Tay is currently a Senior Inventory controller for RS Components based in Corby, he started working for the firm in September 2019 as an apprentice at the age of 19 and graduated in July 2023, achieving a first-class honours degree.
Rather than choosing a traditional academic route to further his education, Tay chose to continue his career in the workplace and was offered a position with RS Components as an Apprentice. He initially started as an Inventory Planner, ensuring stock was coming into the business, he then moved to Demand Planning and Forecasting.
In the third year he worked in the ISO team managing systems within the business and ensuring projects and efficient processes were in place to generate the right data and information to enable business decisions.
He then moved to an Inventory Control role which supported ethical procurement as well as the stock position of a set area of products, buy backs, and meeting numbers against inventory and provision budgets which were set at the beginning of the financial year. During this placement, he completed his final year degree apprenticeship project which when rolled out across the business saved approximately £800,000 in a year by reducing the forecasts on orders they didn’t need.
This also led to Tay achieving his yellow belt in lean six sigma. Soon after completing the course, he was promoted to Senior Inventory Controller based on his success within the role and completion of the programme.
Tay said the Supply Chain Academy has provided him with the business point of view to aid strategic thinking. Tay would recommend the programme to other businesses and their employees, and he is now working towards his MBA.
“I met a lot of different people on the course and learnt a lot from them, some of our peers had worked in the industry for several years as opposed to myself who was new to the workplace, so networking with them I found very beneficial. The course enabled me to understand the business world and learn the skills you need to be able to manage in the real world.”
– Tay O’Neil
Conclusion
Tay added: “I am now responsible for the inventory management of 120,000 products and I am dealing with senior people within the business who I sometimes have to tell them things they don’t want to hear. I am also the youngest person who holds this role, and the apprenticeship programme has given me this experience and knowledge I need to do the job, I know my stuff and I know how to get evidence to back up the decision making.”
