Experience Log

Starting in the process industry at age 17 whilst at college my first job was helping erect corrugated steel grain silos often seen on farms. After doing just one under instruction I was given a van and two other students and spent the holidays erecting these silos all over Suffolk. Quite an introduction to work life with dawn till dusk work days and for the first time “deadlines”.

After leaving college my next two years was spent working on site to gain a practical knowledge of installation.  It was essential; as it proved when designing the Bespoke Squat Flour Silos in Northern Ireland.  These are not only capable of a 20 tonne capacity where  some said it couldn’t be achieved, but they were also designed to go through a standard house doorway, which was in fact the biggest design obstacle.

On my return to the office at SGMI my duties were mainly drafting other engineers plant designs which at the time were mostly Flour Mills, Maltings and Breweries.  It was a broad learning platform as the industries are all quite diverse and unique.

Over the next two decades I graduated to designing and installing my own projects for Maltings, Grain Mills, Grain Terminals and Breweries later progressing to large scale Bakeries and the upper Management Team.  Within a short time my first large scale Bakery design, a system that more than doubled the rate of flour delivery to the mixers, had been installed at Allied Bakeries, Walthamstow.    Following that success by year 2000, all but two of the Allied sites had been remodelled to my designs and a major Manor Bakeries (Mr Kipling) site had also been completed.

Over the past three years my latest Bakery design innovation has again been adopted by a major UK Bakery chain.  Currently four sites are complete or near completion with another two potential sites to follow.

These latest projects have been multi million pound developments and use new innovations allowing all flour deliveries to be made to up to eight mixers simultaneously at rates that allow a 50% manufacturing buffer.  All the new plants have been manufactured from stainless steel.