Given the opportunity to be a part of Talon it was my role to relocate to Ipoh in Malaysia and establish the business, engineering, and core operations. 10 years on we now have a diverse and dynamic team of local engineers and operations staff. I am proud and confident to say that under the leadership of our local management personnel the team is able to create innovative new GET products at a pace and quality unmatched in the industry. The experience of building a team in a foreign country and culture was a challenging and rewarding experience. Through this role all the skills I have previously learnt where challenged and strengthened. I would believe my most significant learnings, were the importance and power of having a unifying long-term goal, business partners that you trust and the value of meaningful relationships being as important as financial profit.

Shortly after the acquisition of Shark the company grew sufficiently to restructure the team. I was given the role of Engineering Manager and tasked with continuing the development of new products, maintaining the existing product portfolio and ensuring ongoing quality production from our suppliers. While in this role I expanded the engineering team from 4 engineers to 10, enabling an increase in new product development and sales. The team designed, develop and release 5 new products, reduced the cost of manufacturing andquality control and brought online a new supplier. This role taught me about team management, business system development, HR management, project management.

In 2007 Shark Abrasion Systems was acquired by Sandvik. I continued in my role as Quality Manager in the team during and following the acquisition. The change was good for the company and enabled me to gain further exposure to business within larger corporations. I was heavily involved with the engineering integration of Sharks products with Sandvik mining equipment product groups and continued to work with the growth of our suppliers now producing over 200 tons of parts from 4 major suppliers in Australia, India and Malaysia. This role taught me about corporate process integration, the value of agile adaptive management systems, global supply and logistical challenges.

Being a small business, as Shark Abrasion Systems grew the need to control the output from manufacturing supply increased. I was given the task to improve and develop the systems to ensure the products delivered continued to be high quality. In the role I spent much time traveling to the supplying foundries and manufactures around Australia, in Asia and North America. All the while assisting with ongoing product development and application of the products in the field. This role taught me about supplier development, manufacturing process, quality assurance, the impact of manufacturing on product development and the delicate balance between agility and quality mass production.

Beginning my career as a Design Engineer at Shark was a fantastic opportunity that really set my career on to a path to where I am today. Exposing me to all aspects of Engineering Design, Manufacturing, Product Development and Sales. In my initial years with Shark I designed and developed new Intellectual Property, visited manufacturers in Asia and North America and built relationships with a team several of whom I am still working closely with today. This role taught me about developing a product for mass manufacturing and reliability in the field, customer and supplier relations, and intellectual property.