Gareth came from an agricultural background and was working as procurement manager in an abattoir when he was offered a job in the NCT tannery. He admits that, shamefully, although he had been supplying large numbers of hides to the tannery, he had no idea about what happened to them. He thought it would be a dirty job and was surprised to find that “You could walk through the tannery in your slippers”. He has now been in his current role for 8 years and remains amazed at the scale of the operation at NCT and the amount of work that goes into a piece of finished leather.

NCT supplies tanned, unfinished leather for the Scottish Leather Group’s finishing factories. As works manager, Gareth is responsible for making sure that everything happens in the factory as it is meant to and also for anything that goes wrong. This a challenging role but one he enjoys greatly as every day brings new challenges; the business is ever-evolving, the product is always changing to meet customer demands and there are always new projects to be involved in. It is not a 9-to-5 job, but a career that he says would suit someone looking to do something away from the ordinary.

Gareth hated school and left at 16 with no qualifications as he wanted to get a job and earn money. However, since joining the Scottish Leather Group, he has completed a Business Degree and undertaken numerous other training courses. He is proud of his job and the company he works for and “enjoys being good at what we do”.