In Your Shoes - Roy Henderson

IT’S ALWAYS GREAT TO SEE PROJECTS COMING TOGETHER

Having multiple projects of varying complexity on the go at any one time, requires careful planning, therefore Monday always starts with a production meeting involving our production Manager Derek, and Lee Nixon, my co-director. Projects combining design, manufacturing of control panels and software are discussed to ensure our resource planning is carefully reviewed, to allow us to decide on in-house or subcontracting of the work. Myself and Lee are always involved with the team in the factory to review project progress. We are currently building systems for assembling plumbing fittings, hearing aid devices and also component that will ultimately be fitted inside parking aid sensors. After our production meeting its back in to our open plan engineering office, which myself and Lee also reside in, to then catch up with the design guys and start to review the design stages of some projects.

CONCEPT DESIGNING ACROSS THE GLOBE

The day starts off preparing for an afternoon conference call with a client in the east coast of America. This particular client requires a weekly face-to-face video calling. The rest of the morning is spent looking at new applications with Matt, our Applications Manager. These meeting are always extremely interesting, with a wide variety of new projects from industries such as medical device, automotive, and even the construction Industry. No two projects are ever the same. Devising concepts is what we do, whilst looking through the application notes from our sales guys. Our 2pm call with our client is here. Along with Lee and one of our project design engineers, we review the plan and set targets for the following week. Our project design engineer then takes the client through a design review. A very crucial stage, as this is when we hope to get a full design approval.

TRANSFERRING OF FISH IN THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND

Out of the office today at a client in the North of Scotland, they are looking to automate their process.  This time it’s in the food and drinks industry and requires a robotic transfer system along with code inspection of the product and conveying systems. This particular client is very well prepared, having a user requirement specification (URS) ready for us. This document allows us to review an overview of the requirements, then into their factory to see their current production process. The information gathered here is crucial to how we concept our proposal. Lots of notes, listening to the client and making sure we have our ideas matching.

A three hour drive back to Dundee is always an effective time to catch up with a few calls, to reflect on the meeting and allow me to think of how we will solve the client’s requirements.

SALES & MARKETING THE INVISIBLE SUCCESS FORMULA

Our sales guys are in town. Richard, based in Hull and Andy, based in Derby are both up for a sales meeting. Matt is also involved as we begin to discuss the items on our agenda, from sales performance to areas that we are looking to target. We always make these meetings open and informal, ensuring we get the best feedback from our team.

After discussing the status of applications, our afternoon session takes us on to look at marketing, with Claire, our Marketing Executive. Identifying goals, KPI’s and target planning allows us to decide on publications, blogs and up-coming events.

Finally finalising plans for our annual Automation Expo. A lot of planning is involved and June our marketing coordinator organises the 15 partners joining us over the two days, along with campaigning to ensure attendance is high, this takes a lot of work but everyone takes something away from this ever popular event.

EVERY FRIDAY NEEDS AN OSKAR

In earlier than usual, with my trusted dog Oskar. Myself and Matt discuss the application from Wednesday’s visit up north. Some overview sketches on the white board and we then have a concept that we can develop the following week, cost it up, create a design layout and full specification. An hour of planning with Claire looking at possible up and coming events and campaigns then takes us up to our 1pm closing on Friday. With the factory almost deserted, Oskar off home, this allows me time to catch up on some outstanding paperwork from the week.

At SP Technology, no two days are the same and weeks fly in. Being a team of 35 still gives me a lot of satisfaction, being able to mix my week up between dealing with clients, discussing applications, assisting in debugging of machines we are building, through to looking at marketing plans.