Quality's Future Leader

Heather, Class of 2009

Manchester Graduate

"I have been working with Heinz for almost 2 and a half years and am now a Food Safety Manager at our Kitt Green site.

I began my career with Heinz in Kitt Green, supporting the QA department for 6 months. I spent 3 months in QA at our Kendal site where we make all of our Heinz baby food before doing a 6 month secondment into factory operations leading a continuous improvement project. This gave me a wealth of experience and a new enthusiasm to bring back into my first role as Food Safety Manager. 

Whilst on the graduate scheme, I had the opportunity to experience other departments as well as working on cross-functional projects, for example, for purchasing, where we got to meet and work with our buyers and suppliers.

I particularly enjoy the diversity my function brings.  There are so many aspects to quality;  no day is the same and there is so much to get involved in if you wish to.  I enjoy travelling with work, seeing other factories and how other people work so we can share best practices. I have also had the opportunity to audit other Heinz sites against our internal quality standards.

Throughout the last 2 years, I have been very pleased with the investment that Heinz have made in me.  I have completed a Level 4 Advanced HACCP course, Level 4 Advanced Food Safety Course and very recently, I became a qualified Lead Auditor. Alongside this, I have had some great coaching from experienced Heinz managers who have invested their time into my growth and development at Heinz."