Now an i4 Product Design project manager, Nick has a broad range of experience in electronics manufacturing, capital equipment and medical equipment sectors. He has built his experience from the shopfloor through his apprenticeship, leading towards Pre-Production, Process, Applications, Design for Manufacture and Service Engineering roles. Nick has delivered internal and external training and his management experience includes Engineering, Project, Environmental, Technical Sales, Sales and Operations management roles.   

Can you tell us about a proud moment from your career? 

Flexible Technology hadn’t been able to attract decent management and was struggling as the MD had stepped back  due to personal reasons for some time.  The culture was a closed, old school them and us, and no one knew what was happening. As Operations Manager and with the support of my colleague (General and Quality Manager) we put a business plan together to completely change the culture of the company the based-on openness, respect, empowerment and support, and presented it to the MD who approved it with very few changes.  The team welcomed the changes and their inclusion in the running of the company, they were encouraged to take ownership of their roles and departments and to feed their suggestions.

For example; the supervisor team took responsibility for scheduling and managing workflow; key process operators were educated and encouraged to take control of complex process with the power to contact suppliers directly for support; the bi-weekly company meetings encouraged open and frank discussion.  This led to improvements in moral, confidence and productivity across the organisation, and demonstrated significant improvements in KPIs, profitability and customer satisfaction.

What are you looking forward to in your project manager role at i4PD

I know the fundamentals behind project management, however the biggest challenge is going to be learning the systems and company culture of i4PD so I can integrate myself into that. I love the technology from all of i4's disciplines, it's very stimulating for me. I love the team here as well - having interactions with clients and our design teams whilst simultaneously running project operations is very satisfying.  

What interests you outside of work?

Spending time with my family and friends and looking after my kids even though they're growing up! Mountain biking is my passion. I want to do anything that I can get involved in to share it with other people. Sometimes that might be helping mend a bike or giving advice with skills. It's always nice to give a hand.  

Favourite local spot? 

It's got to be the 5 peaks of the Pentlands!

What are your 3 favourite product designs?

Charles Rennie Mackintosh - Glasgow School of Art - I love what Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife have done in creating a huge holistic design that worked really well. 

Aftershokz - These are just fabulous! I can see implants of these being the way forward in the future. I love design to be holistic, with a little bit of style in there. There's no reason for us to design things that haven't got character. Designs can be aesthetically pleasing, easy to work with and easy to maintain.  

Lotus 88 F1 Car  - I love anything to do with Formula 1, the solutions they come up with are incredible. My favourite car is a Lotus that never actually raced - it was banned before the season started. At the beginning of the ground effect regulations Lotus built a car with twin chassis design, with aerodynamic loads going straight to the springs, dampers and wheels, sperate to the chassis the drivers monocoque was situated. This allowed the car to perform at its best, without putting unnecessary load, vibration and force through the driver.

A last note from Nick – I'm 16 going on 60... That's why I always run up the stairs.