Armitage Plant Manager Mark Barrett celebrated 40 years with the business with a meal with colleagues from the factory and our UK senior leadership team.
Mark followed his father into the ceramics industry at the age of 17, starting at a factory in Woodville near Swadlincote in Derbyshire, which became part of the Armitage Shanks group in 1995.
He spent 15 years at Woodville, more than 13 of which as a caster, and moved into his first leadership role with the business in 1998.
When Ideal Standard and Armitage Shanks became one business in 1999, the factory at Woodville was closed as part of the consolidation. Mark then moved to Armitage in 2000 as part of the HR team.
In 2003, following the roll out of the Six Sigma organisation, he became quality leader for the Armitage plant and two years later was appointed as ceramics quality director for Europe.
In 2013, Mark was asked to take the role of plant manager in Armitage and in 2018 took on another central European role, bridging the gap between new product introduction, industrialisation and launch in the European plants.
He returned to the Armitage plant just before March 2020 to cover for the plant manager during a period of illness, taking it through the COVID period and handing it back in late 2020. He was asked to return as general manager of the Armitage plant in 2022.
Mark has been happily married to Jayne for 32 years and the couple have sons aged 26 and 23, who they are very proud of.
A selection of photos from the meal can be seen below.
