The expertise you expectBrad Flegg – Day in the Life of an Operations Manager
We sat down with Brad Flegg, Operations Manager at AIS Flegg Projects. After starting his career as a second man before working his way through the company as a Rigger, Brad is now acting as Operations Manager based in Aylesbury.
Q: What would you say your main responsibilities are as Operations Manager?
A: As Operations Manager I have to make sure that all the jobs are in check, all the lads are in check, and the vehicles, too. It’s important to me to keep the morale up with the boys as well.
Before I moved to the office, I was quite a big part of always trying to boost people up. If morale was down a little bit, I’d take the boys for a beer or something or try and cheer them up a bit. I don’t want them to lose that just because I’m not on the road with them anymore, so I’m still quite involved with them. I also get involved in the warehousing too.
Q: Can you tell me about one of your most memorable jobs?
A: Yes, I was on site in Liverpool with our northern crew, with the JMG MC580, which we had just recently purchased, so I was excited to use the new bit of kit and show it off.
We lifted off a 32-tonne clamp unit like it was nothing, put it into place and then spent the week with the engineers building the whole machine from start to finish.
I loved the confidence we already had in the kit because we knew how good it was; we had a good piece of equipment and a great crew to match it. This was one of my favourite jobs as I felt the northern crew lads really taught me a lot that week and I built a great relationship with them which is still going strong now. That was a memorable job but there’s been loads of jobs I could talk about over the years.
Q: Why do you think so many clients continue to choose AIS Flegg Projects for decades?
A: From start to finish, we always strive to provide a good service, but it’s also about having a good relationship with the customer too. We’ve been invited on days out with customers just through loyalty and our relationships with them. But at the end of the day, it’s because when we do a job, we take pride in it, whether it’s a scrap machine or a million pound machine, it doesn’t really matter. So yeah, from start to finish, we always put the effort in.
Q: Do you have any memories of coming to visit your dad on site when you were young?
A: Yes, actually, funnily enough. There was one time my dad couldn’t get any lads to help him with a job. So, he said he would give me and Ollie, who used to work here as well, 20 quid each. He gave us a set of his overalls, which were really big on us. I think we were about 13 at the time. I turned up on site and then we helped him move a little Herco lathe.
Q: How has AIS Flegg Projects changed since your earliest memories of it? From how you remember it at thirteen to now, because the company’s grown massively.
A: Yeah, there’s been a lot of change. I think that now, we’re not as desperate to be doing two or three jobs every single day. Even when I first started, we were often away all the time. And there wasn’t as many perks as there is now either, so your incentive was mostly out of loyalty. It’s still a good place to work, but now as part of the AIS Group you have the incentive scheme too.
Q: Do you find that working with people across the AIS Group comes into your day-to-day role often?
A: Yeah, I think so, especially being in operations, because if they’re quiet, we can bank on using other people in the Group, or if we’re quiet, we can fill in with their work. So, when we see a quiet book – I’ve done it today – we put a message out to the operations and then you get all the other Groups coming together. So yeah, it’s nice. I like working with them.
Q: Are you quite close with a lot of the other lads as well?
A: Yeah.
Q: Who would you say is your best mate here?
A: I couldn’t pick one best mate, I’m quite close to everyone really.
Q: That’s quite nice. Do you feel like the business still has a family feel to it even though as part of the Group, you’ve gone from about 40 colleagues to 300?
A: Yeah, I think it does, to be fair. I think Matt [Ainscough] is actually quite similar to my dad as well. So, it’s not like we’ve lost that sort of thing. Like I say, there’s more incentive now, there’s more perks and things like that. So I don’t think it’s taken away from anything. Obviously, it’s more of a corporate company now, but I actually think that benefits us.
Q: What do you think is something about you that people would be surprised to find out?
A: Probably my age, I would say. It’s quite young to be an Operations Manager.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone thinking about starting a career at AIS Flegg Projects?
A: Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. I felt like I did that a lot when I was younger. And then when I actually focused on what I was doing instead, all of a sudden all these opportunities were coming out of nowhere. So yeah, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, just focus on what you’re doing. And just go all in really.
Q: What is something you’re looking forward to in the next year?
A: To be fair, I think I’m looking forward to seeing the growth really. Going from strength to strength and seeing all the Groups come together. We’re in a position now were we don’t have to pass any jobs off anymore – if we can’t cover it, the Group can. So yeah, I’m quite excited for that and I’m also excited to see if there’s any other opportunities for the lads on the road so that they might progress as welI. I like to see all the lads progressing as much as possible, really.