COVER STORY MARCH 2019
Molloy has become a valuable
part of the YASA team. In the past 12 months,
she has identifi ed and implemented a range of
improvements to the company’s laser welding
process – a critical aspect of the design and
production of the motors. Combined, these have
reduced the process time by 15%.
By contrast, Hillman knew exactly what he
wanted to do from an early age. “I’ve always been
obsessed with taking things apart to fi nd out how
they work,” he says. “It took me a while, though, to
realise that being an engineer would allow me to do
that – I remember being very disappointed when I
found out that ‘inventor’ wasn’t a real job.”
Hillman joined YASA in 2014 after completing
a master’s degree in electrical and information
engineering at Cambridge University. However,
he had fi rst come across the fl edgling company on
a work experience visit when he was 16, spending
time with Woolmer, helping to put together the
fi rst-ever motor. “From that point, I knew exactly
what I wanted to be doing.”
The two stayed in touch, and upon completing
his degree, Hillman was invited back. In that short
period of time, the change had been profound, he
says. “Between Tim fi ddling about with that fi rst
motor in a university laboratory to me coming back
fi ve or so years later, his bright idea had become a
real ‘thing’ with paying customers.”
Much like Molloy, Hillman is a star that has
risen since joining YASA. His role sees him using
software tools to develop new designs for the
company’s axial-fl ux electric motors. As part of
this, he has developed software that helps YASA’s
customers design their own powertrains from tens
of thousands of options. The software has helped
the company win multi-million-pound contracts
with some of the world’s biggest companies
by off ering a level of customisation that its
competitors cannot.
The fountain of youth
Hearing all this, it’s easy to forget that both Molloy
and Hillman are still relative newcomers to the
world of industry. Indeed, you get this sense from
YASA as a whole. It’s a young and diverse team, yet
the company puts a great deal of trust in its staff ,
no matter their age.
“We want to be able to provide jobs for all
ages and abilities, regardless of education or skill
level,” says Chris Harris, YASA’s CEO. “We have
people working here who left school at 16, and we
have people who have PhDs from top universities.
It’s manufacturing’s job to cater for that whole
range, not just to create a monoculture of one
‘type’ of job.”
Graduate schemes and placements form a
large part of YASA’s recruitment, continues Harris.
The company has had 19 come through this route,
of which a dozen have been taken on full-time
following their studies. “Some of those are now in
their mid-20s and are taking on more leadership
roles within the organisation. We take pride in
growing young talent and giving them ownership
of their processes.”
Trust plays an important role at YASA, and is
evident in the work that both Molloy and Hillman
do on a day-to-day basis. The former, for instance,
was trusted with a laser welding machine within
weeks of joining the company. “I was thrown in
at the deep end and had to learn fast to optimise
some of our processes,” she says. “In situations like
that you have to learn very fast, and often end up
becoming the company expert. In the case of the
laser welder, I’ve only been at YASA for about 18
months, but have become the go-to person on that
piece of equipment.” Her experience on this piece
of equipment proved vital on one customer project,
where she was able to improve the performance of
the process by over 400%.
Again, this boils down to the trust placed in
every member of staff . “Even when I was here
on my placement, I wasn’t looked at as someone
who was still at university; I was fully immersed
in the company,” Molloy continues. “Not many
companies can aff ord to have someone in just to
make up the numbers. I carried out work that the
company was going to benefi t from.”
Harris explains how this attitude permeates
the entire company. “It’s important that everyone
understands where the company is heading,” he
says. “An organisation can’t grow unless
you devolve responsibility to the workers and
make them accountable for their actions.
Facts &
Figures
YASA’s
Oxford factory
● Capacity to manufacture
100,000 units of YASA’s
electric motors per year
● 150 highly skilled new
jobs created at the site
● £15m in growth
funding from
government and Oxford
University to help build
the new site
● £35m+ in total funding
since the company was
founded in 2009
Tom Hillman won the 2018 Employee-
Led Innovation Award for his work
on YASA’s customisation software
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