Simon Skinner Email & Phone Number

Solihull, England, United Kingdom

The company was purchased out of administration in April 2020 by Indian motorcycle giant TVS Motors. TVS has ambition to grow Norton into the ‘Modern Luxury’ space within 2-wheelers with an aggressive growth plan and extensive model range all backed up by investment by the 3rd largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. As such my role is much more Design focussed and ensuring the product and the brand are aligned to achieve our goal of producing highly desirable motorcycles.I have built the Design function from a single person (myself) to a team of 25 that includes some of the best Designers in the world, backed up by experienced studio engineers, CAD/CAS designers, CMF and management to help deliver the dreams, to quality, to budget and on-time.I have overseen the development of a new Design Strategy into Norton that truly defines the future of the brand and one that will elevate us into the Modern Luxury space. It is my responsibility to implement this strategy across the business and ensure consistency across all touch-points.I have been instrumental in pushing new design and realisation techniques within Norton, using technology where appropriate to expedite the design process.My passion to see people grow and develop continues within this new environment and would always view my department as a sea of opportunity, where the team can learn together and become stronger. It still gives me great pleasure to coach and inspire the talented team and take great pride seeing everyone from an apprentice to a Chief Engineer evolve into ever more valuable members of the team.

Castle Donington, England, United Kingdom

I was responsible for delivery, Design and Engineering of all of Norton’s motorcycles. This included whole vehicle layout and running a busy Design and Engineering room. I have spent a long time up-skilling the people in the business to enable me to focus on my core skillset which is motorcycle Design and its integration with Engineering.As a very ‘hands on’ Head of Design I get involved as much as possible with all elements of the motorcycle and of course deliver entirely the Design element. I have personally generated all CAD A-surfaces on all Norton models over the last 11 years and have laid out all new engines and whole vehicles. This work is then or course delivered by the team of engineers downstream. All Design work was done in-house by myself.I have been involved with securing Government backed grants for Design activity and have overseen the delivery of these projects (V4 & 650) and ensured technical delivery targets were met under close scrutiny by the governing bodies.I have overseen many elements of the business during the last few years including, Purchasing and Fabrication.Many of my biggest achievements are people based and seeing them grow. The engineering manager is a great example who started with me as a graduate a decade ago and is now a key figure in the business.

Donington Park Race Circuit

As the first employee at the newly resurrected Norton Motorcycles I was responsible for building a team of people and re-engineering and launching the Commando 961 and its derivatives, including the Domiracer, which now commands premium of 100% over its original sale price. This included supply chain management, BOM structure and production set up.

Hinckley, England, United Kingdom

Since December 2006 I fully completed 2 full concept stages, one was a departure for Triumph and presented a unique set of challenges, this was the first off road bike for Triumph, the Tiger 800. It was my responsibility to carry this concept forward into the team and oversee engineering to ensure my concept was fully delivered. The second was for a low-cost motorcycle for India and China.

Working on a derivative of the Daytona 675 (Street Triple) I was responsible for improving packaging and achieving ergonomic targets. I was responsible for styling of new components on this motorcycle, producing sketches, generating CAD A-surfaces and following this up with detailed engineering.Building on my styling work I produced sketches for a range of new engines, working closely with the engineering team during concept to ensure viability. These engines later became the 1200cc triple now used in the Tiger and Trophy.As a Design Engineer working on the sports bike team I have been involved from concept through to production of the Daytona 675. This included styling, vehicle packaging, scheming, detailed engineering, development and testing.During design we focused on weight, size, styling and cost. Packaging was paramount to achieve dimensional constraints. I needed an acute understanding of DFA & DFM techniques appropriate for Triumph. I was heavily involved with competitor benchmarking at the early stages.

Luton, England, United Kingdom

As a TCS Associate I was tasked with implementing CAD/CAM into Breed Manufacturing, a tier 1 supplier to Land Rover

Beng Automotive Engineering, Engineering

Education record