annum found through the identification of local FF&V suppliers, rather than ship overland and airfreight.- Mali: Landed cost savings of €68,000 EUR per period (4 weeks) found through the identification of local FF&V suppliers, rather than ship overland and airfreight.- Israel: Both product ($58,000 USD per annum) and transport ($36,400 USD per annum) savings achieved through the identification of an alternative supplier/distributor.- Successfully recommending a ‘whole of stakeholder’ approach as a means to develop a new local supply base of fresh produce to a Ugandan customer, as well as helping the farmers understand demand, quality and safety concerns and how to programme their production to meet these challenges.- Timely mobilization of compliant goods into the supply chain for the bid tender awards to ensure that contractual performance levels agreed are met. Show less

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  4 Corners UAE

  Jun 2015 - Apr 2016

  Senior Quality Assurance Manager

  Key Responsibilities.- Creation and implementation of ISO 22000 FSMS with a new certification body.- Technical evaluation of product lines for UN accounts.- Management of the QA Team.- Equipping the new warehouse site with QA related assets.

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  ES-KO

  Jun 2016 - Mar 2022

  Product Development Officer

  Timely sourcing of competitively priced food items for the buying team, which are compliant to contractual standards and offer cost savings, including the avoidance of financial penalties for failing to meet a clients fill rate.Undertaking the initial benchmarking desk study of a supplier’s technical documentation, in order to address gaps, prior to final evaluation by the ES-KO Technical Department. Mitigating procurement risks in the event of a shock event, through the development of more than one supplier, where possible in a different geographical area for each line item, so that a reserve option is always available to the buying team to purchase.Support internal stakeholders, such as the Purchasing and Technical Dept, with developmental option which can be implemented in the supply base. Submitting pre-qualified suppliers, producers and products to the Food Compliance Manager for qualification, through the ERP system called Navision.Providing statistical analysis on the rate of development of products to ES-KO Management, which in turn is used for periodical reporting to the ES-KO Board.Extraction of price indices of various food items from the European Central Bank Consumer Prices Indices, the Primary Commodity Prices, the USDA Food Price Index and the USDA Producer Price Index on a monthly basis graphically to ES-KO Senior Management.Approval by ES-KO’s UN missions of new suppliers and producers offering UN compliant products with improved commercials over existing suppliers; variations in product primary pack size so client has a small pack size option; products from different regions of the world to give ES-KO Buyers purchasing options, as well as technically challenging and low volume items which ES-KO has not previously been able to offer to the client when food orders were received Show less

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  Pure Harvest Smart Farms

  Jun 2022 - Mar 2023

  Quality Consultant

  Identifying members of staff through aptitude testing, interview and applied product knowledge who I can recommend to the managerial team as potentially fulfilling responsible leadership positions in the future, including one quality in charge already promoted from the packhouse.Developing, implementing and training of Quality-In-Charge, Quality Controller, Packing-In-Charge and four Agritechs in completing and reporting:a) shelf-life analysis of the tomatoes, leafy greens and strawberries grown across three farms.b) % of tomato quality defects at the post-harvest and post-packing stages.c) cloud based quality patrols around the packhouse.Supporting the Chief Grower, Senior QHSE Manager and Assistant Grower in developing, implementing the policies, procedures, records and checklists as required for GLOBALGAP v5.2 and HACCP certification.Supporting the Leadership Team and Senior Management of Pure Harvest with my subject matter expertise in fresh produce, food safety, sourcing and crisis management. Show less

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  Cool Chile Company

  May 2023 - now

  Technical Manager

  • Maintaining the companies SALSA certification, documents, and records.• Ensuring compliance of the site, staff, suppliers, process and products to both client standards and UK food safety legislation.• Preparing the business for client and EHO visits.certification, documents, and records.• Approving labeling, artwork, packaging, ingredients, recipe and nutritional information on NPD.

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  PEPPERCORN FOODS LTD

  Mar 2024 - now

  Technical Officer