Employee spotlight - Meet David Clark

In this Employee Spotlight, we're talking to Purchasing Manager, David Clark, to find out about what led to his career at Alcon.

When did you join Alcon and what was your prior experience?

I joined Alcon just over 1 year ago now (5th June 2023).

My experience has mostly been in the automotive industry and some aerospace. I joined Jaguar straight out of school as an engineering apprentice and stayed there for 11 years. I then moved to other companies and always looked for the next challenge. I was incredibly impatient when I was younger and always jumped to the next opportunity when it arose.

Do you have any qualifications? What inspired you to pursue the career you have today??

I left school at 16 with O levels. I then achieved my ONC and HNC in mechanical engineering with my apprenticeship. I achieved 3 A levels in Maths, Chemistry and Physics in my own time later on. Professional qualifications: CIPS (NCIPS) Chartered institute of purchasing supply.

A strong memory I have from when I was young would be sitting in the garden learning to build engines with my dad. I also had and still have a strong interest in motorbikes. I definitely like working in the car industry and being around manufacturing. I wanted to find something that suited my mind, which to my dad's disappointment wasn’t engineering. I struggled at times to grasp designs and concepts, so I ended up moving into purchasing supply after my apprenticeship. At 20 years old, I went into material supply department at Jaguar. They were a large company in Coventry near to my home which was convenient, I was keen to work for them.

What does a typical day involve?

My day is split up between a multitude of activities. When I first joined Alcon, one of the things that was explained to me was the growth of the business, and how I would be supporting this. My primary objectives for the first 18 months have been to reduce the risk of our current supply chain which sources materials like Iron castings, Forgings, Aluminium billets. I spend a lot of my strategic day working on projects with the team, looking at potential new suppliers, giving more to our existing suppliers and exploring how they can do more for us. I especially look at 'cost vs risk' in these strategies. In the project management meetings, the first point of contact is myself, I will then report back to my team. I review any immediate challenges that will affect this month's output and overview the strategic, projects and operational side of the business.

Supplier development is a big part of my work. We don’t want to regularly change our suppliers, we want to work with our current ones to improve and better our relationship with them. I want to make sure we can all perform better overall and communicate ways in which this may be possible, there are always opportunities for us both to improve our processes.

What are some achievements you’re proud of both within work and personal success?

If I go right back, I can think to when I was 20 years old in material supply, and then at 21 being promoted after 12 months in the role. I was the youngest corporate guy in Jaguar and a lot of people looked down on me at the time. This was a huge achievement of mine in my early career. I’m proud that three of the companies I’ve worked for have asked me to go back to them later in life. I’d like to think that I made a good impression and did a good job, I must have done something right!

When I was younger I was a big sports person, however I’ve always been a smaller guy. I loved football, jujitsu, rugby, boxing - all things where, to an extent, size matters. I fulfilled more than I could have ever imagined and I ended up playing rugby for the Midlands under 19’s. I also competed in the GB squad in jujitsu. When people say I can’t do it, I tell them ‘watch me!’.

Personal success, my second marriage. I met my wife in China 19 years ago. She then moved to the UK where we got married. We then had our two wonderful children, who are my biggest successes. They keep me young and keep challenging me in life, the best thing I’ve done by far. ?

What's the best advice you can give to someone who just started their career? Any lessons you’ve learnt along the way?

Whether you’re just starting out or thinking what to do, have patience. One thing I didn’t have when I was younger was patience. Career-wise, I wanted more than I ever had and needed to get to the next step, if I couldn’t see that path I would divert. If you just wait and be patient, very often you will succeed in anything you do. Always take the time to step back, look at what’s going on, think things through or you may regret it in the end.

What’s something people at work may not know about you?

When I was playing lots of sports, one of my biggest assets was that I was very quick. I was 17 years old when we were doing pre-season training for rugby at an athletics cub, I was selected out of my team to do a 100m sprint against the athletics team as a challenge. They all looked at me and went ‘him?’ (being much smaller than the rest of the guys). It all comes back to the same mindset, 'if you don’t think I can do this, let me prove you wrong'. I was the quickest out of them all and I ran the 100m sprint in 10.87 seconds. I get great satisfaction when I can prove myself, I’m incredibly competitive and want to do my best in everything.

What do you like most about your role at Alcon?

Having come from some big companies, I have first-hand experience of being a small cog in a big wheel. Coming to a slightly smaller company like Alcon, the attraction was definitely there for me. You can have your finger in so many pies, I’m involved with the likes of finance, production engineers, design engineers and so there’s definitely an opportunity to engage with other people and other functions. Working for Alcon is great fun. I’ve always said if you don’t go to work and have a bit of fun then it’s a horrible way to spend 8-10 hours a day. It’s so important to enjoy the work you’re doing and enjoy the people you work with. If you’re not enjoying it, then look elsewhere. It’s a fantastic feeling leaving work like you’ve achieved something at the end of the day as this spills over into every other aspect of your life! If my team are happy, I’m happy.

For more information on careers at Alcon please visit: https://www.alcon.co.uk/alcon-careers/

?

?