Starting her journey with FB Chain as an external financial auditor, it didn’t take Karen Barton long to realise that she wanted a more active role in shaping how the pie gets made.

Since embarking on a permanent 31-year career with the company – spanning finance, HR, business improvement and now as newly appointed managing director – Karen relishes the opportunity to work in a “tangible industry” where the fruits of operational decisions can be clearly seen. She’s also learned how an inside-out understanding of the data can play a direct role in a company’s success.

She talks about the interconnectedness across departments, how sustainability and company values align with strategic vision and progress, and when continuous improvement and incremental advancements, such as automation, should be woven into the business.

RC: You entered the industrial manufacturing space through the financial side of the business. What was it that drew you in and kept you engaged through those early years with FB Chain.  

KB: My initial focus was really on building my career rather than specifically entering industrial manufacturing. I came from an auditing background and was fully qualified, but I realised quite quickly that I preferred being involved in producing and understanding the numbers rather than simply reviewing them.

FB Chain was one of our clients at the time, and they offered me the opportunity to join as finance manager. It felt like the right move professionally, giving me broader commercial exposure and more involvement in the day-to-day running of the business.

What kept me engaged was the variety and pace of the role. Manufacturing is a very tangible industry. You can directly see the impact of operational decisions on performance, and I found that both challenging and rewarding. Over time, I really enjoyed working closely with different parts of the business, not just finance. And FB Chain was also a supportive company where there were opportunities to grow and develop.

RC: What did seeing the materials handling industry through the lens of finance, teach you? How has your view of this industry evolved over your 30-plus years as you’ve worn additional hats? 

KB: Coming into the materials handling industry through finance, taught me very quickly that numbers tell the story of the entire business, not just sales and costs. Every department - production, assembly, purchasing, sales, and marketing, has its own key measures, and understanding those metrics gives you a much clearer picture of how the business is performing as a whole.

Over the years, as I took on broader responsibilities, my view of the industry evolved from seeing finance as a support function to recognising how interconnected every part of the operation really is. Manufacturing and materials handling are all about efficiency, reliability, and continuous improvement, and finance plays an important role in helping drive those decisions.

RC: You’ve led significant work in both business improvements and sustainability. How do these priorities inform each other in practice, and are there times when competing objectives mean consciously moving the needle on one at the expense of the other? 

KB: There are certainly times when business improvement and sustainability priorities can appear to be in conflict, particularly where cost and short-term return are involved. However, in practice, we treat both as core objectives rather than competing agendas.

Where possible, we look to find solutions that deliver benefits in both areas, for example, investing in more sustainable energy sources, even where there is a premium, because it supports our long-term environmental commitments as well as operational resilience.

That said, there are occasions where we have to make balanced decisions based on impact and return. In those cases, we assess the longer-term value of sustainability initiatives alongside financial and operational benefits, rather than defaulting purely to cost. The aim is always to avoid false trade-offs and instead take a structured, commercially grounded approach to both improvement and sustainability.

RC: To what extent does company culture play a role in continuous improvement? What are some other key drivers of meaningful improvement and how are they nurtured in your company? 

KB: Our culture plays a fundamental role in driving continuous improvement, as it creates an environment where everyone feels responsible for identifying better ways of working rather than simply following established processes. People are actively encouraged to question how and why tasks are done and to contribute ideas for improvement at all levels of the business.

Beyond culture, other key drivers include a strong focus on efficiency, employee engagement, and operational excellence. We prioritise removing unnecessary or repetitive tasks where possible and redesigning processes to make them more streamlined, value-adding, and engaging for employees. This not only improves productivity but also helps maintain motivation and ownership within teams.

RC: Congratulations on your appointment as managing director of FB Chain. What excites you most about this opportunity, and what are some of the big, juicy goals you can’t wait to get started on?  

KB: Thank you. I’m really excited to take on this role, particularly having grown with the business and seen it evolve from multiple perspectives over the years. That journey has given me a broad understanding of how the business operates, with particular strengths in finance, HR, and business improvement, and I’m fortunate to be supported by a highly capable leadership team across the organisation.

What excites me most is the opportunity to bring all of those elements together at a strategic level and really shape the next phase of the company’s development, not just maintaining performance, but actively improving how we operate and deliver value to customers.

One of the key priorities I’m particularly looking forward to is leading the selection and implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in 2026–27. This is a major transformation opportunity for the business, and when delivered, it will significantly improve visibility, efficiency, and decision-making across all functions. It’s a critical project and getting it right will be a real enabler for future growth.

RC: Last year FB Chain was honoured with The King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, recognising the strength of your export strategy and sustainable global growth. Looking ahead, what market pressures or shifts do you think will have the biggest impact on your international strategy, and how are you preparing for them? 

KB: It was a real honour for the business to receive the King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, and while we are very proud of that recognition, we see it as a platform to continue improving rather than a destination.

There are several key market pressures that will continue to shape our international strategy. Exchange rate volatility and rising global shipping costs remain significant factors, particularly when trading across multiple regions. In addition, we continue to see strong competition from lower-cost suppliers in certain markets, which reinforces the need to clearly differentiate on quality, reliability, and total value rather than price alone.

To address this, we maintain close, long-standing relationships with our suppliers to manage cost pressures as effectively as possible, while continuously monitoring pricing and market conditions. Our sales and marketing teams are also increasingly focused on targeted export growth, ensuring we prioritise the right markets and customer segments.

Ultimately, our strategy is centred on sustainable international growth, balancing competitiveness with the strength of our product quality and service offering, which remains our key differentiator in global markets.

RC: FB Chain made a delicious April Fools video parody about out-of-hand technology adoption, resulting in the creation of ‘Robo-Peter’ to help former MD Peter Church fit in more golf. In all seriousness, drawing on your experience in finance and business improvement, what is the secret to knowing when, and to what extent, to automate? 

KB: This was a great video, and it does highlight in a light-hearted way the importance of getting automation right rather than simply automating for its own sake.

At FB Chain, we’re always looking for opportunities to automate and improve efficiency, but the key is making sure we apply the right level of control and judgement. In finance in particular, accuracy and integrity of data are critical, so anything we automate must be fully tested, validated, and trusted before it becomes business-as-usual.

The decision on when and how far to automate typically comes down to a combination of factors, the volume and repetition of the task, the risk associated with errors, and the value added by keeping human oversight in the process. If a task is highly repetitive, low-value, and rules-based, it’s a strong candidate for automation. If it involves judgement, exceptions, or material financial impact, we tend to keep a level of manual control or review.

We also work within the constraints of our current systems, so part of our approach is about incremental improvement, automating where we can today, while building the case for more integrated solutions over time.

RC: Just for fun, if you could create a ‘Robo-Karen’ to take over any aspect of your life, what would it be, and what would you do with the time you get back?  

KB: Oh, it would definitely be house cleaning, especially bathrooms, which are probably everyone’s least favourite job!

If I could hand that over to a “Robo-Karen,” it would free up a surprising amount of time. I’d use that time to get outside more for walks, go to the gym more regularly (and probably get back to hula hooping, which I really enjoy), and have a bit more breathing space to cook more interesting and creative meals rather than rushing around.