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CURRICULUM
VITAE |
John Durban,
CEng, FIMechE
Executive
Summary
An
accomplished Senior Manager with extensive experience working in multinational
companies. Now
gained new experiences as a founder and Director of a small and agile company
of product development professionals.
Key strengths include subject matter
expertise in product realisation / development (concept to launch) and the
engineering services business model.
Management skills span operational management (financial performance),
functional management, cross-functional project management and business
development.
Proven ability to work among executive management,
colleagues, end users and customers from different countries with differing
ethnicity, cultural and social sensitivities (
Current
Position & Company Overview
Mar’08 to
present Director & Company Secretary Warley Design
Solutions Ltd.
Warley Design Solutions Ltd (www.warleydesign.co.uk) is a provider
of mechanical engineering, design & product realization services in
industry sectors where reliability and performance needs to be assured.
Our mission is to leverage the experience we have amassed in working in
large corporations to bring the professionalism,
company values, Quality Management System experience and product development
process know-how but with the flexibility and agility of a small, local
company. We will apply the same
competencies and values and will select only those best-practice tools and
methodologies necessary to fulfill our customer’s objectives and deliver
optimized design solutions.
I have been involved in all aspects of the company since forming it with
a former colleague in March 2008. At
time of start-up I managed all matters relating to business / financial
planning, cash flow forecasting, legal formation, establishing facilities,
company market positioning & branding.
I retain all financial responsibilities and currently devote a great
deal of time to marketing, sales, business development & establishing
customer relationships. In addition to these
activities I compliment my business partner’s hands-on design capability with a
strong Engineering / analysis background.
In financial year 2009/2010 our customers spanned the
following market sectors (in order of descending revenue): Industrial – fire
panels, Supercomputing Infrastructure, Transportation - display equipments in
harsh environments, Broadcast – amplification, High-performance network
switching, Military - cryptography and controls, Oil & gas exploration and
Leisure sector.
Our projects require the provision of a packaging solution that
is engineered for reliability & performance (e.g. thermal,
Professional
Experience
Jan’06 to Feb’08 Senior
Manager, UK Design & Eng Services Solectron
Corporation
Revenues for Solectron in FY2006 were
$11Bn USD – Fortune 500 company.
Reporting to the
Senior Director for Europe I had full operational responsibility for the UK
Engineering sites and in addition Functional responsibility for Mechanical
Design & Compliance Engineering across the sites in Europe. I played an active role in regional affairs
such as Annual Operating Plan (AOP) and functional strategy planning. My group comprised around 30 multi-disciplinary
staff located in
Being
a “profit centre” my operational responsibility focused around finance:
revenues, cost control, rate setting, staff utilisation, billing etc. I set and
managed an Annual Operating Plan (AOP) of $2.49M US in 2007 against which I
achieved a Value Added Revenue (
I was also held
responsible for the quality of the engineering output from the
When not supporting
the Corporate Sales & Marketing teams I developed Engineering business to
help meet my own group’s financial targets (Revenue, Value-add revenue &
Gross margin).
Having a sound
grounding in product development and a good understanding of the spirit behind
the product development process I played an active role in refining the process
within my global division to ensure that design output is of an appropriate and
consistent quality.
As part of a strategy
to migrate design services to low-cost regions I seeded a design group in
In the past I have needed
to “right-size” teams to meet the operational needs of the business and have a
good understanding of the processes involved to select candidates. As the Senior Manager in charge of the
Mar’04 to Jan’06 Manager,
Design & Engineering Services Solectron
Corporation
My functional and
operational responsibilities were similar to those identified above but only
for the design facility based in
Sept’99 to Mar’04 Director
of Mechanical Engineering C-
Reporting remotely to a GM in
The company was formed
out of divestiture and being both small and young had little support by way of
finance, marketing, HR and Facilities groups.
As these disciplines were crucial to our success I gained an
appreciation of these disciplines; in particular company finance including setting
labour rates, annual budgeting and bidding/estimating.
My main responsibility
was to lead the team in its evolution as a world-class facility through the
identification, development and retention of key skills. This remit included team sizing
(recruitment/contractor hiring), skills coverage/demographics within the group,
skills development, performance appraisals, staff compensation, employee
satisfaction, software/hardware tools and facilities.
As part of a marketing
initiative I established an internal product exhibition area and an external
website.
Oct'95 to Sept’99 Principal
Engineer Nortel
Networks plc.
Reporting to the Manager of the Product Design &
Engineering department I was responsible for project costing, resourcing,
planning, schedule, management and reporting as well as the technical content
of the work. As a project leader in a
matrix-management organisation I had a varying number of multi-disciplinary
staff reporting to me on a project basis.
Products were typically telecommunications circuit packs, shelves and
bays with both optical and electrical interfaces.
I
was nominated for the “Spirit of Nortel” Presidents award for my contributions
to a development programme.
July'90 to Oct’95 Senior
Engineer BNR
Europe Ltd.
During this period my responsibilities included
running small design/Engineering projects.
My tasks included the (mechanical) design and manufacture of products
such as antennas and radomes for both commercial and military markets, the
ruggedisation of equipment for military use, thermal analysis of electronic
equipment, stress analysis and the generation of specifications.
During 1992/3 I was seconded to a facility in
Sept'86 to July'90 Technician
Engineer
My
tasks included drafting to BS 308, sub-contracting manufacture and services,
sourcing and selection of piece-parts and procurement of materials and other
tasks necessary in packaging of electronic equipment.
Sept'82 to Sept'86 Mechanical
Apprentice
As an apprentice
“Instrument Maker” I gained experience in most aspects of workshop practice,
primarily milling, turning, grinding,
I was the "London
Central" regional winner and National runner-up in the milling class of
the 1985 "Best of British" National skills competition.
Examples of
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
I have
recently undertaken my biggest career change and have had to quickly acquire a
host of new skills to tackle activities that were previously outside the scope
of my previous corporate Functional and Operational responsibilities.
Through
forming Warley Design Solutions Limited I have needed to learn about and deal
with all of the following:
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Ø
Company formation, legal structures |
Ø
Insurance: Public Liability, Employer Liability,
Professional Indemnity |
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Ø
Legal / Contractual issues: contracts, preparing quotes,
Terms & Conditions, Non-disclosure agreements |
Ø
Quality Management System Process, Business System
Architecture, document numbering, filing structures |
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Ø
Facilities:
premises leasing, equipment selection & purchase, space planning, business
rates |
Ø
IT Infrastructure:
hardware (servers, printers), application software, web site, domain
registration, antivirus & security, back-up procedures |
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Employment, personal expenses, director loans, payroll, dividends,
time management system |
Ø
Company identity: business cards, stationary, templates
for presentations & proposals, web site generation |
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Ø
Finance management, invoicing, Accounts Receivables,
Accounts Payables, VAT |
Ø
Business development, customer engagement &
relationships |
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Ø
Information security (IT), back-up procedures, building
security |
Ø
Functional performance, quality of execution & output |
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Ø
Supplier management, Purchasing |
Ø
Health & Safety |
I have engaged
the local Business Link organisation for support and have attended workshops on
Starting a company, Business Planning, Low-cost marketing, Negotiation &
Closing Sales.
It has been
necessary to design & establish many processes and procedures through which
the new company operates; such as for purchasing, invoicing, Accounts Payables,
Accounts Receivables, backing-up of data, employee expense claims & other employee
benefits, supplier & customer account management and many other operational
aspects that I previously took for granted when working in a multi-national
organisation.
I hold strong beliefs in the power of mentoring and soon
after becoming a full Member of the IMechE (1997) I was registered as a mentor
for our annual intake of
Over the last
few years of my corporate career I transitioned from Functional Management
(Providing Mechanical Design & Compliance Engineering Services across
European design teams) to Operational Management of two
I attained a
Black-Belt in Design for Six Sigma (DfSS) in 2006 after undertaking an
extensive course and being assigned to a multi-national Six Sigma team for
around 1½ years. We continue to utilise
the Six Sigma toolbox as-and-when appropriate as part of our product
development process.
Although I enjoy
hands-on design & engineering I have also had to gain a solid working
understanding of project management so that I could properly manage my project
management staff. I also have needed to be
actively involved in project management when senior management attention was
warranted. For this purpose I attended an
intense PRINCE2 training course and attained the qualification of
“Practitioner” in 2007.
I was invited
by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) to apply for “Fellow”
status in 2008 and was successful in my application.
Hobbies & Interests
I served fifteen years as a member of professionally
trained Industrial Fire Brigade, progressing to the highest operational rank
("Station Officer") in charge of a crew of eight personnel. In this capacity I was responsible for all
aspects of operational performance and in particular safety, response, asset
management, competence & training.
I am a self taught horologist and enjoy stripping,
cleaning & rebuilding clocks and vintage watches.
Summary of Qualifications & awards
O-Levels
Date Subject Grade
Jun-82 Mathematics A
Jun-82 Technical
Drawing B
Jun-82 Metalwork B
Jun-82 English
Language C
Jun-82 Physics C
Jun-82 Chemistry C
EITB Training & Apprenticeship
Jul-83 First year Mech/Elec
Engineering course 90%
Distinction
1983 Training Centre’s “Apprentice of the
year”
1985 “Best of British” Regional Heats,
Milling category Regional winner
1985 “Best of British” National Finals,
Milling category Runner-up
1985 Certificate of Engineering
craftsmanship – Milling, Turning.
1986 Certificate of Craft Apprenticeship
B/TEC Qualifications
Jul-84 ONC
- Mechanical & production Engineering. 12 merits, 1 Pass
Jul-86 HNC - Mechanical & production
Engineering. 10 Merits, 2 Distinctions
Jul-87 individual
HND units: Mathematics (M), Mechanics (D), Fluid mechanics (D)
Tertiary Education
Jul-92 BEng (Hons) in Mechanical
Engineering Grade: 1st class
European
patents
Date Patent number Title
Oct-90 93011154.0- Multilayer through hole connections
Jan-98 9726982.3 A telecommunications Electronics
Enclosure drain valve
Employer-related & Miscellaneous
Mar-93 Nominated
for Northern Telecom’s “Presidents Award” – Spirit of Northern Telecom”
category
Mar-94 Finite
Element Analysis training
Apr-95 Learning
Tree International - Project Management
Jun-95 Design
for Assembly training
Jul-97 Institution
of Mechanical Engineers elected
Member
Jul-97 First
registered as Chartered Engineer
Nov-97 Project
Planning, Analysis & Control
Jan-07 Design
for Six Sigma Engineering Black
belt
Nov-07 PRINCE2 APMG
/ QMS / Registered Practitioner
Feb-08 Lean
Design training
Oct-08 Institution
of Mechanical Engineers elected
Fellow