Operations Manager
SK Solutions
Total years of experience :37 years, 10 Months
2013 SK Solutions
Operations Manager responsible for the day to day operations for SK
Solutions covering 4 continents and 11 countries ensuring that the necessary
resources were available to meet the customer's Anti-Collision requirements and deadlines. This has included the deployment and management of an installation to a key site in Detroit (USA) for a 1000 Tonne crawler crane ensuring key power lines
are avoided.
Responsible for the development and implementation of companywide procedures and process to meet with ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 standards.
Implementation of an ERP system to cover 5 companies within the company SK
Solutions Group.
Chris Ratcliffe MInstRE., MIAB Dubai UAE Telephone +971 50 558 9404 Email: chris-
2011-2013 Habtoor Leighton Group
Workshop Manager UAE, both reactive and proactive maintenance of a large fleet of construction based equipment and road fleet. Fleet size was in excess of 5000
assets estimated at AED 625M. Responsible for ensuring that the parts and repairs
are carried out to the required standard and following OEM guidelines for standards and Service intervals.
Responsible for budget control and liaising with suppliers to ensure the quality of the parts and negotiating cost saving measures with larger suppliers.
Senior Functional Representative for a companywide ERP replacement (COINS)
Responsible for the setup and development design of the Plant and Asset Control within the system.
Covering Asset and Fleet Management, Maintenance, Internal and External hire to customers, revenue and invoice processing, procurement and stock requirements for the maintenance of the assets.
2009-2011 JAC Training
Training Manager for a company responsible for the training of 16 - 18 year olds in preparation for further education and employment. The Training covered vocational
skills, literacy and numeracy and life skills i.e. Interview Technique, CV Writing,
Letting Writing.
Responsible for curriculum development, liaising with colleges and local employers to secure education and employment. Liaising with local government to secure the correct funding.
1998-2009 H.M.Forces, Royal Engineers
2004-2009 Part of the planning team for the construction of Camp Bastion in Afghanistan; this
included the training of personnel prior to leaving UK, the organising and movement of stores and equipment from UK to Afghanistan via sea and train and coordinating the movement of the stores to the correct area for the construction of 3 major rented
living areas.
• Involved in 2005 Project Managing the largest Royal Engineers project since WW II in the planning of Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, deploying 200 pieces of large plant, resources and
stores needed to set up a tented camp (300 tents) to cater for over 3, 000 personnel, including
accommodation, catering, workshops, services, hospital, laundry, helipad, runway and security
walls. Also project managed the return of plant and equipment back to UK base.
• Co-ordinating between units on site to ensure they had the plant, earthmoving and small site
tools (180 items/unit) to meet operational and peacetime commitments.
• Management of training programmes, identifying resources, training areas, facilities and equipments available and working on site (UK, Iraq, Afghanistan etc)
• Devised, co-ordinated and maintained multi-level rotational training package able to cater for up to 174 'rapid deployment' construction personnel, from managers to tradesmen.
• Managed day-to-day workload for all training programmes; ensuring updated to meet current
UK legislation and industrial regulations, keeping plans up to date with continuing development on subject areas, e.g. runway repairs and maintenance and expedient (temporary) runways.
• Maintained training and enabling objectives, validation and keeping within the training budget.
2003-2009 SENIOR PLANT MANAGER (Staff Sergeant Rank)
Promoted with brief to co-ordinate and manage team in preparation for overseas work in construction and ensure fleet was fit for the job. Managed three Supervisors and 54 team personnel.
• Fleet manager of large fleet of plant and construction equipment (£6.5m value) issued and used in Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq during the Gulf conflict: • Qatar: Working on construction of aircraft hangers, office and storage accommodation, aircraft
apron space and an explosive storage area.
• Kuwait: Training engineers and fleet management on all machinery, ensuring all in perfect
working order ready for action in the Gulf conflict.
• Iraq: Reopening of Basra International Airport and clearing of the runway to receive first
commercial airline flight which happened to be Sir Richard Branson Virgin Airline flight, bringing in medical supplies for the civilian hospital.
Chris Ratcliffe MInstRE., MIAB Dubai UAE Telephone +971 50 558 9404 Email: chris-
1999-2003 PLANT MANAGER (Sergeant Rank)
Managed two Supervisors and 20 staff.
• In 2002 involved with the 12-month PFI trail and simplified the 'Equipment Requirement
Process' from 10 signatures to only three (unless equipment deployed overseas); resulted in saving 14 days during the procurement process.
• Managed training, administration and career management of over 35 personnel.
• Direct management and control of plant fleet valued at £5m.
• Liaised with outside companies (military and civil) for spares procurement, repair and maintenance contracts.
1986-1992 PLANT OPERATOR MECHANIC
1985-1986 BASIC MILITARY & MILITARY ENGINEERING TRAINING
1994-1996 PLANT EQUIPMENT & SITE MANAGER