The Backing Range Story

Meet The Maker: Lee Riley 

Time at Milliken: 15 years

Role: Lee ensures his team of operators work seamlessly to run the machine which brings all the component parts of the carpet tile together: top cloth, latex, glass, hot melt and Milliken’s proprietary cushion. Lee is integral to ensuring safe and multiple manufacturing process are achieved on time to meet customer lead times in a safe environment. 

What I like about Milliken: They have helped me develop and provided me with opportunities. Interaction with people. 

Mission: We’ve got to strive for excellence and if I don’t strive for excellence I can’t expect my team to do the same.

100 years of making in the UK: Working for a company that has manufactured in the UK for 100 years makes you proud. To be in business for 100 years makes you think about stability. We should be seeing more of the big companies investing in British manufacturing. I’ve got kids and they’ll have kids, we want to provide a future that will be a prosperous place to live. They always say British is best and I’d like to think that’s the case.

Passions: Family and fishing. It’s my escape; as soon as I pack the car for fishing I clear my mind of my work.

Dream installation: Manchester United Football Club. It’s nice to think that one of the top major football teams in the world, with all the riches they’ve got, chose Milliken floor tiles. 

Musical motivation: The 80’s classics, Spandau Ballet, Erasure . . . It’s nice to hear them and sing along and they give you a pick me up and take you back to a certain time. 

Best thing about Wigan: Friendly and a strong team spirit. I was born in Wigan, I’ve lived in Wigan all my life, for me it’s a nice place to live.  

Biggest achievements: Getting the Team Leader position, it took me out of my comfort zone. As I went through the different career stages at Milliken my confidence grew. On a personal note, having a child with a disability and how we deal with that as a family.   

Opportunities: During my 15 years at Milliken I’ve developed and since becoming a team leader developed even further. Milliken is the kind of company that gives you the opportunities to do that. 

Teamwork: My way of thinking is you treat people the way you want to be treated yourself. I can build relationships with teams and I think that’s paramount to being successful. If you’ve got that good relationship with your team I think they’re willing to go that extra mile. Together we can work through whatever challenges we face.

On delivering a premium quality product: If we collectively have the same goals, which is to supply the number one product that we can, then from the customer point of view that’s what they expect to get on every order. As team leader that’s what I spend my life delivering and it’s about making sure that happens. My role is to keep the team focused on what’s important and obviously the quality of our product is vitally important.

Interested in meeting more of our Makers? Stay tuned to read The Patterning Story Part 1, featuring Mark Brixton .