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09/08/2010
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Paul Fanning speaks with Francis Dutton, development engineer, Thetford
 How did you get into the engineering industry?
I started way back in about 1984. I used to work for British Steel and got made redundant. There were different training courses available that had been negotiated by the union, so I went to college for about a year at the Institute for Management Studies. I got on to that because my first ever job was as a management trainee and there was just enough correlation between that and the IMS for me to get on there.The IMS training was all about work study practitioners and method engineering and that's how I got into engineering.
How did you find yourself in your current position?
I went to learn my trade with various firms over the years, just always trying to get a better job. I'm on my third stint here at what was Spinflo, but was taken over by Thetford, an American company, in about 2005.
What does your role with Thetford involve on a day-to-day basis?
As it is now, I'm a temporary project manager. We manufacture cookers and gas fires for the leisure industry – so caravans, boats, etc. We export to Europe, North America and Australasia. We're currently in the process of changing all our taps and burners. Historically, we've always bought them from an Italian company and we're now changing over to a different supplier, so there's a number of design issues associated with that and I'm overseeing that as project manager. I'm making sure that everyone's doing what they should be doing. We've got to make sure we've got the parts in and that, once they're in, we ensure that they've been tested and correlate with the standards we need to hit.
Standards play a very big part in what we do because we're working with gas and there are a huge number we have to reach. We have our own lad who we've had to send on a training course just to make sure we're completely up to speed with all of the standards we need to meet.
What are some of the more interesting projects you've worked on?
The automation of our pressing process probably. We fabricate metal to make the ovens, which requires two cavities for the grill box and the oven box. We used to press them by hand, which meant passing them from one process to the next, knocking out the various holes for control knobs and burner rings. We automated that by buying in seven Trumpf punch presses and I oversaw that installation process.
We also bought an enamel and paint plant and I oversaw the integration of those processes as well.
How has the industry changed since you first started?
We have to be more reactive to what the customer wants. We're quite a niche market and we have to constantly ensure that we're better than our nearest rival in terms of our product offering – making sure that the features on our cookers are better designed and more fit-for-purpose.
We never say no, basically and the only problem with that is that it means we have to keep a hell of inventory to make sure we can meet customers' demand.
What are the big issues facing the industry?
From our point of view, it's the cost of raw materials that's the biggest issue. It's not going down and obviously your customer doesn't like it when your costs are going up. They know the real world, of course and their costs are going up, but they still aren't happy if your prices go up.
The other thing is the lack of training of engineers. We've just taken on an apprentice, which is something we've not done for a number of years, so maybe there's a bit of light at the end of that tunnel, but I think it has been the case that a lot of people have been loath to follow through on training in the last few years.
The other problem is that there are a lot of people who come into industry who have been trained, but they find themselves with their day job to do and they don't have the time to consolidate that training. That's a big factor, because too many people are asked to wear too many hats too quickly.
What still attracts you to engineering?
It's the fact that you get an end result, I think. So you know what you've got to do and it's a question of finding out what you need to do to get there.
There are set ways of doing things, of course, but the job gives you the scope to innovate and allows you to do something that really makes a difference. I would recommend it as a profession to anyone.
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Author
Paul Fanning
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