We had a fantastic opportunity to catch up with Charlotte Burden, who is our latest BRC Global Standards Professional in the United Kingdom. Charlotte is the Managing Director at Carton Edge Ltd and is the second BRC Global Standards Professional in the world within the Packaging sector. This is an outstanding achievement Charlotte, congratulations!
What is your current role?
I am Managing Director at Carton Edge Ltd. Carton Edge Ltd is a Carton Finishing Manufacturer based in Coventry in the West Midlands and we are providers of specialist finishing services to the folding carton industry, including pick and place, window patching, various gluing techniques (standard, complex, PUR), cut & crease, nesting and edging.
Why did you join the BRC Global Standards Professional Programme?
I signed up for the BRC Global Standards Professional Programme because as an individual I wanted to enhance my personal knowledge in order to implement that understanding through management and onto the shop floor. For Carton Edge the professional qualification is a great tool for us. Professional status shows to our customers our commitment to Product safety, Quality and legality.
What value do you personally feel the BRC Global Standards Professional certification brings to you?
I feel this scheme will enable me to guide my team with more confidence. As well as this, I feel proud of the personal achievement of being the first member in Europe of BRC Global Standards Professional in the Packaging sector and only the second person in the world; this is an exciting achievement for me personally and for Carton Edge Ltd.
How has / will the recognition programme impacted your work?
It has given me assurance in my decision making, as the combination of courses required to become a BRC Global Standards Professional gives you a great understanding of all the concepts of HACCP, Root Cause Analysis, Validation & Verification and Risk Assessment in order to fully implement the standard effectively and efficiently.
Would you have completed the component courses anyway?
I think I would have slowly completed the components as it was important to me as the Managing Director that the correct foundations are in place in order to execute the right outcomes, but having the knowledge of working towards a certification made it all the more worthy for me individually and for the business.
How did you get to your current role?
I joined the family owned business back in 2011 as part of the Quality Team and over the next 5 years spent time in all departments learning the business and then as part of a succession plan, made the transition to MD in early 2016.
What are your career ambitions/aims?
As this is a family owned business my aim is to continue the success of the past 25 years, improving and adding to our business capabilities. We want our customers to have the confidence in us to know that they are working with the best in the business and the BRC Global Standards Professional certification is another way of verifying that.