Shining the spotlight
on Janet McDougall!

DPF Material Controller

Janet McDougall's start at The Decorative Panels Group began slightly differently to most peoples. Not everyone is aware of this, but the Group purchased a company previously called RTA in 2009 after they went into administration and the company then became Decorative Panels Furniture. Janet had worked for RTA since 1990 which gives her a staggering 29 years at our company so far!

Janet first started her working life on the packing line and made her way up the ladder. She progressed to line leader and then onto packing supervisor. After that came a role in despatch and then Quality control. Janet then began working in the office in around 2000 where she began collecting data ready for the dreaded millennium bug – that was never to come! Whilst working in these roles, Janet completed many courses - NEBS Management, BTEC in communications, Auto CAD and the usual team building training. With Janet having such experience of so many different departments, she has gained an extremely wide knowledge of the full processes of the factory and suppliers.

Any spare time that Janet has is usually spent sewing, enjoying a couple glasses of wine, decorating her house and of course, dreaming of her next holiday. Weekends are spent helping to run a gymnastics club where they have around 15 children that attend. During her time at the club, she has attended even more courses, for example ‘Safeguarding’ and ‘time to listen.’ On Sunday’s Janet is usually recovering from Saturday!

We asked Janet what she loved, and her answer was so brilliant and perfect we did not need to add anything to it. Simply put, Janet answered with, “I love …. My life.”

Janet has always been a highly motivated person. This is obvious in the way she demonstrates her drive to keep the factories she works at running, and the challenges she over comes on a weekly basis to keep a constant supply and focus to the factories.

Janet has not always fancied a career in the flat pack furniture industry, she envisaged being a mechanic when she was younger – “I was always a hands-on type of person as my dad was a diesel fitter, but back in the day it was frowned upon for a girl to go to college and train in that type of job, so I ended up working in a factory.” So, after that, as Janet says, her “story starts.”