Hayley McKernan Celebrates 25 Years with Rapidrop Global

Walking through the doors of IFI, fresh out of school and embarking on her apprenticeship, Hayley McKernan began her career with us. Currently at 25 years of service, Hayley is our longest serving female staff member amongst other long servers.  

‘It seems like yesterday that I left school and entered the big wide world of work’ Hayley commented.

An apprenticeship opportunity presented itself at IFI Ltd, giving Hayley the chance to move through the business working in each department to learn how they all interlink and work together whilst attending college one day a week to study HNC in Business & Finance.

‘After a year, we then focused on one department which was chosen as purchasing to nurture my skillset and use the education that I had received,’ Hayley said, ‘further to that the company sponsored my degree which I did at night school, and I now hold a full graduate membership to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (MCIPS).’

Hayley spent years travelling overseas visiting factories, sourcing products, and taking the opportunity to network as well as to learn more about our products. Hayley also played a key role in the sprinkler production planning and workflow at our head office in Peterborough following a career break. Now back in the role of Purchasing Manager for Rapidrop Global Ltd and heading up a team of 7, Hayley continues to grow with the business.

While the company was only IFI ltd when she first joined, the fire side of the business soon entered the developmental stages before launching officially in 2003 as Rapidrop. This saw both businesses merge into what is now known as Rapidrop Global Ltd.

‘My favorite part of my job and managing a team is the different aspects we cover within the department because we can have all matters of enquiries to deal with. It’s very varied, we cover lots of different tasks in our day.’ Hayley commented. ‘I love the fact that when we accomplish a task there has usually been lots of elements where we have dealt with sales, the warehouse, with the suppliers or with production onsite and it’s bringing all those aspects together to get the end result that drives me in my job and keeps me on my toes.’

Rapidrop Global Ltd is a company that started from humble beginnings with just 4 people in an office to now amassing over 100 members of staff, 2023 becomes a momentous year for the company with IFI Ltd reaching 40 years of trading while Rapidrop reaches 20.