Sterling Snapshot | David Taylor, EVP and Site Head at Cramlington

David Taylor is EVP and Site Head of Sterling’s Cramlington site. In his role, David’s top priorities are safety, quality, and continuous improvement to ensure we meet our customers’ needs. 

Can you briefly describe your background?

I have a degree in Chemistry from Northumbria University, and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from The University of Sunderland.  I stayed on at Sunderland to complete my post-doctoral studies which I initially thought would lead me into a career as an academic. With a change of plan and having left the world of academia, I ended up working as a Research and Development Chemist at CPL Aromas based in Teesside.

After being in this position for around two years, I moved to ChiRex, which is now Sterling’s Cramlington site, to work in research and development where I first spent time on a large scale plant. I soon realised I wanted a career in production, rather than research and development, and went on to become a Shift Manager (via Process Manager) and stayed in this role for almost two years.

After various roles within the pharmaceutical sector, I relocated to Northern Ireland in 2017 to work as Head of Manufacturing Operations for Almac Sciences. I worked in this role for five years, having key responsibilities in areas such as manufacturing of small molecule API, peptide API, supply chain, and engineering.

I left this role and moved back to the UK due to difficult travel following the pandemic. I joined Thermo Fisher’s Cramlington site as Site Director where I worked on improving stock control and increasing productivity. I jumped at the chance to rejoin Sterling as Global Operational Excellence Director, before I was offered the position of EVP and Site Head.

How has your previous experience supported you in your current role as EVP and Site Head?

In my previous roles, I have gained insight into how different organisations operate, and why. Having experience working with process improvement where a big part of my role was problem solving, I now understand key warning signs and how to address issues before they become a larger, organisation-wide problem. This is a key skill I harness in my current role as EVP and Site head.

From my days at Thermo Fisher, I also gained site leadership experience. I learnt how to support and remotivate employees when things don’t go to plan; being a reassuring voice is essential within a leadership position.

What are some of your top priorities in your position?

Safety and quality are two of my main priorities. If an employee is good at safety, they should also be good at quality; they fit hand in hand. Safety isn’t only important to consider for our employees, but also the people at the end of the process who use the products we develop and manufacture. That’s the role of quality.

Another priority in my position is making sure we are continuously challenging our systems to critically review how we can improve our processes to further support our customers and employees. Identifying what works and what doesn’t helps us to create a more efficient way of working.

How do you ensure we are meeting our customers’ requirements?

Attention to detail in scheduling, planning, and project management are immensely important so in turn, schedule of adherence is a key focus at our Cramlington site. We aim to create an efficient schedule that drives on time, in-full delivery to promote customer satisfaction. The simplest and most effective way to work is to create a plan based on our customers’ needs and our capacity so that we will always be giving the customer what they need, exactly when they want it.

What are some of the things that set our Cramlington site apart?

The people. If you look at how many people encourage their relatives to work at the site, it shines an extremely positive light on the employees here at Cramlington and on the organisation as a whole.

Many employees at the site have been with Sterling for a very long time. As an organisation, we should be proud that people want to stay. Our employees are committed to the site; they want to see it thrive and grow.

What’s next for the Cramlington site?

We will continue to invest in the plant and our people. We are mindful about upskilling the next phase of our workforce; key knowledge and skills need to be passed onto the next generation of workers who will become our future leaders at the Cramlington site and across the wider Sterling network.

The next few years are all about organically growing the business. We will help our customers in conforming to the ever-tightening regulatory requirements whilst continuing to meet their needs.