A Day in the Tivy Warehouse

Life at the Tivy Warehouse has settled now to a regular rhythm, although no two days are the same.  With so many activities going on, the old slate walls of the warehouse belie the fast paced, high energy environment that is Harvst.  On any one day we have the whole business rocking along with research and development of our products, production, packing, marketing, as well as frequent visitors including customers and suppliers.

But it does follow a pattern. We each park over the river, allowing a ten-minute wander down the towpath watching the swallows swoop and dive over the moored boats, before heading over the old stone bridge and down to the Warehouse.  It’s a really nice way to start the day even when it is raining.

Will and Theo normally appear ready for the day, and, after making a brew they head out to start the production and packing.  Chris is in next, usually on the bike and we all have a cabal around the packing table to organise what changes that we need to make to plan for the day.  Orders come in at any time of the day or night and we are absolutely focussed on getting our orders out and our customers supported: so we discuss who does what and how best to achieve what we need to.

Katie who lives in Cardiff powers up her laptop and works from home on marketing, PR and social media.  She usually checks in at different points of the day and sometimes into the evenings and weekends if it’s busy.  Katie also gets to chat to all of our customers about their orders, takes feedback, and generally makes sure they’re all looked after.

The work for everyone can be really varied and we support each other with what the most urgent priority is.  That could be cutting pipes, packing boxes, making new jigs or the latest advertising campaign.

Our work is highly detailed and we set high standards and aim to get the very best products out to our customers and partners whether that’s a flyer for a campaign, a part for a smart greenhouse or a tool to support our production. As an example, each greenhouse takes around 400 individual parts to make and we have to make sure that we have the stock and the right parts to send out with every order.  It’s taken us a while to get this absolutely correct and we have processes and procedures to ensure that this flows seamlessly.

The morning comes and goes, and lunch is taken on the wall outside the shop to make the best of the summer weather.  Lots of chat comes up with ideas and changes that everyone suggests, potential customers as well as everyone’s latest great wheeze for more water sports.  Most of the team are sailors, kite boarders or divers and so being on the water is often a conversation point.

More of the same in the afternoon and all too quickly it gets to five o clock; when the team heads out of the door for the day.  After a bit of a clear up, of course The shutter comes down and we’re normally off to drop parcels, and pick up the paperwork after another busy day. Then it’s back over the bridge

Another Harvst day done.