60 SECONDS FEBRUARY 2019
60
seconds
with...
QAs a child, what did you want to
be when you grew up?
A Honestly, I wanted to be open-side
14
fl anker for Gloucester RFC, and if I
couldn’t do that then centre forward for
West Ham. The older I got the further
away these dreams became and so I turned
to my other passion, which was tinkering
and engineering. As a child I couldn’t just
accept that things ‘just worked’, I needed
to know how they did. This inquisitive
mind took me towards a Manufacturing
Engineering degree and beyond into a
career in operations.
QHow did you get
into the industry?
A Following graduation, I embarked on
an IEE accredited Graduate training
programme at Racal Radio (now Thales),
which aff orded me the opportunity to work
in most areas of the business for placements
of three to six months. By the end of the
programme I had decided to specialise in
manufacturing. It was structured, off ered a
great professional career path and was the
beating heart of the business – who’d want
anything else?
QWhat do you like most about
UK manufacturing?
A To me it’s our openness through best
practice sharing that sets us above
other fi elds of industry. We are fortunate
to be in a sector that understands the
benefi ts of benchmarking to better our own
performance. In our increasingly competitive
world, the pressures of productivity bear
on the shoulders of us all, so being able to
‘pinch with pride’ through a great network
of contemporaries allows us all to continually
improve. As I always maintain: ‘if we stand
still, we’ll fall behind’.
QWhat has been you biggest
accomplishment to date?
A For me, 23 September 2015 was a
massive day: in the morning I received
a letter saying I had successfully achieved
IET fellowship status, so could use FIET
after my name; then, unbelievably, in the
afternoon we were in London as a team and
rather unexpectedly won the UK Best Factory
Award for Siemens Magnet, alongside a
number of other awards. It was quite a day
(and night)!
QWhat’s the secret to a successful
future for UK manufacturing?
A In simple terms it’s leveraging what
the UK does best, in having the right
People, processes and products. Primarily,
I believe we need to be fi lling our industry
with talented, engaged individuals from
encouraging manufacturing at an early
age, through schemes such as STEM to
providing solid career paths via worldclass
apprenticeships and accredited
degrees/graduate schemes, to continually
developing those who have already chosen
manufacturing as a career (e.g. CPD). People
are without question the number one asset of
any business and by concurrently embracing
CV:
2017-present: operations director,
Crowcon Detection Instruments, Abingdon
2006-2017: operations manager,
Siemens Magnet, Oxford
2001-2005: manufacturing manager,
Siemens Magnet, Oxford
1996-2001: senior production engineer,
Thales, Didcot
Education:
2003-2005: Master of Business Administration,
Open University
1992-1996: Master of Engineering,
University of Warwick
the possibilities and benefi ts of technology,
we will achieve the greatest advantage in
productivity and competitiveness.
Finally, as I mentioned previously we
must continue to improve each other, via
best practise sharing.
QOne thing you may not know
about me is…
A I enjoy running away from hounds
and horses! I live in the Cotswolds
countryside and am a keen runner. This year
I’m lucky enough to have a place in the 2019
London Marathon so have agreed to join our
local bloodhound chase – as a target...
I’ll be running across the countryside
being pursued by about 20 dogs and up to
40 riders. It helps them as I am a scented
target and it helps me to generate the miles
I need, but I have to say my heart rate does
increase as they get nearer! What ‘adds’ to
the appeal is that they’re starved for a day
before to improve their drive to get me.
FRAZER MACKAY
operations director, Crowcon Detection Instruments
A few of my
favourite
things...
My favourite food is...
a traditional Sunday roast
It’s wholesome, healthy
and a perfect excuse
to have an
ale (or two)
My favourite
holiday
destination is...
Barbados
www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
Images: stock.adobe.com/ stockbp /Mick Taylor/ Joe Gough/ PHB.cz
My favourite fi lm
is... Top Gun
It’s full of great oneliners,
and growing up
in Farnborough meant
aviation and jets were
always around
My favourite book is...
The Lord of the Rings
What impresses me most
is Tolkien’s imagination.
Living near Oxford, I often
wonder how the local area
inspired his thoughts
accompanying
Barbados
It has the sun, incredibly
clear blue waters and is and
is always a happy place to be
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
/stock.adobe.com