With his 15-year anniversary now here, we sat down with Contracts Manager Dino DeLuca to find out about his progression in the company, his tasks and experiences over the years, and how CU Phosco have helped him on his journey.
DINO, YOU JOINED CU PHOSCO AS AN APPRENTICE, AND HAVE SINCE WORKED YOURSELF ALL THE WAY UP TO CONTRACTS MANAGER, WHAT HAS THE JOURNEY BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
My CU Phosco journey started in the first week of May 2009. I joined as a Level 2 Apprentice, attending jobs with the engineers before I worked my way up to Contracts Manager. Whilst working my way up, the business has helped me achieve a whole host of different qualifications, like my City & Guilds Level 3 in 2011, Appointed Person Level 5 in 2017, Crane Supervisor in 2015, Sling & Signaler in 2013, the list goes on and on. The journey so far has been amazing, to have had such investment from the business to my development just makes the job that much better.
WHAT DOES YOUR TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE?
My role as a Contracts Manager is a challenge, but always a joy. I genuinely mean it when I say that I love coming to work. No week is ever the same and when you’ve been here for as long as I have, it’s a blessing to be able to see not only colleagues, but friends every day.
When I’m not at one of our projects around the globe, my typical day to day looks something like this:
- My day starts from the minute I get up, usually around 5am to go to the gym. I need to be available to assist our operatives working around the clock, wherever they are in the world.
- When I get to the office around 8am, I will normally walk through the factory to check on lantern production for ongoing jobs.
- After that’s done, at around 9am, I’ll fire up the laptop and check the previous days’ job cards on our operative management system. This enables me to ensure everything went smoothly or scheduling anything that needs follow-up.
- Once those are checked, I’ll work through the open orders for Services. I work with fellow Contracts Manager, Victoria Pearce, and Ric Metcalfe to share out the work. Normally any jobs that need doing in the Midlands and below will be for myself, and everything above will be for Victoria.
- The rest of my day is spent all over the place, whether I’m driving to different jobs, or to our Westgate and Coleford factories – there’s never any time to relax!
WHAT COUNTRIES HAVE YOU WORKED IN FOR CU PHOSCO?
One of the best things about this job is I could be in Glasgow working nights to install High Masts one day, and the next day I could be on a plane to one of our projects around the world. Countries I’ve visited? Off the top of my head… I’ve been to Honduras to install 30 High Masts, Singapore to do a trial at Changi Airport, converting their lights to LED’s, Qatar, converting non-CU Phosco masts to ours and to replace lights with LED’s, and Amsterdam to oversee a 26 tonne CCTV mast installation. On top of this I’ve recently been involved in helping out with projects over the phone at Canada and Georgia to help plan some projects over there.
I can honestly say this is a one-of-a-kind job and I wouldn’t change it for the world.