Richard Dannatt Email & Phone Number

Biggleswade, England, United Kingdom

Ely, Cambridgeshire

During 2015 I was recruited to lead the Fortnum & Mason contract for iForce, one of the fastest growing operations in the business across multiple channels.• Leading a core team of 50 people off peak to over 350 during Christmas trading across ecommerce, retail and wholesale channels as well as the production of the F&M hampers• Acted as project manager for the construction of a 30K sq ft extension, including a 3K sq ft cold room, to provide space for the continued growth of the hamper and ecommerce • Managing the preparations for peak throughout the year, including production planning for 200,000 hampers, recruitment of over 300 temporary staff in a remote area with low unemployment, identifying and setting up short-term off-site despatching locations • Created and delivered a new management structure case requiring investment of £250K annually in order to provide an expert team capable of delivering the growing peak volumes• Defining system developments to support offerings such as personalised products and pre-picking customer orders to increase operational efficiency

Enfield, United Kingdom

Following the completion of my secondment I was offered the position of Operations Manager at the multi-temperature Iceland Regional Distribution Centre, a role that attracted me both due to the nature of the operation as well as the challenging situation the site was in.• Responsible for all warehouse and transport operations on the site including leading a team of over 250 warehouse and 170 transport full time colleagues delivering over 1 million cases per week to 219 shops in the South East of England• Took on the role as Acting General Manager for 16 months with a completely new management team following the departure of the previous team, initially focussed on maintaining day to day operations whilst recruiting the new team• Managing the relationship with local and regional union officials through pay negotiations, delivering an on budget rise with no impact to service despite an aggressive union stance • Introduced an internal check and follow up education process on picking accuracy taking the site from worst performing to best for Gross Error Rate at 0.15%• Managed the re-timing of all tasks in order to create a revised performance bonus structure which provided challenging but attainable targets supporting an overall 15% improvement in performance as well as an agreed performance management structure

Basildon, Essex

During 2012 I was invited on a secondment to cover the Operations Manager position at the Regional Distribution Centre in Basildon, servicing Argos stores in the South East.• Leadership of the warehouse team of over 250 full time and up to 450 temporary staff performing both cross-docking and direct intake and despatch to 300 Argos stores in the most complex distribution region of the business• Managing a cultural change programme in a highly active unionised environment to including the introduction of a performance management process and joint working parties on safety, absence and learning at work.• Planning and execution of the twice yearly catalogue change, requiring a change in 60% of all stock lines held over the course of a weekend and ensuring all stores are live for launch

Castleford, Yorkshire

After successfully managing the start up of the Argos 1 Man Home Delivery operation at Castleford Home Delivery Store I was appointed to the position of Operations Manager• Leading a team of 300 team members and up to 300 temporary agency staff, along with a support team of 30 Managers to deliver a throughput of 12.5 million components• Creation of an internal development programme to support the succession planning on site, enabling all management positions to be filled internally since start up• Driving continuous improvement on site and successfully delivering a number of initiatives which passed on savings of over £150K in picking costs and over £400K above budgeted savings for increasing the component to parcel ratio• In 2010 I was a finalist in the CILT Young Manager of the Year Award for 2010

Castleford, Yorkshire

In April 2009 I was appointed to the position of Operations Manager – Transition at the Castleford Home Delivery Store for Argos 1 Man Home Delivery.• Responsible for the successful start up of the DHL warehouse operation at the 350K sq ft Castleford site and continuous development and improvement of the operation• Creation of the operational budget and recruitment schedule based on regular updates from the customer as well as the sites first Peak Plan and pandemic mitigation plans• Communication and management of start up and transitional activities, including leading the learning processes with the management team

Doncaster, United Kingdom

In January 2008 I was seconded to the MFI contract near Doncaster to support the start up of the 750K sq ft site. After four months I was appointed to the role of Operations Manager - Transition. • Responsible for the management of the systems support and warehouse layout departments as well as the management of the on-site systems contractors• Realignment of the warehouse to reduce hours for loading orders by 50% along with an increase of 64% in picking rates, a potential saving of £1million p.a.• Defining the requirements of the operation to take on the home delivery operation from the customer by translating the experience of the customer into WMS requirements, a new process map and changes to the physical warehouse configuration

Various

Argos Direct 2 Man, Bedford - Various Project Roles - May 2006 to March 2009 Between May 2006 and January 2008 I worked on a number of projects for the Argos Home Delivery contract.

Bedford, Bedfordshire

Argos Direct 2 Man, Bedford - Various Operational Roles - June 2003 to April 2006 Prior to May 2006 I held various positions at the Argos Home Delivery DC in Bedford, including reverse flow manager, planning manager, shift manager and despatch FLM.

Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Responsible for reverse logistics, customer returns, customer contact team, planning, warehouse layout, systems and development.

Slough, United Kingdom

Attended college full time studying metal work, fabrication, electronics, mechanical and electrical engineering

Ipswich, United Kingdom

Day to day office duties including accounting, sales, dealing with property rental/sales, etc.