Career Highlights
Graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield in 1960. Joined ICI, a then prestigious company which offered first class training for engineering graduates to meet the qualifications then needed by the IMechE, an Institution that I have been a member of for over 60 years.
After a period in the Billingham Mine and then on to plant construction in Malaysia, ICI next put me into the early days of applying computers to piping engineering. The application of computers to engineering design became a central aspect of much of my subsequent career.
With ICI I travelled to Germany, Japan and the USA presenting their expertise. Then with Davy I was worldwide coordinator of Computer Aided Design (CAD), regularly visiting their US and German subsidiaries and CAD software customers. In-company management development took me into material control and procurement. In BNFL I headed their massive CAD effort in support of the £2.0bn THORP Project with a department of 80 and budgets of £6m pa for both revenue and capital. American CAD companies headhunted me and I worked for ComputerVison located mainly in Norway heading their Oil & Gas task force and then for Intergraph based in Holland but travelling extensively in Europe and on trouble shooting missions to Australia & South Africa. Represented the European operation in all US Process industry strategy meetings. My primary technical expertise migrated to Document & Content Management.
Played an active part in making digital data transfer more accepted, with involvement in the CALS and PI-STEP initiatives.
At this point the industries revenues peaked and European Headquarters operations were minimised, so in 1983, I went into consultancy forming my own company - 20CC Ltd, which finally closed on 2017.
Most of my assignments were for blue chip companies. They covered all aspects of applying computers to the engineering design process and the full life-cycle control of resulting projects. The larger companies were: - Amec, London Underground, McDermott Marine & Syngenta, all engineering systems related.
Samsung was my largest (£30m) computer installation project and was 100% successful meeting cost and the strict time constraints of coinciding with two immovable factory shutdown windows.
I also worked for AstraZeneca on 3 UK sites for over 6 years often full-time covering the improvement of all maintenance engineering procedures and systems.
Other assignments were: -
Aveva formerly CadCentre on software marketing
Tarmac on Construction supply chain.
QinetiQ, formerly DERA on software marketing.
Martin Baker Aircraft for Document Management
Edited two DTI sponsored books on Information Management in the Process Industries.
In parallel with this I was an Associate Lecturer of The Open University for over 30 years. Courses were at levels 1,2 & 3 Systems Thinking, Engineering levels 1 & 2 and the Technical MBA residential school. Set questions for this course and marked exams in all of them, taught as a contract lecturer to BAe Systems and the External Examiner for 4 years with the Arab Open University in Systems Thinking.
Fellow of both the IMechE and the CMI and a Freeman of the City of London.
Chaired many Committees: -
BIM (now the Chartered Management Institute) - Croydon Branch
Last Chair of the SDP in Croydon.
IMechE Process Industries Board, Computer Applications Committee, Pharmaceutical Committee, and the Food & Drink Engineering Committee, when it was re-formed. And numerous IMechE Seminars.
Chair of the management company for 42-unit Apartment Block in which I live.
Chair of the Trustees for the 311-unit private residential estate on which I reside.
My chairing days are not done as I am now scheduled to chair 6 Webinars on Energy Transition between September 2021 and April 2022.