Gearing up to take the lead on business development in the South of England is PCL’s new Area Sales Manager Michelle Foord.

With a background in manufacturing, Michelle has a proven track record of building customer relationships within the railway and automotive industries.

Her appointment came just in time for her to join PCL’s expert team at Automechanika 2023, where she took the opportunity to meet as many industry contacts as possible.

Michelle has since spent a week familiarising herself with PCL’s market-leading portfolio and operations at its state-of-the-art production facility in Sheffield, where she got hands-on helping to build some couplings.

She said: “It’s been fantastic to spend time on the shop floor getting into the detail of the products; how they’re put together and the time, effort and skill involved in the process.  

“The production facility is incredibly impressive and immensely clean – I couldn’t believe it’s a working factory from how clean it actually is. The whole operation runs so smoothly - the picking, fulfilling of the shelves, the traffic light systems - all the departments work seamlessly together.”

The next step, Michelle said, is getting out on the road: “In the short-term my focus is meeting my customers and understanding their business needs. My long-term focus is growth and identifying further potential in the South.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting existing customers and looking at where the gaps are to build new business and get a plan in place.”

Michelle also enthused about the customary warm welcome at PCL: “Everybody is delightful. You don’t realise how big the company is at first because it feels like a family. It’s not like the usual commercial company where you’re just a number. Here you’re made to feel like a person.”

PCL’s Managing Director Lee Wright said: “Michelle is an excellent communicator with a pro-active, customer-first approach. Her dedication to supporting individual business needs, combined with her expertise in identifying market opportunities, makes her the ideal candidate to strengthen operations in the South and facilitate growth for our customers as well as PCL.

“I’m really pleased to see Michelle settle so well into the fold. I am confident customers will feel in safe hands as she works with them to help their businesses flourish.”