My responsibilities as a member of a small multi-disciplined engineering team based at the Siemens VDO Automotive Telford facility included : Assessing the feasibility of automating existing and future manufacturing operations. The integration of vision inspection systems and laser marking systems into existing and future equipment. Writing the equipment specifications and discussing equipment design and quotations with existing and potential suppliers both in the UK and mainland Europe. Utilizing AutoCad.LT to plan the optimum ergonomic layout of equipment within work cells, and to generate electrical / mechanical design of robotic End-of-Arm tooling, off-line equipment etc. Generating Timing Plans utilizing Microsoft Project. Overseeing the design, layout and installation of modified and new product lines to bring them into full production. A percentage of my projects were run in conjunction with colleagues at other Siemens VDO Automotive facilities outside the UK. I liaised with these colleagues via telephone, e-mail and visits to their facilities.

My main responsibilities were for the procurement / commissioning of peripheral automation equipment, programming and integrating the Kawasaki robots in the automated weighing cell, and the day to day running of the robot production facilities in the precious metals foundry area at the Royston plant.

Responsible for the design, procurement, integration and commissioning of the electrical, X-ray and robotic systems required for the proposed automated ‘next generation’ poultry production lines.I utilized the ECT promis-e CAD package to design the electrical power and control schematics and AutoCad LT to design the enclosed robotic / X-ray systems. Staubli-Unimation clean room robots were utilized to prove the ‘next generation’ concepts.

EDG were responsible for the procurement and evaluation of various commercially available remote handling and deployment devices with a view to their maintainability and ease of control with regard to possible usage within hazardous nuclear environments. These devices included – Electric vehicles.  Hydraulic manipulators.  Industrial robot systems and Rad Hardened robot systems.  Tele-robotic controllers and sensing / mapping / simulation systems. I was initially responsible for the design of an interlocked multi cell robotic test area, and the subsequent installation and evaluation of various robot and manipulator systems i.e. – A PUMA 760Nm (NEATER) rad hardened industrial electric robot. A Schilling GAMMA7F rad hardened hydraulic manipulator . A Schilling TITAN2 rad hardened hydraulic manipulator various.In 1993 I became involved in a CEC funded Pan-European project ( INGRID ) utilizing a gantry mounted PUMA 760Nm ( NEATER ) robot to demonstrate systems integration and various tele-robotic control techniques. For this project I liaised with the various European partners and designed, installed and commissioned various pieces of equipment i.e.-  Signal / VAC power interface units.  Power and signal interconnect cables. Additional rad hardened signal / VAC power harnesses for the PUMA robot arm. Robot end-of-arm coded tool-changer systems and gripper tooling. I also wrote the VAL II user programs to control the Staubli-Unimation PUMA 760Nm robot during the various remote tooling trial operations.

Staubli-Unimation at this time were in the forefront of robotics technology with a large machine population both in the UK and overseas.Systems Applications Engineer ( 1987 – 15th Oct. 1990 )A member of a project team involved in the design, installation and commissioning of robotic systems for various industries e.g. Aerospace, Automotive, Electronics, Food etc. within the UK and Europe.Systems Installation and Commissioning Engineer ( 12th Nov. 1984 – 1987 )My responsibilities included – Design of the electrical signaling / power supplies and control / interface systems. Design of the robot cell layouts,  Programming the robot systems via VAL II user software,  Site supervision of sub-contract labour  Commissioning and documentation of the systems. In 1985 I was awarded the ‘Westinghouse Bronze Award of Excellence’ as part of the team responsible for the design and commissioning the first successful moving line robotic paint inspection system installed into the automotive industry.

Weld-Elec were a small company who specialized in the design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of electrical control systems for various industries in the UK and overseas.I was responsible for the organisation of teams of up to six installation electricians working within the UK and Europe, and the estimation of materials and labour requirements per project.

GKN Sankey manufactured automotive products and armoured fighting vehicles.This short term position entailed the maintenance, installation and refurbishing of a range of machines in the wheel manufacturing department.

ISCOR produced a wide range of plate and sheet steels at their Vanderbijlpark facility. This steel works was one of several within the ISCOR group.Initially as an Electrical Installation Engineer I was seconded to the contract companies ( Wean United & GE ) installing a continuous galvanising line at the ISCOR North Works site, the line was controlled via a GE mainframe computer and GE MMI PLC systems. On completion of the installation I was promoted to the position of Maintenance Shift Engineer on continuous galvanising line in charge of a shift maintenance crew of approximately twenty personnel. This position involved the planning of preventive maintenance schedules and liaison with the production personnel.