Furniture Product Technologist

**Furniture Product Technologist**

Location - GFW Limited - Darwen, Lancashire

Salary - Competitive

**The Opportunity**

As part of our succession plan, the opportunity has arisen for an experienced and knowledgeable product technologist to join us at GFW.

We are one of the leading independent distributors of domestic furniture in the country with ambitious growth plans which will be driven by our great people, our great customers and our great supply chain.

Product quality and innovation is central to driving our growth plans with a highly dynamic market and ever changing consumer desires.

We aim to be at the leading edge of providing quality products offering exceptional value for money and this means that product engineering and specification is always at the forefront of our activities.

**The Role**

The role might be best described as the champion of product quality and integrity for the business.

This will encompass a variety of tasks and responsibilities including;
- Creation of product briefs to attract quotations
- Working with suppliers to design and engineer products to meet marketing briefs within cost targets
- Value engineering of current and new products
- Ensuring all products are compliant with relevant regulations and safety requirements
- Ensuring all documentation and certification is current and in place.
- Assessment and audit of suppliers both in the UK and abroad
- Ensuring factory audits and documentation are current and available for our customers as requested
- You will manage a small team tasked with monitoring and reporting on product quality while also proposing ongoing improvements.

**Key Skills And Experience**
- Deep knowledge of compliance and regulatory requirements and standards for furniture and furnishings, including beds and bedding.
- Clear understanding of furniture design and engineering
- A firm grasp of furniture manufacturing processes
- Experience of dealing with remote manufacturers in the Far East and Europe
- Experience of visiting and assessing factories, reporting on their capabilities across production, quality and compliance.
- Familiarity with compliance accreditation schemes and platforms such as SEDEX
- Experience of dealing with independent audit bodies such as Verisio
- Ability to communicate clearly and accurately with supply partners where English is not the first language
- Understanding of continuous improvement and quality process management
- Ability to translate technical issues for non-technical people
- Comfortable liaising with technical departments of our customers.
- You should understand the role of the customer journey in product design and development and view product packaging as an integral component of the customer experience.

**Key Interactions**

**- Product manager**
- Product brief development
- Product lifecycle management
- Commercial requirements
- Cost engineering

**- Supply chain**
- Compliance process and documentation
- Factory audits
- Quality control
- Commercial negotiations / value engineering

**- Third party suppliers**
- Product briefing and specification
- Product engineering
- Quality processes and adherence
- Regulatory compliance

**- Third party accreditation bodies**
- Product testing and certification
- Understanding of compliance requirements.
- Keeping up to date on latest legislation and best practice

The qualities we are looking for in the right person include;
- Attention to detail
- An appreciation of the importance of consistent, repeatable processes to deliver quality products
- Methodical and orderly approach to tasks
- Diligence and persistence to deal with challenges that inevitably arise
- Flexibility to tackle issues that often cross over functional areas
- The ability to balance commercial and technical requirements to find workable solutions to product challenges

This role will require the willingness to travel to our suppliers’ factories, currently based in the far east and Europe.

**The Benefits**
- Competitive Salary
- Workplace pension
- Newly refurbished work environment in a semi-rural setting
- Free onsite parking

**Application Process**

Please send a current CV, together with current salary and notice period.

Please also include a short covering note or letter of no more than one A4 page highlighting how you feel you could contribute to the growth ambitions of our business.

**Job Types**: Full-time, Permanent

**Benefits**:

- Casual dress
- Company pension
- Free parking

Schedule:

- Day shift
- Monday to Friday

Work Location: In person

Reference ID: FURNTECH/IAB