Process People & Skills Tracker: February 2012
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BP is increasing its annual UK graduate recruitment by 50%, to nearly 250 graduates, in 2012, the company announced 2 Feb. “BP is hiring more bright young minds than ever before and I’m sure the UK’s young science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) community will be pleased to hear we are ramping up our recruitment again this year,” said Emma Judge, head of UK graduate recruitment at BP.
Fluor Corp. has elected David Seaton as its new chairman. Seaton, who was named chief executive officer and company director in February 2011, will hold both the chairman and CEO positions. Alan Boeckmann has retired having served the last year as the non-executive board chairman and the previous nine years in the role as Fluor’s chairman and CEO. Seaton is a board member of The Mosaic Co. and the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative within the World Economic Forum. He is also a board member of the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council. Seaton serves as co-chair of the B20/G20 Task Force on Corruption and as co-chair of the World Economic Forum?s Global Agenda Council on Corruption.
Hi-line Industries Ltd, a manufacturer of compressed air treatment, conditioning and purification equipment, has appointed Mark Baily as a service & production co-ordinator. Baily has both UK and overseas experience of the co-ordination functions required following nearly 25 years working for a major filtration company. This experience included stock control and purchasing as well as overseeing contracts and planning for technical personnel operating within the customer servicing environment. He started his career having passed with distinctions and merits in BTEC - HNC business & finance as well as NEBOSH health and safety management.
Adrian Lee has left his position as UK and Europe managing director of air handling specialist Gast Group Ltd to start his own company - Absolute Air & Gas Ltd - specialising in compressed air and gas systems. Lee has more than 30 years’ experience in the industry, having established JUN-AIR in the UK in 1995 to supply the dental, laboratory, industrial and automotive markets. Following JUN-AIR’s acquisition by Gast Manufacturing in 2007, he became MD for the European business of both Gast & JUN-AIR brands.
Ian Ritchie, managing director of Brammer, has been given an expanded remit to lead the recently acquired industrial tools, maintenance and health & safety product distributor Buck & Hickman. The £27.6m acquisition is intended to create a ’one-stop shop’ for industrial MRO supply, operating from around 120 locations across the UK. Ritchie has been MD of Brammer UK since December 2003.
CompAir/Gardner Denver has appointed Colin Mander to the newly-created post of aftermarket sales director across the whole of Europe, Middle East and Africa. This promotion follows Colin’s three years as managing director of CompAir in the UK.
Chris Hall has been appointed sales director of CompAir UK. Hall has worked in the compressed air industry since 1985 and was previously CompAir’s Sales and Service Manager - East, a position that he has held for the last four years.
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has signed a resource protocol for the recruitment of employees from Magnox Ltd to Jacobs’ UK operations. The deal gives Jacobs access to a skilled pool of talent to augment and develop its various teams of experts serving the industry. This protocol also increases the career choices available to Magnox staff who wish to continue to develop their careers in the nuclear industry. By providing future employment opportunities for its staff, Magnox can better retain essential skills at its sites. Don Nightingale, Magnox transition director said: “This type of agreement provides options for our employees who wish to remain in the UK nuclear industry, whether in nuclear decommissioning, nuclear power and electricity generation, or defense projects.”
Siemens Industry Automation and Drive Technologies has appointed two new recruits to its sensors and communication division to strengthen its support for the power and aggregates industries. Ian Elsby and Raj Kandasamy take on two newly created roles, covering the north and south respectively to provide dedicated expertise for this key area of industry. Elsby joins Siemens from Endress+Hauser, with over nine years process instrumentation expertise. Having been with Siemens for over four years, Kandasamy moves into the new role to apply his 15 years’ industry experience to enhance Siemens’ expertise and reach in the environmental power, mining, aggregates and cement industries.
Thorite has announced two appointments at LL Fluid Power, its recently opened West Midlands sales and service centre, based in Brierley Hill near Dudley: Stephen Lawrence becomes general manager of the new venture. He has spent over 36 years in the pneumatics business with companies including Air Systems, Nichols Hydramatic, Minett Fluid Power and LL Pneumatics. Joining Lawerence as key account manager is Kevin Slyde, who has extensive pneumatics industry experience.
Dhiresh Mistry has joined Leuze as an electronics salesman. He brings 22 years experience selling to a broad range of Midland’s industries from his time with RS Components. As the latest member of its ’sensor people’ team, Mistry joins Leuze as it celebrates its 150th anniversary, having started out as a textile company near Stuttgart, Germany.
Stephen Taylor hasjoined Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies as business development director for industrial outsourcing.Taylor has over 20 years’ experience in a number of markets including industrial, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, energy, food/drink and chemicals. He joins Veolia from a large international engineering consultancy and service company where he led their sales and marketing functions. He also has relevant experience in process and project engineering.
Adept Technology Inc. has appointed John Boutsikaris senior vice president of sales and marketing. Boutsikaris brings over 30 years of experience in global sales, marketing and channel management in high technology and capital equipment markets. In his role with Adept Technology, he will be responsible for setting the company’s global sales, marketing and post-sales operational strategy.
PowerPerfector has appointed Mike Carr as a non-executive director. Carr has experience and expertise in technology and research management. He is currently a member of the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB), vice president, trustee and fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. From 2001 to 2008, he was chief science officer and director of research and venturing at BT.
BEKO Technologies Ltd has hired Michael Williams to take over the role of regional sales manager for the South of England. Michael has extensive experience in the compressed air industry in the UK and his native South Africa. He has worked for Ingersoll Rand and more recently MBAS, a large multi depot distributor of compressed air products. Williams is a millwright by original training, going on to take an Engineering Diploma then a business studies qualification.
Sanderson, a publicly-owned UK provider of manufacturing and supply chain IT solutions to the food and drink industry, has appointed sector specialist Mike Gallagher to head up new business development for its UnityF8 business. Gallagher joins Sanderson from Maxima plc. Prior to this he was sales manager at Solarsoft Process Manufacturing Systems / SSI. One of a select number of Microsoft-certified dynamics sales professionals in the UK, he has an MSc in IT for manufacturing from Warwick and a BSc (Hons) from Manchester University.
Advantech Europe BV has appointwd Tony Milne to head its power and energy market business dvelopment. Milne has over 20 years experience of developing new businesses: he spent eight years at Ricoh Co Ltd, the leading copier company, as it went through the revolution caused by digital and networking technologies, overseeing a variety of sales, marketing and training roles at European level. He has lately worked eight years in the industrial sector which has also gone through a significant change with the adoption of Ethernet and TCP/IP technologies, the Web and wireless communications.
Invensys plc has appointed Mike Caliel as president and CEO of Invensys Operations Management with effect from 1 Jan, 2012. Caliel was previously with Invensys from 1993 to 2006, latterly as chief executive of Invensys Process Systems, the largest of the predecessor companies that were brought together to form Invensys Operations Management in early 2009. He has over 25 years experience in the industry and was until recently CEO of Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. Caliel is taking over from Sudipta Bhattacharya who joined the group in 2007 as president of the Wonderware Software division and has been the leader of Invensys Operations Management since February 2009. Sudipta is taking up a new role outside Invensys.
Adrian Lee has left his position as UK and Europe managing director of air handling specialist Gast Group Ltd (formerly JUN-AIR and Gast Manufacturing) to start his own company - Absolute Air & Gas Ltd - specialising in compressed air and gas systems. Lee has more than 30 years’ experience in the industry, having established JUN-AIR in the UK in 1995. Following JUN-AIR’s acquisition by Gast Manufacturing in 2007, he became MD for the European business of both Gast & JUN-AIR brands.
Fluor Corp. has announced that Kirk Grimes will assume the role of group executive for operations overseeing the company’s construction, procurement, project risk management and sustainability functions, as well as project execution services, ’project excellence network’ and strategic planning. He is also to lead a business-change process across all five Fluor business groups. Grimes has served as president of Fluors Global Services Business Group since 2003.
Fluor Corp. has appointed Garry Flowers as group president for global services, which includes its operations & maintenance business, TRS temporary staffing and AMECO equipment rental business. Flowers previously served as senior vice president for health, safety & environmental; corporate security; and industrial relations. He will retain oversight of these functions. Flowers was previously president and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions - Fluor-led partnership that oversees the management, cleanup and operations at the US department of energy’s Savannah River Site.
Cogent SSC and the National Skills Academy for Nuclear are to hold their fourth collaborative Skills Awards evening for the industry. The event will be held in Manchester on 22 March. Representatives from a wide-range of high-profile organisations will attend the event including major corporates, contractors, academics, funding authorities, regulators, training bodies and other key third parties.
Thorite has appointed Mark Wilson to the position of key accounts manager, based at the company’s Bolton office. Wilson joins Thorite from Bosta UK and will now be responsible for developing major manufacturing and processing industry accounts throughout the north west of England.
Keith Wiggins of Dow Chemical Co., has been elected the new president of the Chemical Industries Association. Wiggins graduated in chemistry at Imperial College, before embarking on his career with ICI. He worked in various technical roles for six years, before joining Dow Chemical in 1990 to pursue an international commercial career which included senior regional and global business positions. In 2007, Wiggins relocated to the UK, assigned as regional general manager for Dow in UK, Ireland and Nordic, in addition to his global business director responsibilities. He has since led both the region and business through a period of restructuring as part of Dow’s strategic transformation. The ’importance of manufacturing to the economy’ and the ’criticality of the chemical industry to the growth agenda’ will be key themes of Wiggins’ leadership during his term of office.
Offshore oil & gas industry organisation Oil & Gas UK has appointed David Ripley as its the new supply chain director. He replaces Brian Kinkead, who moved on earlier in the year. Ripley has over 25 years of experience in the upstream oil & gas industry in areas including: geological evaluation; drilling and completion fluid technology; and well engineering technology. He has also occupied senior technical, business development and operational roles - as well as working as a consultant and a managing director.
As part of an international expansion, mobile SCADA software company Schad, has opened a new office in London, and appointed James Hannay as its senior vice president, global sales & marketing and managing director UK. Hannay was previously senior VP northern Europe, at system integrator Zetes. Before that, he was sales & operations director of Peak Technologies.
Shaun Prinsloo has been appointed regional director for Control Techniques’ drive centres in the UK and Ireland. Prinsloo, who has relocated from South Africa, reports directly to Phil Sewell, executive vice president, sales and marketing. Prinsloo completed his electrical engineering degree at Durban University before moving into sales of electrical equipment and components. He has 15 years’ experience in the drives industry having worked as a sales director, a sales manager and, most recently, as a business development manager responsible for developing the reseller and end user business. His experience encompasses the steel, mining, water and HVAC/R industries and includes OEM projects, servo systems and upgrades of drive systems.
Atlas Copco Compressors has appointed Paul Clark as business line manager of its industrial air division in Great Britain. Clark started his engineering career as a qualified toolmaker first in the UK, and then in the US, before returning back to the UK to take up a sales role for a compressed air distributor. He then took up the position of sales manager for a dryer manufacturer before his appointment to MD of air dryer and filtration specialist, Hankison UK. Following the company’s acquisition by SPX, Clark was employed as sales director for its air treatment division with responsibility for establishing business line goals and strategy. After this, he joined Atlas Copco Compressors within business development, before being promoted to business line manager.
Ray Tregale is to take over as managing director at VEGA Controls, replacing Mel Henry, who is stepping-down from his role after 29 years. Tregale has been Vega’s southern regional sales manager of 13 years. He has over 33 years’ experience in the instrumentation business, in roles from apprentice to technical sales and into management.
Peter Silk, formerly a technical advisor to Firebuy and assistant divisional officer with the London Fire Brigade (LFB), has joined Draeger Safety as manager of its new southern safety centre. With four years’ experience in the specification and evaluation of firefighting equipment in line with the Firebuy framework, Silk also spent five years with HM Fire Service Inspectorate where he was involved with product development and technical issues relating to operational fire and rescue service equipment. Previously with the LFB where he began as a firefighter before becoming station commander at various stations and assistant divisional officer, he has also had experience of running the BA Workshops and Service Centre as part of the LFB protective equipment group.
Monitran, a developer and manufacturer of transducers for measuring vibration, proximity and displacement, has promoted Andy Anthony to managing director. Anthony joined the company in 2006, as operations director, having previously worked in the papermaking industry. In this role, he revamped Monitran’s manufacturing processes, implementing ’lean’ practices across operations ranging from raw materials through to delivered products. Anthony has helped the OEM to also move into ’turnkey projects’ said the company, citing its role in a recent maintenance overhaul of the Thames Barrier.
Bayer CropScience’s UK plant in Norwich has received Cogent’s ’roll of honour’ certificate for its commitment to the chemical industry’s Gold Standard. As part of the process, Bayer went through an ASET (assessment system for employer training) procedure, which is designed to allow employers to have their own in-house training benchmarked against the national standard. “We have been very focused on working towards the standard, to ensure that employees are trained in high-value skills, aligned to business need, and ultimately to increase the company’s competitive advantage,” said Hilary Wright, leader of the Bayer training team. The standard encompasses job role skills, knowledge and behaviours and requires employees to achieve high levels of understanding regarding the theory, principles and practices associated with business improvement and resource efficiency.
Investors in People has awarded subsea engineering firm Jee Ltd its ’gold status’ – only presented to around 1% of businesses participating in the IiP scheme. Out of a total of 157 criteria, 147 were met, giving Jee a 93.6% pass rate. All core standard requirements were met. Assessor John Baker said ’there is great energy throughout the organisation and people at all levels are innovative as well as being keen to perform well’. Other significant developments recognised were the reward and benefits package, which the assessor agreed is more motivating for staff, irrespective of their role.
ABB has appointed Neil Ritchie to head up its low voltage AC drives sales business in the UK. Neil replaces Steve Ruddell, who, after 10 years in the role, has been appointed head of global marketing - motors and generators. For a similar duration, Ritchie has been managing ABB’s service activities for drives and motors. In this role, he will be based in Daresbury and report to Chris Withey, who has recently taken over Steve Ruddell’s other role as local division manager for discrete automation and motion, UK. Ritchie has worked for ABB for the last 22 years, starting in automation service, technical support.
In the Oil & Gas UK Awards 2011, Ann Davies, a well intervention engineer (subsea) at BP, won the Oil & Gas UK award for overall excellence, in the individual category. The young technician of the year award went to John Piper, an instrument technician at BP Exploration and the award for mentoring was won by Paul Martin, who works for Petrofac as a platform trainer. In the corporate categories, the award for people development went to Cape and RBG Ltd was the winner of the business efficiency award. (More on Process Engineering)
Subsea engineering firm Jee has hired lead CAD designer Chris Phillips to its engineering team. He has more than 15 years of subsea experience using AutoCAD, Microstation J and Solidworks as well as extensive experience in 3D modelling.
Sulzer has appointed Jürgen Brandt as interim chief executive officer as of 1 Nov – in addition to his role as chief financial officer. In agreement with the company’s board, the current CEO, Ton Büchner, will leave Sulzer by the end of October to pursue a career opportunity as CEO of AkzoNobel, as announced in June. The recruiting process for the new CEO of Sulzer is underway and an appointment will be announced in due course, the company said.
A new face at ELGA Process Water is sustainability manager Sofia Figueiredo, who will be responsible for driving an action plan to reduce the company’s environmental footprint and to develop technology, product and service innovations for business sustainability. She has a first degree in environmental engineering, a masters from Cranfield University and four years experience in process design within the Veolia group.
Pipe Center has appointed Mark Wilson as regional sales manager, industrial. He was previously key account manager for London South East, responsible for large regional and national contractors. In his new role he will cover London and the South East, including Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and the Home Counties.
Nu-way has made two new appointments within its burner business. Alan Garden joins as area sales manager for the north. He comes to Nu-way after spending eight years with Cumbria Heating in Warrington where he was business development manager and prior to this, he worked for H&C Services in Stockport as a contracts manager on the refurbishment side. Frances Ross has been appointed as marketing analyst to work on Nu-way and its sister renewable brand, CTC. Before joining, Ross worked for Compuware as a marketing assistant and holds a BSc in biological sciences from the University of Plymouth as well as an MSc in biotechnology, bioprocessing and business management from the University of Warwick.
Severn Trent Services has appointed Enric Cardoner as the new general manager for its water purification group in Europe. Cardoner has held senior positions with major companies in both water and technological fields, including at EMTE Sistemas and at ADASA Sistemas, where he was general manager for the past seven years. Cardoner is a qualified engineer from the Universitat Politècnica of Catalonia and earned an MBA from the ESADE Business School.
Oil & gas industry services firm Penspen Group has appointed Nick Haines to its offshore engineering unit in London. With over 23 years’ experience in the subsea industry, Haines brings extensive experience of equipment design, manufacture, testing & commissioning, offshore installation and engineering management. He previously managed engineering project teams and deepwater developments at JP Kenny, and has particular experience in designing and manufacturing subsea controls systems and subsea production systems. His career also includes a four-year stint as engineering manager for BP’s ultra deepwater Block 31 field off the coast of Angola.
BP has appointed Michael Townshend as a non-executive director of TNK-BP with immediate effect. Townshend will also continue as president of BP in Iraq, overseeing the expansion of Rumaila, the world’s fourth largest oilfield. He takes up the position on the TNK-BP board recently vacated by Tony Hayward. From 2002 Townshend managed the construction of the 1800 kilometre Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project bringing Azerbaijan’s oil from the Caspian to the Mediterranean and BP’s onshore business in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey including the South Caucasus gas pipeline. He moved to the Middle East in 2007 to set up BP’s tight gas appraisal project in Oman, then became BP president of Middle East and Pakistan. He became head of BP in Iraq in 2009 following the successful bid for the development of Rumaila.
Severn Trent Services has appointed John Dyson as North American sales director for its Water Purification group. Dyson joins the company with 20 years of experience in technical sales and management. In his most recent position, Dyson was responsible for Infilco Degremont’s sales into the municipal water and wastewater treatment market.
Kvaerner has appointed Tony Allen as executive vice president for its international business area. A UK citizen, Allen brings experience from previous international top management positions in the oil & gas industry. He has been part of the corporate management with several of the leading EPC contractors for the oil & gas industry, including SNC-Lavalin Inc., Humphries & Glasgow and Earl and Wright. He also worked as a project manager and technical director for Kvaerner in the 1990s. His project management track record includes working with offshore developments and other projects in South East Asia, Africa, the North Sea, South and North America. Allen holds a BSc degree and is a Chartered Engineer.
Kent Masters has assumed the role of chief executive officer of Foster Wheeler AG. As previously announced, Masters succeeds Umberto della Sala, who had been serving as Interim CEO and who continues to serve as the company’s president and chief operating officer and as CEO of the company’s global engineering and construction group.
AUMA, a supplier of valve-control actuation system, has appointed a new managing director for its UK subsidiary. Paul Hopkins moves from general manager at LG Electronics to take the MD position at AUMA Actuators Ltd. Ian Sully, the previous MD will return to AUMA UK in the near future: he will continue to represent the company in a new role. With a degree in energy engineering, Hopkins started his career at Honeywell controls in engineering, projects and sales roles. In 1995, he took his first general management post at Johnson Controls. Hopkins then headed a European controls operation for the Carrier Corp. and, immediately prior to joining AUMA, was general manager of LG Electronics, establishing its energy solutions business in the UK.
Enertech has appointed Rick Crees as its new trading director for the Nu-way burner business. Having worked in the plumbing and heating industry for 20 years, Cress will be responsible for commercial and domestic burners, spare parts, marketing and purchasing. He was previously with Wolseley UK as head of commercial Plumb and Parts Center.
Nu-way claims to be the UK’s largest manufacturer of gas, oil and dual fuel burners.
Endress+Hauser is re-jigging the top management of its Manchester-based operation, Endress+Hauser Ltd, with managing director Hans-Peter Endress to hand over the management of the UK sales centre to his deputy, David Newell, on 1 Jan 2012. At the same time Hans-Peter’s eldest son, Steven Endress, will join the company, focusing on e-business. After more than 30 years with Endress+Hauser UK - and 25 years as MD - Hans-Peter Endress will step down from the executive but will continue with the company, which employs 200 people, as chairman with special duties. Read more
Dr David Adams has been appointed as Cogent director of Science and Higher Education (HE) — a role including responsibilities for policy, as well as project management of a number of key programmes within Cogent’s strategic Life Sciences Skills Action Plan. Read more
Sheffield Forgemasters has taken on a new batch of apprentices to add to its engineering workforce. The company will train 68 apprentices over the coming year - most in their second and third years, but 17 of which are new school and college graduates studying for specialist careers and roles in all departments across its 64-acre Brightside Lane site. Read more
Jayne Edwards is to lead the new Technical Apprenticeship Service (TAS) — an employer-led initiative, initially funded from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Growth and Innovation Fund. Edwards previously managed skills initiatives for Cogent, including the Sector Compact — a Cogent programme to increase demand for technical skills across England through the Train to Gain programme. Her role in setting up the TAS, includes building a team to deliver the service, and securing involvement from employers in chemical, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, petroleum, polymers and nuclear industries. “The Government’s backing for TAS is a clear signal of the importance of science-based apprenticeships to the economy; we will be able to support employers, particularly SMEs, in finding the right calibre of people for their business,” said Edwards
HardwarePT, the hardware and availability business unit of Cheadle based SolutionsPT, has appointed Rob Dinsmore as product manager for the company’s availability portfolio, including products from Stratus Technologies and ACP ThinManager as well as SolutionsPT’s own managed care support services. In a previous role as internal account manager for Wonderware UK, Dinsmore gained insight into the needs of industrial computing customers. His responsibilities at Wonderware included new business development in the North East and Yorkshire regions. Before joining Wonderware, Dinsmore worked for IRIS Business Software as well as GE Commercial. He graduated from Sheffield University with a BSc in Computer Science in 2003.
Leicestershire-based 3D white light measurement company Phase Vision ha appointed Michelle Lawrence as sales engineer. Lawerence joins Phase Vision from testing and measurement systems specialist Froude Hofmann where she was sales and marketing manager. She previously held international roles in sales and marketing, working in Italy, Singapore and the US.
Heating and combustion equipment manufacturer Enertech Group has appointed Graham Williamson as the new managing director of its UK business, Enertech Ltd. Williamson joined the company at the start of 2011 as general manager for the Nu-way burner division, and since then has been involved with the company’s 2011-2012 strategic plans. In his new role, he will be responsible for strategic and operational management of both of the Enertech Group’s brands in the UK. Williamson has over 30 years’ experience in the heating industry, having worked for leading manufacturers of boilers and radiators. Prior to joining Enertech, he was the general manager for Ideal Commercial Heating, a role he took on after nine years as business director for ISG Group.
Over half of graduates who leave university with a degree in engineering are working within the field six months later, according to a report from the University of Birmingham. The study appears to undermine claims that the country’s businesses are facing a shortage of well-qualified people with science and technology degrees. Some 20% end up in graduate jobs not related to their degree, while a further 24% find work in sections of the economy not requiring a higher education qualification, such as sales, according to professor Emma Smith, the University of Birmingham academic who compiled the figures. (More on Process Engineering)
Ian Sams has been appointed as Project Manager at Moody Systems Ltd. Sams arrives from D C Norris & Company, a well known UK based food process engineering firm, where he was responsible for multi-million pound contracts in the UK, Europe, Russia & the US. He has joined the Moody Systems project management team, adding 20 years of extensive knowledge and experience in food process engineering. In his new role, Sams will be responsible for delivering projects and working to expand the business. Established in Nottinghamshire over 35 years ago, Moody Systems Ltd is a process engineering firm and equipment supplier to the dairy, food, beverage, brewery and pharma sectors.
Flygt trainee service engineer Lee Meekison, has been named the Apprentice of the Year at the 2011 Pump Centre Conference.Meekison, from West Lothian in Scotland, joined Flygt as an apprentice straight from school in order to pursue his passion for engineering. He was one of four young apprentices from Flygt to be entered into the awards. The annual awards event, which is supported by companies from the water industry, was introduced as part of the Pump Centre Conference a few years ago. “I joined Flygt as an apprentice at the age of 17 and have worked hard to learn from my senior colleage’s throughout my role as a trainee service engineer. The support I have recieved from Flygt has spanned from my line manager, right through to a corporate level,” said the trainee.
Jonathan Cheeseman, a machining apprentice at Sheffield heavy engineers DavyMarkham, has won the ’student of the year’ award at the Rotherham College of Arts and Technology for his contribution to his BTEC national diploma in manufacturing. Currently in his second year, Cheeeseman is already set to complete his apprenticeship, which usually lasts for three years when he finishes his NVQ3 in machining techniques.
Management, engineering and development consultancy Mott MacDonald, has appointed Chris Davis to its nuclear and process team as process group manager. Davis, a chartered chemical engineer and a fellow of the IChemE, brings with him over 20 years’ experience in chemical engineering, primarily within the pharmaceutical industry. He most recently worked for Jacobs Engineering as a biotechnology specialist.
Jeremy Wilson will join Wood Group as a non-executive director on 1 Aug, and will also join the board’s nomination committee. Wilson is vice chairman of JPMorgan’s Global Energy Group providing strategic and corporate finance advice to a range of oil & gas operators worldwide.
Foster Wheeler has appointed Kent Masters from Linde Group as chief executive officer – ending a nine-month head hunt to replace Robert Flexon, who quit after just five months in the job. (More on Process Engineering)
Andrew Keith, an alumnus of Loughborough University, has been appointed as technical manager at Leicester-based Cressall Resistors, following the incumbent manager’s retirement.
The partnership between Cressall Resistors and the local institutions of higher education has led to a career progression for Keith as well as a number of other graduates in apprentice schemes. (Read more on Process Engineering)
Schlumberger Ltd chairman and chief executive officer Andrew Gould is to retire as CEO in 1 Aug and as chairman until the company’s AGM in April 2012. Current independent lead director Tony Isaac is to be the new non-executive chairman, with the CEO role going to Paal Kibsgaard, chief operating officer of Schlumberger. During 14 years at the company, Kibsgaard has held operational and management responsibility in the Middle East, Europe and the US. Prior to becoming COO, Kibsgaard was president of the reservoir characterization group after roles as VP engineering, manufacturing and sustaining; and VP of personnel.
AMEC has appointed Andy Sallis as president, AMEC Oil & Gas Americas, responsible for Houston-based project operations, including supervision of JVs AMEC Black and McDonald in Canada and Paragon Angola in West Africa. Sallis was previously senior VP, business capture and delivery, for AMEC Paragon – the oil and gas business unit of AMEC Natural Resources Americas. Most recently, he led the team that secured a contract for the delivery of a marine well containment system for the Gulf of Mexico, the Houston-based company’s largest contract to date. Sallis has been with AMEC for 23 years, with roles in the UK, South Africa, Angola, China and the US. He is a chartered engineer and holds a BSc in civil engineering from the UMIST in Manchester.
Eddie Spires of Dustcheck Ltd., who has recently completed a four year term as SHAPA council chairman has received an award in recognoition of his service to the association. The award was presented by new SHAPA chairman Rob Hudson of Spiroflow Ltd. At the same time Ian Blackmore, one of the last remaining council members who was also a founder member, was presented with an award to mark his three years as a former chairman and service over a period of more than 25 years.
Hydratight has announced new appointments to its development and sales team for Morgrip – a weldless topside and subsea pipeline connector developed by the company. New to the team are: Sales and projects coordinator Alok Pandey, who has experience in purchasing, logistics and project administration; project engineer Ali Naqvi, who has design and project engineering experience from the management of global cryogenics projects, industrial equipment and environmental services; new connectors sales manager and chartered mechanical engineer James Rowley, who has years of experience with subsea products in the world oil and gas market, and Morgrip design engineer Simon Townsend, who joins the company’s global engineering team and has extensive experience gained in automotive, metal processing, waste water projects and subsea intervention handling systems. The four will be based at Hydratight’s head office in Walsall, UK.
Solids Handling & Processing Association (SHAPA) chairman Allan Wilkie has received the IMechE 2010 Solids Handling Award at the recent Bulk Materials Handling committee meeting. Wilkie received the award for services to the UK pneumatic conveying and solids handling industry during his 40-year-plus career including a six-year term as chairman of SHAPA council until his retirement. Prior to this he had served on SHAPA committees for several years.
Pneumatics company Thorite has appointed Mike Armstrong as national accounts manager. Armstrong is a compressed air and pneumatics professional with 25 years’ experience & applications knowledge. He has track record for delivering reduced purchasing costs by improving stock logistics. He spent eight years with Thorite previously, rising to become operations manager, before leaving two years ago to join Easilift Loading Systems as service operations manager.
Bayer MaterialScience has appointed Peter Vanacker, formerly head of its polyurethanes business, to an executive committee position as head of industrial marketing and innovation, as of 1 July. In his new role, Vanacker will be responsible for driving industrial marketing and innovation at BMS, and lead its development business activities in functional films and carbon nanotubes, among others.
Bayer MaterialScience has appointed Dr. Joachim Wolff to succeed Peter Vanacker as head of its polyurethanes business unit. Daniel Meyer joins the executive committee and succeeds Wolff as head of the BMS coatings, adhesives and specialties business unit. Meyer was previously head of marketing and business development within this business unit in the Asia Pacific Region.
Doosan Power Systems apprentice Jake Rambaldini will be flying the flag for the UK’s engineering construction sector at WorldSkills later this year after being selected to represent the country in the welding competition at the event. Rambaldini, from Daventry, East Midlands, recently finished an ECITB NVQ Level 3 Welding apprenticeship at Doosan Power Systems, and in 2010 he won a gold medal at SkillWeld, a UK welding competition. WorldSkills, known as the Skills Olympics, is the world’s largest vocational skills competition. This year London is hosting the event at the ExCeL Centre, 5-8 Oct.
Ener-G has appointed Craig Allen as group manufacturing director, a role including responsibility for cogeneration systems from 4kW to 10MW and engines in sizes from 165kW to 2MW for biogas applications. Allen joins from automotive supplier Magna Decoma, where in his two years as operations manager. Previously he held senior positions at CPI Card Group Ltd, and at PPG Industries (UK) Ltd, where he introduced lean manufacturing and optimised product and data flows.
Marcel Heugen, an expert in machine vision and industrial automation engineering, will now serve as a senior consultant for PPT Vision’s European headquarters in the Netherlands. Heugen held leadership roles in machine vision engineering at Simac Masic & TSS bv, SAC GmbH (Sirius Advanced Cybernetics) before launching his own business, SAC Nederland, Vision Competence Center, in 2005. In his new assignment, as founder of Vision Consultancy, he will support an expanding network of PPT VISION certified integrators, distributors and business partners throughout Europe.
AMEC has appointed Philip Bourne as managing director of its Europe environment & infrastructure (E&I) business. The company has also promoted Richard McLaren to managing director for the UK E&I business. Bourne, who is based in AMEC’s Newcastle-upon-Tyne office, is a chartered engineer with 20 years of global experience, predominantly in water and wastewater across Latin America, the Middle East and the UK. Prior to joining AMEC, he served as regional director for north Latin America with Halcrow. McLaren, also a chartered engineer, was previously a director of Entec, which was acquired by AMEC in 2010. He has been with Entec for 14 years and has been involved in a variety of major multidisciplinary projects across a wide range of sectors. He is based in the company’s Leamington Spa offices.
Hilllside, New Jersey-headquartered Vanton Pump & Equipment Corp. has appointed Lawrence Lewis as president and Kenneth Comerford as vicepresident. Lewis joined the privately held manufacturer in 1991 and formerly held the position of executive vice president. As president he succeeds his father, Gerald Lewis, who co-founded the company in 1950. Comerford started with the company in 1982 and was previously vice president sales.
John Reynolds has been appointed distribution manager for the south by FLIR Systems. Having secured an honours degree in electronic engineering in 2000, Reynolds then turned his academic knowledge into practical application when he joined City Electrical Factors as part of the internal sales team. His next move within the industry was to RS Components where, as territory sales manager, he was responsible for managing a base of 2000 accounts comprising large blue chip companies through to sole traders. In 2008 Reynolds joined Fluke UK as area sales manager, responsible for managing its wholesale activities in the South East and this gave him an introduction to the world of thermal imaging.
Vision systems integrator, Olmec-UK Ltd, has expanded its mechanical design and on-site installation departments. Petra Millberg has joined the design group, while Andrew Pounder has strengthened the company’s on-site systems integration team. Millberg has a masters degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida and is specialising in conceptual design and documentation on Olmec-UK projects. Pounder brings experience of working with OEMs on installation and maintenance issues, particularly in the packaging industry.
Mark Whitmore has been appointed as the general manager of Boge UK. Whitmore has spent over 20 years working within the compressed air industry in a variety of sales and management positions in both the UK and overseas. He brings industry experience, coupled with strong client and management skills, to the role. As general manager, Whitmore will be responsible for developing the business throughout the UK and Ireland including strengthening the distribution network.
Flexitallic UK, part of industrial static sealing products group FDS, has appointed Jonathan Brough as its new sales director. Prior to joining Flexitallic, Jonathan was sales director at E & L Engineering Ltd, with responsibility for strategic direction and managing customer relationships. He has also spent much of his career in the armed forces, including five years as a combat engineer in the French Foreign Legion.
The UK subsidiary of Foster Wheeler ’s Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded, for the fourth year running, the Order of Distinction Award for Occupational Health and Safety by the UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). It is also its 18th consecutive RoSPA Gold Award for health and safety performance on UK and international projects. The Order of Distinction is RoSPA’s highest achievement award and is only presented to those companies which have attained at least 15 consecutive RoSPA Gold Awards for outstanding health and safety performance on projects around the world.
Brian Davis has been appointed vice president of Shell Global Base Chemicals, succeeding Graham van’t Hoff who has become chairman for Shell in the UK. Previously VP downstream strategy, Davis’ experience at Shell spans process technology, refinery operations, supply chain and strategy. He joined Shell’s Clyde refinery in Australia in 1988 after graduating in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney. He moved to The Netherlands in 1994 to manage refining strategy and oil market analysis, and then to Turkey in 1997 where he led refining, supply and distribution operations. After running Shell’s global crude oil chartering activities from London, Davis became general manager of Shell West Supply and Trading in Barbados. Returning to London in 2005, he was general manager for supply strategy Americas and then for lubricants supply chain in Europe and Africa. He took up the role of VP downstream strategy in 2009.
National Instruments UK & Ireland has appointed Kyle Voosen as its new director of marketing. Previously product marketing group manager for Industrial & embedded systems at NI corporate HQ in Austin, Texas, he takes responsibility for NI UK & Ireland marketing strategy and execution. Voosen began his NI career in 2001 on its engineering leadership programme as an applications engineer in Austin. He moved into product marketing two years later, as product marketing manager for machine vision and image processing. In 2006, Voosen spent six months at the NI Germany office as a technical marketing engineer, focused on industrial and embedded products. This was followed by a stint back in the US as the NI Vision business development manager. Since 2009, Voosen has lead a team of product managers and marketing engineers, in his role as industrial embedded group manager.
Jason Atkinson, who is on Byworth Boilers’ apprenticeship scheme has achieved runner-up spot in the national final of the Electrical Apprentice of the Year competition. Atkinson joined the boiler maker as an electrical apprentice in its hire division. To gain wider experience, he moved across to work in the workshop building panels and wiring boilers. Now, having completed his training programme, he is involved in servicing Byworth boilers all over the country. Atkinson has also passed his NVQ Level 2 and 3 exams in electrical installation, City and Guilds 2330, and enrolled on a HNC electrical power and utilisation day-release course at Bradford College. Eventually he aims to move into R&D and the design of electrical and mechanical systems.
Woodside has appointed Peter Coleman as chief executive officer and managing director, as of 30 May. He will succeed Don Voelte, who is to retire after seven years with the company. Coleman joins Woodside with 27 years’ industry experience with the ExxonMobil group, where he has filled a variety of roles in Australia, Africa, Asia and the US. An Australian citizen, Coleman’s most recent position was vice president of the ExxonMobil Development Co., with responsibility for oil and gas developments around the world. This included ExxonMobil’s Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project, and oil and gas developments in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.
Dr. Thomas Bieringer is to take over as managing director of the INVITE GmbH research company, which works on new production concepts for the “Factory of the Future”, as of 1 July. The PhD physicist succeeds Michael Lorenz , who led the Chempark Leverkusen-based technology centre since the joint venture between Bayer Technology Services (BTS) and Technical University Dortmund was established in 2010. The departing MD is assuming new duties at BMS’ industrial operations unit. Read more
AMEC has appointed John Connolly to succeed Jock Green-Armytage as chairman. Connolly, who is retiring from his current role as chief executive of Deloitte UK and global chairman of Deloitte Touche Tohamatsu, will join the AMEC board on 1 June. A chartered accountant, he spent three years establishing an office in the Middle East before returning to the UK in 1980 following the Touche Ross merger with Mann Judd. Connolly took over the operations of all regional offices in 1987 and the London and southern offices in 1990. In 1995, he was appointed managing partner of all practice offices and in 1999 he was made the senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte UK .
Echotect BV has appointed John Flaye as international commissioning director to oversee the design and installation of its technology in plants worldwide. Flaye has 25 years’ experience in project management of factory builds and installation for multinationals, including HJ Heinz and John West Foods. He served in the armed forces, before embarking on a career in the food and nuclear industries, graduating as an electrical engineer during this time. Echotect’s technology can provide a recyclable alternative to engineered stone by combining waste plastics with fine aggregate by-products.
Three graduate interns have provided Spalding-based Guttridge Ltd with extra resources to analyse, review and improve its on-going processes. They have also contributed to a new R&D project, making presentations to potential customers and partners of the bulk-powder-handling machinery maker. The trio, Anushka Devaser, Edozie Nnoruka and Alex Jen Ken, were all from the Leicester University Graduate Internship Program. Read more
Jee, a pipeline, riser and subsea engineering and training company for the oil, gas and renewables industries, has added industry specialist Jonathan Lindsay to its management team. With his appointment, on 1 May, Lindsay heads up the Aberdeen office and be responsible for operations and performance. He has worked in all aspects of the subsea oil and gas industry over the past 20 years, from dealing with offshore trenching and construction to running multi-disciplinary, multi-company project teams.
Linde AG is to extend the contract of Prof Dr Wolfgang Reitzle, chief executive officer of Linde AG, by two years until May 2014. The contract was due to expire on 9 May 2012. The extension takes account of the age limit stipulated in the group’s procedural rules. Reitzle has been on Linde’s executive board since May 2002 and its chairman since January 2003. His first term of office was due to expire on 9 May 2007, but in May 2006 the board renewed his appointment as CEO for a further five-year term expiring on 9 May 2012.
Automation company Perceptive Engineering Ltd has appointed Dr. Clive Elphick as non-executive director. Elphick’s career spans 20 years in the water industry, latterly as managing director of asset management and regulation for United Utilities. He is a former chairman of the CBI for the North West of England and currently holds non-executive directorships with the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation. Perceptive supplies automation solutions, offering predictive control and predictive management of complex plant and assets across a range of sectors.
Process Systems Enterprise, supplier of gPROMS process optimisation technology has appointed Dale Curtis Jr. as president of its Americas operation PSE Inc. Curtis has over 15 years’ experience in sales, strategic business development, marketing and management within the materials and life science industries. He will be responsible for expanding PSE’s Americas customer base of large process industry organisations. Curtis Jr. was previously director of strategic account management for Freeslate, Inc., and, before that, director of business development for Symyx Technologies Inc.
The Association of Loading and Elevating Equipment Manufacturers (ALEM) has appointed Andy Georgiou as its new president. He is widely experienced in the industry and has headed up Stertil Stokvis’s loading bay division since 2007. “At a time when the Health and Safety executive is making severe cuts in the number of inspectors working in industry,” said Georgiou. “I feel that it’s more important than ever to ensure that ALEM works tirelessly to uphold standards of manufacturing, installation and after sales service.” Also newly appointed, to serve as ALEM’s vice president, is Marcus Clissold of Pickerings Lifts.
Oxfordshire-based LTi Metaltech has appointed Edgar Rayner as engineering manager.Tim Arbuthnot as sourcing and planning manager and Theo Becker to lead operational manufacturing activity. Rayner joins from Siemens Magnet Technology, where he introduced a global supply chain and managed new technology introductions. Arbuthnot and Becker were both recruited from GE Healthcare Oxford and previously worked for Oxford Magnet Technology, now part of Siemens. The apppointments are to help Metaltech transfer its engineering/welding skills into new applications in the cryogenics, renewables and nuclear sectors.
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