Shift safety champion, stand-in manager of 38 maintenance personal and spearheading kaizen projects that save £160,000 – Richard Chambers has got his manufacturing career off to a meteoric start.
The 24 year-old works as a Body Construction maintenance engineer at JLR's Halewood site, which manufacturers Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Freelander models. Chambers has thrived as a problem solver and innovator. Under his own initiative, Chambers identified a piece of stud welding equipment in a manufacturing cell that was no longer supported by its supplier. He compiled a project proposal to switch to a new piece of kit and achieved a 47% increase in operational efficiency. Not content with that, Chambers also negotiated free training with the new supplier, saving further costs and reducing mean time to repair on all stud welding equipment across body construction.
Entrepreneurial and constantly embracing extra responsibility, Chambers regularly steps into the supervisor role on his project shift and steers the 38-strong maintenance team to meet the set build schedule. He is also training co-ordinator for the body shop maintenance team and has even tackled the wider industry skills crisis- appearing on CBBC's Dick and Dom in da Bungalow show to promote careers in manufacturing.The judges praised the graduate engineer's appetite for taking on additional responsibility. They said: "Richard shows tremendous business awareness with a project that saved £160,000 and is even leading outreach work to address industry skills shortages. A true rising star of manufacturing."
Chambers says he was shocked to hear his name read out as a Manufacturing Champion winner last December. "I was truly surprised to win and felt privileged to attend the event, let alone win. I have been involved in many projects and have been given numerous opportunities to learn new skills, which make my role fulfilling and enjoyable."
Name: Richard Chambers
Job title: Graduate engineer, JLR
Award: Rising Star
The judges said: "Richard has a thirst for responsibility and displays natural leadership flair"
Do you have an apprentice or graduate star at your site? Find out how to enter them for this year's Manufacturing Champions Awards. Email: mgosney@findlay.co.uk
Dirk Villé, general manager at Atlas Copco Compressors UK and Ireland, sponsor of the Rising Star Award gives his opinion on the Manufacturing Champions Awards here
