09 October, 2025 | Category: News, Purchasing, The PCC Team
Introducing Premier People, a monthly newsletter, showcasing the brilliant people behind our world-renowned self adhesive label stock products:
Husband, father of two and lover of The Office (UK), Ben has worked at Premier Coating & Converters since 2014, starting as a packer. Within weeks of packing boxes and wrapping pallets, he expressed an interest in learning how to run a slitting machine and did so. Fast-forward a few years, Ben joined the coating team. Ben built up his experience on the factory floor, gained knowledge and understanding of machinery and products to be a leader and a stalwart on the floor with the team. Fast-forward again, Ben has obtained his Level 4 Practitioner Award for Chartered Institute in Procurement and Supply. Obtaining this in October 2025, Ben has solidified another development milestone within the business.
In any business, these skills take time, energy and work ethic that comes from within. Ben has evidently evolved and grown as a member of the team in over a decade at Premier. There are many strings to Ben’s bow, and he has excelled, especially in the past few years. He now embarks on developing further within the Production office.
“We’re really proud of Ben’s achievements so far at Premier, he’s been here since he was a teenager. To see him grow as a member of the team and even more importantly as a human being has been amazing. You can trust him to use his initiative and perform to the highest ability, that’s all we ask here. We look forward to watching him grow even further in the years to come.”
– Lee Charles, Managing Director
This week, we sat down with Ben and had a conversation about his achievements and the next steps of his procurement journey.
Ben, firstly congratulations on completing and passing your course. How are you feeling after receiving your successful result?
I’m feeling proud of myself, starting the course just knowing the basics about procurement and supply, to ending 11 months on with a lot of knowledge that I feel can benefit myself and the company going forward. I feel I’ve grown up in the business, and it’s been a big part of my adult life so far.
To complete the qualification has been massive. I’ve been working on it for 11 months as well as working closely day-to-day with the team on the floor, it’s been tough at times. But to have the results in my hand, it’s been worth it.
You work closely with Neil Bennett (Purchasing), how has he taken you under his wing over the past year?
Neil has been a great help for me and is an easy person to work with going forward. A few times over the past 11 months I’ve needed to lean on his experience, which has been really valuable. He’s helped me to further understand our products and how they’re constructed. Whether that’s release liners, face stock, adhesives or machinery, it’s been a huge help.
Whilst this is the end of the course, there are 2 more levels that I’m determined to get my teeth into once I’ve gained a bit more experience in the new role under my belt.
You’ve already been building relationships with suppliers; how has it been communicating with external companies?
It’s been great to start meeting our existing suppliers so early on. I think it’s important for me to understand them and our relationships. We pride ourselves on that. Within the industry, our customers will have specific requirements that we need to meet, having a team of us regularly in contact with our suppliers gives us an opportunity to keep everyone happy! I also had the chance to meet a few of them at Labelexpo this year, which was a valuable experience. It means they can put a face to a name next time I pick up the phone too, which is always useful.
What do you see as the next challenge for you after securing your Level 4?
I’m really pleased that this chapter is complete, gaining the qualification has been a lot of work this year. Knowing that I’ve gained the accreditation required, I would definitely like to further this with Level 5 and 6 in the future, but for now, it’s all about talking to our suppliers and listening to what the sales team say that people are asking for!
What is the best dessert you’ve ever had, and why?
I’m not a huge fan of cake, but nothing can beat my mums Coffee cake. I can go out and get the most expensive one there is, and it will not even come close. We are at the point now where she is making them on her time off and bringing in for the rest of the guys at the company! So, I think they’d all agree too.
Contact Ben at PCC: benmatthews@pcc-ltd.com
