Member Article

SCA capitalise on Rio Tinto engineering expertise

Three engineering and asset maintenance experts from Rio Tinto’s mothballed aluminium smelter in Lynemouth have been snapped up by leading tissue manufacturer SCA.

Lesley Welsh, Xanthe Campbell and John Priest have taken on leadership roles at SCA’s Prudhoe Paper Mill which manufactures Velvet, the company’s award winning UK tissue brand, as well as own-label products for major supermarket chains including ASDA and Costco.

Lesley from Westerhope has over 30 years’ experience in manufacturing. She worked in production for Nestle before moving to Rio Tinto as a Six Sigma business improvement and lean manufacturing coach.

At SCA Lesley is in an operations leader, responsible for a team of 35 process operators, technicians and engineers that manufacture the company’s Cushelle brand of toilet tissue and the ASDA Shades range.

Xanthe Campbell from Otterburn is also an operations leader. She has a degree in communication and electronic engineering, an MBA and 16 years’ experience in manufacturing. Xanthe is responsible for a team of 40 skilled technicians, engineers and operators that work across five shifts and look after the production of SCA’s Triple and Quilted Velvet toilet tissue and own label products for Costco.

John Priest was a senior engineer in the Casting Plant at Lynemouth smelter. He’s now using his extensive manufacturing expertise as an area engineering leader at SCA, where he leads a 50-strong team that work in crews of 8 on a 24/7 shift rotation.

John is responsible for guaranteeing the performance and delivery of all the maintenance and resource support connected to the manufacture and production of company’s flagship Triple Velvet Tissue brand. He recently relocated his family from Blyth to Prudhoe to take on the role.

Richard Sutcliffe, factory and site manager at SCA, said: “The North East has a proud history in manufacturing and we are delighted to have Lesley, Xanthe and John join our team at Prudhoe Mill. Their credentials and wide-ranging experience are of a huge asset to the business.

“Paper making is a very competitive industry. We need highly-skilled, motivated leaders to inspire our growing manufacturing and maintenance teams and ensure that Prudhoe Mill continues to outperform its competitors and remain a key asset within the SCA Group.”

SCA is one of the region’s most dynamic manufacturing businesses. Prudhoe Mill is the second largest manufacturing employer in Northumberland with a workforce in excess of 400. It regularly wins awards for its manufacturing performance and environmental strategies.

The company currently has a number of opportunities for area technicians at Prudhoe Mill. To find out more about life inspiring careers at SCA, go to www.sca.com/careers.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Amy Maughan, Contributor .