Moved to the SSNR project to help set up the Manufacturing Engineering team on a project in the early phase of CADMID (LCM phase 2a working towards phase 3.All very exciting to be at the start of something huge.Great team, great product, great place to work and live. Feeling optimistic

Developing the Manufacturing Process Planning function, and integrating it into the existing business organisation. This is a challenge in a large, complex descrete manufacturing organisation with an established culture and organisational structure.Much of the "standard" manufacturing engineering methodology needs adaptation from the out of the box LEAN 6-Sigma toolbox.

Summary:Setting up a production line in a new facility for the site. Overseeing a team of manufacturing engineers working on the WARRIOR capability sustainment Programme. The production line includes fabrication, machining, paint and assembly, and is split across two locations and companies. Challenges include setting up the production line concurrently with a rapidly changing design. Key aspects of the role include:- Coordination with the industrial engineering team / DFMA- Coordination with the subject matter expert team regarding manufacturing technology development- Coordination with strategic partners- Coordination of the manufacturing process and quality assurance plan- Coordination with the Operations team regarding shop floor layout and CAP-EX- Create and maintain the manufacturing plan- M-BOM management using SAP ERP- Production routings- Manufacturing Data packsIn due course once the early production phase starts in 2015- Change management and impact on the manufacturing process- Manufacturing process maturity development- Process stability and capability - Burning down the learning curve and achieving target cost- continuous improvementDuring 2014: The biggest challenge has been recruiting and training a team, and establishing links and networking with other functions at the same time as supporting a fast moving and challenging project schedule.I

After a managment re-organisation which joined operations with procurement to create the supply chain directorate I became the supply chain strategy manager. With responsibilities for creating a stratgy and road map to adapt our current organisation and process to fit a future requirement to work more closely with in-country organisations particularly regarding delivery of offset obligations. I am currently working on implementing the strategy which inlcudes adapting the road-map to accommodate lessons we are learning and the demands of our key customer, namely India. Currently in the planning mode, I expect to be moving to implmentation during 2014 when we have to deliver a significant value of direct offset to the Indian government over the next 5-7 years.

Operations strategy included a plan to adapt the operations "foot print" and core competencies to match the future requirements of the business. The challenge was to "right size" the business to retain core skills, and be able to support contracts which had significant offset obligtions. Our products are complex, and there is often a significnt gap (production break) between contracts; which coupled to relatively small production volumes makes for challenging projects with conflicting requirements.

Started as the Manufacturing Engineering Manager and completed several major production mobilisation projects with a team of manufacturing engineers composed of a core team of 12, augmented by sub-contractors up to a peak strength of 30. Manufacturing processes include fabrication (armor steel and titanium), machining (including gun barrel manufacture), assembly, paint and set-to-work. Our products are high precision systems with very high quality assurance requirements.Sinse 2008 I have been responsible for preparing the manufacturing plans to support biding new contracts and developing the manufacturing strategy for the company. This work includes working very closely with our Swedish site in Karlskoga.

Started as a design engineer and was involved in the design, development, testing and delivery of sub-sea electrical connectors for applications in the off-shore oil industry. My particular expertise was connectors located in the well head and used to connect various gauges through the value block to back to the off-shore platform.The last 2 years at Tronic was spent working in a manufacturing engineering role on productionisation ofthe core product to reduce cost and lead-time. This resulted in the DigiTRON (tm) product range.