Meet The Team - Ops Mgr Brandon Ward

Welcome to the next instalment in our Meet The Team blog series.

Today, we’re catching up with Operations Manager, Brandon Ward, who’s been an integral part of the SmartShield team since 2017.

Read on to discover why no two days ever look the same for Brandon, who he’d like to share a 3-course meal with, and a childhood advertising gig that must’ve made him popular with his friends at school!

Meet the SmartShield Team: Brandon Ward

So tell us, Brandon, what does a typical day in the life as SmartShield's ops manager look like?

In my role there is never a typical day. Every day brings exciting new opportunities and challenges.

From managing production requirements, scheduling and staff to ensure we meet or exceed our customers needs, to working with and managing our warehousing and logistics teams so that we deliver on schedule. There’s always something to keep me hopping!

What's the most challenging aspect of your role?

One of the most challenging parts of my role is overcoming the unexpected.

Equipment failures and unforeseen material delays can change the flow of work quickly, so it’s important to mitigate and overcome these situations quickly and efficiently every time.

I tend to wear a number of hats depending on the day, from mechanic to buyer to customer Service specialist - I need to be ready to adapt quickly.

And what's your favourite part of the job?

I love the people that I work with most. We have an incredible team here at SmartShield and it’s a pleasure to come to work everyday.

Which brings us to the next question! It looks like there's a great team culture at SmartShield - do you think team bonding is a big part of the company's success?

Team bonding has definitely been a huge part of our success here at SmartShield. SmartShield is a family business and that is how we are all treated and treat each other, as family.

Back to the day job - have you ever had any bizarre packaging requests and how did you deal with them?

Fortunately for me, our design team does a fantastic job of taking out any bizarre aspects of requests before they move the project on to production. 

Tell us one thing your work colleagues probably don't know about you?

My co-workers wouldn’t know that as a child I was featured in the advertising campaign and dealership brochures for the International Harvester Scout off-road vehicle line.

An International Harvester Scout from the 1960s (before Brandon’s time!) 

Wow, well they’ll certainly know now! Vintage SUVs aside, what do you love doing in your free time?

I love to golf with my son.

Brandon with his son at the golf course 

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party - you're allowed to ask 5 people!

My dream dinner would consist of Bob Marley, Noel Gallagher, Kyle Connor, Harrison Ford and Robert Shaw.

Sure there’d be some interesting conversations around that table. Finally, do you have a special saying or mantra that makes you feel motivated even when the day ahead feels like a slog?

My son and I often come up with fun sayings and statements that are motivational to us.

One of my favourites that comes to mind regularly is “Power-up and Power through”.

If I’m ever feeling overwhelmed by a task or project, thinking about this gives me the motivation to take whatever steps are necessary to get the job done

Great to talk, Brandon. And a great motivational mantra from you and your son. We might have to borrow that one!