Steve started work at Pittards one week after leaving school and joined a long list of family members, including his father, mother, brother, three uncles, three cousins and a grandfather, who have worked at the tannery. His father got him the job but he says that he had never considered doing anything else.

As Top-finishing Supervisor, he is responsible for ensuring that the leather is finished to specific standards and making sure that the product is right before it is moved to the next process operation. His main challenge is to make sure that the leather moves on time while ensuring that quality control standards are met. This is not an easy job but it is intellectually stimulating and he really enjoys seeing leather pass through his department and leave at the right standard. He enjoys the challenge and variation in his job and as a result, he has never felt that he didn’t want to go to work.

Since joining the company, he has undertaken a number of qualification, including vocational qualifications, shoe making and supervisory courses. He feels that these have given him a deeper insight into leather manufacture and also that the company is developing him as an individual. He would recommend the industry as a career as it provides a wide range of careers and options for travel and development.

Steve gets a great sense of achievement from his work as he gets to manufacture something and see the transformation of a skin into a top quality finished product. He is amazed at the transformation of a by-product in something useful and it is perhaps no surprise that he is very proud of his job.