'Caley Ocean Systems designs and manufactures offshore handling systems for the oil and gas, offshore renewable energy, marine, and oceanographic science and research industries. In addition to its Glasgow-based design facilities, Caley’s dedicated manufacturing plant has direct access to the River Clyde, allowing bespoke, high performance products to be shipped around the world. Established in 1968, Caley became part of the Seanamic Group in 2014, and now works alongside Pipelay Systems, IMES International and Houston-based Umbilicals International. The breadth of expertise and technical acumen shared within the Group allows its talented engineers to redefine the capability and performance of surface to seabed systems. This drives down the cost of subsea intervention, resulting in safe, efficient and productive operations for customers.'

Contractor at Caley Ocean Systems in Glasgow in the role of Design Draughtsman working on the development of offshore equipment.

Lamont Innovation Ltd is my own company founded as a context for undertaking contract work. My previous contracts include Alba Ultrasound, Jarvie design, Plexus Engineering Solutions and Caley Ocean Systems.

At Plexus I worked on a complex project intended to push forward medical research. This was a large machine to automate a sequence laboratory processes with an aim of reducing process time and increasing repeatability. The design included motors, actuators, moving parts, gaseous environments and fluid systems. My main role was detail design of custom machined parts and sheet metal components, along with the layout of assemblies to ensure integration with other parts of the system. I sourced off the shelf components and liaised with sub contract manufacturers on the procurement of custom parts and continuously worked with the other mechanical and electrical engineers to resolve challenging design issues.

In my time working for Alba Ultrasound I was mechanical designer for custom marine sonar transducers. These are complex and sensitive devices which can involve a great many components and processes to produce. This involved design of machined metal housings to withstand ocean pressures, moulded components, passive rigid and flexi PCBs and the assembly process of the units. I often had to work closely with the client's engineers in other parts of the UK and abroad to ensure that designs were fit for their intended purpose and platform.Design of manufacturing tooling had to be done as part of any new design, which would include jigs and fixtures to mount parts on milling machines, as well as tools and moulds to be used by assembly staff. Products included marine sonar for military vessels and oceanographic survey as well as smaller transducers for non-destructive examination of metalwork for the oil and gas and nuclear industries.In addtion to my main role I also served as system admin for the company's server system and was responsible for making backups of all design data and general onsite IT support.For my work on military projects with Alba I passed a basic security check and I have signed the Official Secrets Act.

With Jarvie Design the main body of my work was in the design of injection mouldings for consumer product design. These were often mass produced parts where the design for the moulding process aimed to reduce tooling costs and machine cycle times while still maintaining both the functional and aesthetic intent. Manufacturing was principally outsourced to companies abroad so effort was made to ensure that no changes were required by the manufacturer prior to tooling. Draft angles, part lines, sliding shut-offs etc. were all considered in the designs. Many of these products were for Lakeland Ltd in the UK and continue to be sold all over the country.Other work with Jarvie Design has also included speaker cabinet designs for Linn HiFi, packaging designs for the Macallan whisky, window components for the construction industry for Sidey and designs for exercise equipment with Swimbeam.I have continued to work with Jarvie Design from time to time over the years and look forward to more interesting projects in the future.