Production Superintendent
JLR
Total years of experience :26 years, 2 Months
My current role is the BIW Superintendent for the New Jaguar XF and also previously same role in
Sports car (F-Type CONV/Coupe, XJ & XJL models, I am responsible for 280 associates this
includes 16 group leaders and 7 Supervisors, complete manufacture of the XF aluminum
structures ensuring my teams deliver a Quality product on time. Whilst minimizing disruption to
our customers.
My responsibilities include, ensuring the department achieve all of our score card targets in
Q, C, D, M, S&E on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and reporting results back to the senior
management team.
• April 14 to March 15, Productivity savings of £3m by reducing the overall budget
headcount by 40 associates whilst building the same volume.
• April 15 - Sept 15, Improved department OPR and Quality targets in a struggling XJ/XJL
production facility.
• Sept 15 to current, Flawless launch of the new XF whilst managing the block upgrade of
facilities and offices. Total investment into the facility was around £20m.
I was the lead engineering manager for fuels, this included fuel fillers, fuel tanks and engine
components. My main role was to lead a team of around 15 engineers in delivering programs for
JLR, Ford, McClaren and Bentley. This was a new experience for me being part of a second tier
supplier which brought many challenges. The reason for me leaving so soon was due to me being
successful in my application to join JLR, I applied for both jobs at the same time.
In this role I was the Weld Line 2 production manager and am responsible for 163 associates this
includes 10 team leaders and 4 Coordinators, complete manufacture of the BIW structure
ensuring my teams deliver a Quality product on time. Whilst minimizing disruption to our
customers.
My responsibilities include, ensuring the department achieve all of our business plan targets in
Q, C, D, M, S&E on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and reporting results back to the divisional
manager. Since moving to Weld 2 we had many challenges, these include the new model launch
of the new Civic. The introduction of a second shift, recruitment of over 70 associates in 3 months
including Team Leaders and Coordinators. We also had the re-introduction of Honda Jazz into
line 2, one month after 2
nd
shift mass production start. All of this was complete on time between
Feb 12 and June 12 with very little interruption to production.
Honda of the UK Manufacturing
Supplier secondment at UYT
During the trial builds of the new Civic one of our suppliers UYT, were in distress unable to supply
Honda with the volume of parts required. A team was set-up consisting of four managers and 3
engineers. Main purpose of the team was to support UYT during the model launch, whilst setting
the foundations for stability. My role was to support the Weld, Press and PMC department as a
delivery operations manager. This involved working with each department manager and setting a
visual management approach, looking at the Delivery and Quality of each cell against Hondas
requirements. We also set a training plan for the shift managers and coordinators. This released
the department managers from the day to day running of the operation so they are able to look at
the long term future of their departments. The try builds were a success at Honda with very little
disruptions; we also had regular reviews with HUM procurement department, which gave them
some confidence in the UYT operation.
At the start of November 2011 I returned to HUM.
Honda of the UK Manufacturing
My responsibilities include, ensuring the department achieve all of our business plan targets in
Q, C, D, M, S&E on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and reporting results back to the divisional
manager.
When I took over as production manager there were many problems that I faced. The primary
objective was to establish a team that could maintain a stable quality car through a proactive
approach. The RFT was in the low 80%, through a series of activities the result was quickly turned
around, regularly achieving a RFT of 95%. At the start of April 2011 Weld 1 were given an award
for most improved department for that KI.
Honda of the UK Manufacturing
Managing a team of around 60 operators this includes two Team Leaders. In my role my
responsibilities include confirming all associate time keeping on a daily basis through our
computerized Time & Attendance system. Completion and investigation into associate absence
using the Honda return to work guide lines. Daily Quality, Cost, Delivery, Management, Safety
Environment targets. My biggest challenge within my role is our delivery and quality targets as the
environment I work within the welding department has a lot of complex equipment. My people
management skills grew during this time as you are working so close to the associates day in and
day out the would talk to you about all of their problems inside and outside of work.
My last project was a new Tailgate line with an investment amount of£2.4m. My role within the
project was to project manage from investment committee senior management presentation. To
put the Equipment out for specification, tender including equipment and services buyoff. Full
project cost control including cost down items, Mechanical, software and electrical buyoff. We had
to analyze CMM data and adjust fixtures and tools to get the target quality of the product and then
during the trial build stages we had to calculate the CP/CPK of the Tailgate for Fit & Finish stability
on the finished CBU.
At the same time I was working with a North east supplier (ADM) on the development of a Lost
cost AGV (automated guidance vehicle). This was a joint activity within Weld and Assembly
frame, as both areas had applications that were required to use them.
Reliability improvement engineer within the welding division; this was a 3 man team. All multi
skilled in robots, Plc, software and HMI changes also, process improvements through MOST
study. We had to review current equipment and manpower efficiency records, reduce the amount
of robots as well as head count.
One of the projects was to increase door production capacity due to a change in CRV volume.
This was achieved by modifying the loading area and safety light guards to bringing the
associates closer to the setting jig, whilst still achieving the stopping distance as set by the
PUWER regulations. This cost in the region of 20k and improved the overall efficiency by around
10% giving a further 29 car sets per shift.
Another project introduced was a tip control method which included robot, PLC and HMI
modifications. This was implemented across the division and saved the department around £10k
a month. These changes were fed forward to Weld Plant 2 and Honda America.
Another project was set to build a downtime monitoring system that could be viewed over the
intranet, similar to a SCADA system retailing in the region of 2 million pound. We utilized an
Omron ONC web viewer for 5k and went on a programming course for 3k built our own
networking PC which was connected to the HUM system this enabled us to calculate Uptime,
buffers, live faults, MTTR & MTBF and min by min downtime and cycle times for all machines. The
total system cost around 20k.
Some of our other projects were related to robot efficiency by time, then calculating spot weld
distribution, to remove robots.
The main role was to manage a team of 20+ operators to achieve a daily target, whilst ensuring
the equipment maintained a set efficiency. It was also part of my job to help maintain the
equipment through scheduled TPM and PPM. If the equipment failed during production time I had
to manage the breakdown whilst assisting the maintenance teams to get the line running as quick
as possible.
Started my career and Hum as a weld operator, which I did for around 18 months before
becoming a Team leader.
Over the last 18 years I have worked in production management as an operator, Team Leader,