JOANNE MURRAY
SALES & MARKETING CO-ORDINATOR
GEOSYNTHETICS- A PERSONAL TOUCH
Now four months into my new role at TCS Geotechnics and starting a new year, I have been reflecting on how I got to where I am now. To join a company straight from school, when you don’t really know which direction you want your career to take, then to end up staying for 15 years, speaks volumes about that positive experience. Finding your feet and taking your place in an industry you originally knew nothing about was an achievement in itself. Additionally, learning about geotechnics and geosynthetic products has been very interesting and satisfying, particularly as many of these products work in clever and innovative ways giving effective and sustainable results.
To learn on a job and grow and develop as a person within a company is very special. Having the support of geotechnical and civil engineers and other related professionals, plus regular training all the way through my career has been very important to me. Tensar® was my one constant throughout all of my major life events including marriage, buying my first house, two children and university.
A WHOLE NEW ANGLE
When the time came to spread my wings and gain new experience elsewhere the thought of leaving one company after 15 years and going to another was a scary one. However, the beauty of moving to an existing geotechnical distributor of Tensar products, was the familiarity with those products. The opportunity to continue to contribute to the growth and sale of those innovative products and systems but from a different angle. However, the welcome challenge is that I am now dealing with a different set of customers; the merchant network and also a wider new range of geotechnical and geosynthetic products. In addition to Tensar Geogrids, there are new products for me to learn about such as geocellular confinement systems (Techcell), woven geotextiles, invasive weed barriers (Plantex) and gabions to name a few.
The support from suppliers to stock their market leading products such as Tensar TriAx geogrids, Terram Bodpave, Dupont Plantex and Formpave Aquaflow, shows how dedicated we are to supplying only the best products to our customers.
Selling geotechnical and geosynthetic products to the market via the merchant network is an interesting business model built on excellent levels of service and customer relations. Our approach allows us to build trusting relationships with our merchant customers, which is a very important core value to TCS and something that was born out of Mark and Phil’s original experience when working in the merchant sector before they set up TCS 10 years ago.
FAMILY FEEL
Following my former Tensar Director, Ian Fraser, to TCS helped me to feel very much at home straight away. From the word go, I settled into TCS as they have a close family-like feel. How many companies can you say the owners/directors work in the same office, joining in with the laughs but, more importantly, the day to day running of the business? Discussions about our business strategy and product ranges take place in an open and inclusive way creating a professional and team-driven environment, reflecting the type of company that TCS is and one that is a pleasure to be involved in.
I am also proud to say that I work for a company that actively supports an apprenticeship scheme helping young school leavers learn on the job and through college placements, to be the future of TCS. I was once that school leaver and the start to my career at a successful company was an extremely important step for me.
