| Phil Simister BSc (Hons) MEng MBA CEng MIMechE LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/phil-simister/7/198/243Address: 3 Maxstoke Close, Meriden, Coventry, CV7 7NB• Mobile: 07989 515774 • Email: phil.simister@gmail.com.com |
MBA-qualified, Managing Director/CEO/COO with a track record in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, capital equipment, contract manufacturing & consultancy sectors; and with extensive experience of a wide range of manufacturing disciplines & processes. A skilled and highly respected Business Turnaround Specialist & Change Agent; with an Operations focus; with Lean & Continuous Improvement skills; and with strategic-level project / programme management experience. Decisive and energetic with consultative management and charismatic leadership styles.
CURRENT/KEY ROLES
DIRECTOR – SIMISTER INTELLIGENT SOLUTIONS
Business optimisation/turnaround as Interim MD/CEO, and manufacturing consultancy, for sectors from aerospace & capital equipment to contract manufacturing & composites.
INTERIM MANAGING DIRECTOR – MKW Ltd, SPE Ltd & TME Ltd
CONTRACT MACHINING & FABRICATION
Stabilised the three contract manufacturing companies forming the PRYME Group operation at Newcastle – putting in the building blocks for recovery:
- MKW Engineering providing large scale precision machining & heavy fabrication, delivering customised solutions for oil & gas, defence & nuclear sectors
- Stargate Precision Engineering offering smaller precision-machined components for sectors including oil & gas, medical components and pharmaceutical
- TME Hydraulics and MKW Site Services providing support throughout the lifecycle of hydraulic systems and provided mechanical site support to local companies
INTERIM MANAGING DIRECTOR – MacIntyre Chocolate Systems Ltd
CAPITAL EQUIPMENT
Recruited by Probat Gmbh’s HDM Division to run its Scottish £6 to £7 million t/o subsidiary after three years of increasing losses. MacIntyre exports chocolate making machinery to a range of customers throughout the world, ranging from medium sized national companies to Mars & Nestle. Achieved break-even and a modest profit for FY16 after £1.2 million losses in FY15 by: implementing effective control/planning of production; reducing manufacturing lead times by over half across the complete range; reducing manufacturing lead times by a factor of five for the core product; introducing modular manufacturing methodology; delivering major plant on cost/time; implementing accurate pricing based on a proper cost analysis; concentrating on the elimination of outstanding warranty issues.
SELECTED OTHER INTERIM POSITIONS
- COO – AE Oscroft: Supplying presswork to the Tier 1s for JLR, Aston Martin and Nissan
- Plant Director – Mabey Bridge Limited: Turning around a plant supplying wind turbines towers to Siemens, Nordex, Vesta & EWT
- Operations Manager – GKN Aerospace (Yeovil): Supplying structural components to Airbus, Bombardier, Lockheed Martin, Spirit (Boeing) & Augusta/Westland
- Programme Manager – Cobham Composites: Rescuing critical contracts for Lockheed Martin, MBDA (BAE, Airbus, Leonardo) & Selex Galileo
- Project Manager – B/E Aerospace Running a $3/4 billion contract bid for manufacturer of aircraft interior trim supplying to Airbus and Boeing
SPECIFIC AEROSPACE SECTOR ROLES IN MORE DEPTH
2015
DAVALL GEARS – Consultant
Tasked with improving OTIF deliveries to validate aerospace sector AS9100 certification.
2012
CONTOUR AEROSPACE – Consultant
Supplying composite aircraft seating to the airlines for all the major types of passenger aircraft from Airbus, Boeing & Bombardier. The main assembly plant was struggling with deliveries from its composite manufacturing site at Camberley. Tasked with ‘finding improvements’ the key issue was found to be the quality of the pre-preg layup process resulting in production lead times varying between 3 days (planned) and 3 weeks (common) or even 3 months. Issues had been identified before moving on to Mabey Bridge as Interim Plant Director.
2010
GKN AEROSPACE (YEOVIL) – Interim Operations Manager
Brought in to settle the manufacturing operation after significant redundancies. The plant manufactured structural components for the aerospace sector – supplying Airbus with wing components & engine mounting shrouds, Augusta Westland with the Future Lynx fuselage, Spirit with general structural details for Boeing, Bombardier (de Havilland Canada) with engine nacelles & Lockheed Martin with bulkheads for the C130.
2009/10
COBHAM COMPOSITES – Interim Programme Manager
Rescued critical contracts for Lockheed Martin, MBDA & Selex Galileo. Was called in following a formal letter of complaint from MBDA (BAE/Airbus/Leonardo – missiles), an unofficial complaint from Selex Galileo and a production programme badly delayed for the Lockheed Martin Apache Longbow attack helicopter (twice daily phone calls with Lockheed Martin & the sister Cobham company whom ‘Composites’ supplied and whose MD the General manager reported into). All three programmes were brought back under control and on track before moving directly on to GKN at Yeovil.
2009
B/E AEROSPACE – Bid Project Manager
Project Managed a $3/4 billion contract bid into Airbus for stowage compartments on the A350 having been given three weeks to achieve what had taken nine months a year earlier for a similar $1 billion contract bid into Airbus for A350 galleys.
2008
B/E AEROSPACE – Interim Operations Manager
Covering a gap between Operations Managers for the manufacturer of aircraft interior trim for Airbus and Boeing. Achievements incl delivering master production schedules for a production ‘ramp-up’ of a galley unit not produced for ten years, and never produced in Europe before; initiating a continuous improvement process which made 15% cuts into the lead time for crew rest modules; and implementing risk assessments throughout the business unit.
2001-03
AMCHEM LIMITED – Head of Operations
Responsibility for the operation of world leading, niche supplier of machine tools to Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney & GE to drill micro-holes in gas turbine blades. Achievements are detailed under the ‘Career’ section below.
1986 – 1992
ROYAL AIR FORCE – Engineering Officer (Flight Lieutenant) – as per main part of CV.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
| Sectors & Processes |
- Aerospace – GKN Aerospace (aircraft structural components); Contour Aerospace (business and first class aircraft seating for Boeing and Airbus); Cobham Composites (radomes for aircraft & missiles); BE Aerospace (interior trim); Supplying machine tools to Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney & GE
- Automotive – Johnson Controls (automotive seating); AE (machined & electroplated piston rings); ARRK(composite body parts); AE Oscroft (automotive pressings)
- Capital Equipment – Amchem (machine tools for Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney, GE); MacIntyre (exporting to Mars, Nestle and national confectionery companies world wide)
- Contract Machining & Fabrication – MKW & SPE (oil & gas, defence & nuclear sectors)
- Composites – Cobham Composites, Contour Aerospace, BE Aerospace, ARRK
- Electronics, High & Low Vol assembly – Guardall, Strand Lighting & PCB manufacture
- Heavy Plant Fabrication – wind turbine towers for Renewables sector (Nordex, Siemens)
- High volume machining – automotive piston rings for Jaguar, Vauxhall, Rover, Ford
- High volume sheet metal – automotive pressings, aerospace details
| Disciplines |
- Production & Operations: Reduction in The MacIntyre’s manuf lead-time from 18 to 4 weeks
- Supply Chain: Reduction in Amchem’s order lead-time from 50 weeks to 18 weeks
- ERP: Project managed & implemented MRP based ERP System (now MS Dynamics Nav)
- Change Management: Extensive practical experience of change management – specialising in getting at the roots of core problems and getting the basics right
- Lean: Modern manuf masters, Lean expertise with a pragmatic bias & Lean sponsorship
- Programme Management: Rescued Lockheed Martin, MBDA & Selex Galileo contracts
- Project Management: Managed $3/4 billion contract bid for Airbus A350 for B/E Aerospace
- Management Accounting: Designed product costing system for CD/DVD manufacturer
- Finance/P&L: Turned around significant losses for MacIntyre Chocolate Systems
CAREER
| INTERIM/CHANGE MANAGER – Consultancy Assignments 2003 to date |
| 2018 – Interim COO AE Oscroft (automotive presswork)2018 – Interim Site Leader MPac Coventry (industrial automation)2017 – Interim Managing Director MKW, SPE, TME – PRYME Group (Newcastle)2017 – Consultant PRYME Group (Newcastle)2016/17 – Interim Managing Director MacIntyre Chocolate Systems2015/16 – Consultant improving OTIF deliveries for Davall Gears (aerospace)2015 – Consultant for ERP implementation – ARRK Europe (automotive composites)2012 – Interim Plant Director for Mabey Bridge (heavy plant fabrication)2012 – Consultant with Contour Aerospace (composite aircraft seating)2010 – Interim Operations Manager for GKN Aerospace2009/10 – Programme Management rescuing critical contracts for Cobham Composites 2009 – Project Managing a $3/4 billion contract bid into Airbus for B/E Aerospace2008 – Interim Operations Manager for B/E Aerospace2005/6/7 – Various contracts with Birmingham City Council2004 – Consultant recovering Greenfield operation for Carter Retail Equipment 2003 – Design of a product costing system for TIB plc producing CD/DVDs |
| HEAD OF OPERATIONS: Amchem Ltd2001 to 03 |
| Responsible for the manufacturing operation supplying specialist, ‘niche’ machine tools to Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney & GE. Major achievements were: Complete overhaul of the supply chainReduction in the overall lead-time for core product from 40+ weeks to 18 weeksImplementation of a new MRP based ERP System (Navision Attain – now MS Dynamics) |
| PRODUCTION MANAGER: Strand Lighting Ltd | 1997 to 98 |
Responsible for the manufacture of electronic control & electro-mechanical dimmer systems for a £53 million turnover company selling theatre lighting worldwide – automated and hand assembly of PCBs and final assembly of high value, low volume product.
| PRODUCTION MANAGER: Guardall Limited | 1994 to 96 |
Responsible for the output of a £20 million turnover, medium/high volume manufacturer of electronic security equipment supplying Chubb group & independent installers – Automatic Component, Surface Mount & manual PCB Assembly, Final & Robotic Assembly Lines.
| LINE MANAGER: Interconnection Systems Ltd | 1993 |
Employed by the largest manufacturer of Printed Circuit Boards in the UK – supplying printed circuit boards to the telecommunication and computer industries (Hitachi, Sony, Motorola, IBM) – as part of the team developing manufacturing, quality and personnel systems.
| ENGINEERING MANAGER: Johnson Controls (Automotive) UK Ltd | 1992 |
Executive & financial management of planned maintenance activities, and the development of production equipment (chemical distribution, robotics & PLC controlled tracks), for a Tier 2 supplier of automotive seating for Toyota, Nissan, Vauxhall & Rover.
| ENGINEERING OFFICER (FLIGHT LIEUTENANT): Royal Air Force | 1986 to 92 |
Six year Short Service Commission with responsibility for circa 100 personnel during four tours in UK & Germany: manufacturing/fabricating aircraft components, manufacturing general engineering equipment and maintaining military aircraft & aero engines.
| POST GRAD RESEARCH: HEPWORTH & GRANDAGE (AE Group) | 1984 & 1985 |
R&D for high volume manufacturer of automotive piston rings (machining and electroplating) supplying the major automotive engine manufacturers – Ford, Opel/Vauxhall, Rover, Jaguar.
Qualifications, Accreditations and Professional Development
- CEng MIMechE (Chartered Engineer – Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers)
- MBA – Graduate Business School, University of Strathclyde
- MEng Advanced Manufacturing/Business Studies – University of Durham
- BSc (Hons) Mechanical Engineering: 1st Class Honours – Sunderland Polytechnic
Referees
- Guenter Simon – ex CEO Hamburg Dresdner Maschinenfabriken GmbH (Probat Group)
- Brian Smith – ex CEO Continental Tyres UK & ex Independent Director BMC
- References from customers & colleagues – http://www.linkedin.com/pub/phil-simister/7/198/243
Personal Information
Driving Licence Full, UK
Nationality British
Interests Mountaineering (rock & ice climbing) & Music (singer & trombone player)