During 2018 our 18,000 sq ft factory, based at Foxwood Industrial Park in Chesterfield, has been wonderfully busy! A need to increase their furniture production capacity prompted Nova to introduce new members to their upholstery team. We accomplished this in two ways; they brought Grace into the team as an apprentice and employed Chloe as a cross skilled upholsterer and sewing machinist.
Grace joined Nova’s upholstery team 10 weeks ago on an apprenticeship scheme. Nova began this process by reviewing their current and future skills requirements and planning the best way to provide stability in a changing market. Managing Director, Jonathan Buchanan, was determined to ensure the apprentice was ready to get their ‘hands dirty’ and began learning from day 1. Nova discussed their needs with WEBS Furniture Training, WEBS has a strong mission ‘to make a positive impact to the UK and local economies by delivering a high quality and progressive training service that is responsive to the needs of learners and employers’ and together they built an apprenticeship framework to attract our ideal candidates.
Grace has always had an interest in the creative arts and she could see that by accepting Nova’s apprenticeship position she would be able to move in to a highly skilled trade, allowing her to build valuable manufacturing experience. Grace said that she ‘thought that the work would be interesting, and it is. I absolutely love it!’
Identifying their future skill requirements also confirmed Nova’s instinct that they needed to expand our experienced upholstery team with a cross-skilled team member and Chloe joined them in early October. Chloe has 3 years experience working for an office seating manufacturer, this experience has enabled her to learn procession upholstery in a fast paced and methodical environment. Chloe is also an accomplished sewing machinist which is of huge value to Nova’s team, she is looking forward to further developing her skill set and is motivated to move her career forward. Chloe has relished the challenge of working on design led upholstery and says that she ‘immediately felt like a valued member of the team.’
Nova realise the importance of investing in the people within the business as it is the people who enable their business thrive. Nova are thrilled to have welcomed Grace and Chloe in to our team upholstery department and we also welcomed Tom in to our workshop team and Chris joined our logistics team. We look forward to welcoming further team members during 2019.
If you are interested in a new challenge, manufacturing high quality furniture for the hospitality industry, email Nova at [email protected].