WEIRBULLETIN | FEBRUARY 2012
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO WEIR? LL: I’ve always been proud to be an engineer and technology developer, so Weir Group’s engineering heritage and culture of innovation defi nitely played a large part. My interest in Weir Group had also risen following the press coverage of our entry into the FTSE 100; it was clear the business had huge potential and I thought this a great opportunity to develop my business skills whilst bringing a different perspective from my experience in the aerospace sector. Finally, I feel that relationships are paramount, so I was encouraged by the immediately evident warmth, openness and energy of the group.
WHERE DID YOU WORK BEFORE WEIR? LL: I’d been with Rolls-Royce plc (R-R), the company I began my career with, for 23 years. I’ve been fortunate to have had some fantastic roles with them. I had a materials focus for my early career, before moving on to lead the team. I was also a designer, having supported the development of the wide-chord “swept” fan blade technology that is now common on R-R aero-engines. I then spent 5 years leading a multi-national research & technology programme to demonstrate a range of low-emissions technologies. I decided that to continue my development, I needed to gain customer facing experience and therefore took on the Assistant Chief Engineer role on the Trent 900 engine programme in support of the Airbus A380 aircraft. Working closely with the airlines and airframer, on such a pivotal programme was both hugely challenging and rewarding. In 2006, I took over the Chief Engineer role and was very proud to manage the entry-into-service of the engine with Airbus and Singapore Airlines. My fi nal role with R-R was that of Global Function Head for the company’s gas turbine development engineers across the aerospace and energy sectors.
Luke joined the Weir Group in October 2011 after 23 years in the aerospace sector. He’s enjoying the move to Scotland and is setting up home in Glasgow’s West End, ready for his family to join him in the coming months.
IN TERMS OF YOUR APPROACH TO LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT, WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS? LL: I joined the Weir Leadership Programme in January; this will be a great opportunity to refl ect on my leadership and next steps. As I’m still relatively new to this business I have a lot to learn from our people and our customers. I will therefore drive to increase my engagement with the sales & marketing teams.
WHAT ARE YOUR IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES? LL: A previous leader gave me some good advice; “seek fi rst to understand
..and then to be understood”. So I’ve endeavoured to meet most teams personally during my fi rst 100 days. Next steps will be to ensure that we’ve taken stock of our current capability using engineering best practice assessment and use this, together with the divisional strategy and policy deployment to set our path for 2012 and beyond. However, I already see a number of key themes:
• Strengthening of our new product introduction activity via rigorous use of the process and some retrospective review • Building an increased innovation culture within P&I engineering – we have a diverse offering and market so there is huge potential out there • Establishing an engineering & technology strategy to both support our current operational requirements and to enable sustainable business growth.
WHAT ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES FOR THE P&I ENGINEERING TEAM? LL: Differentiating our products and services through innovation. • Ensuring that we support the signifi cant businesses’ growth in a responsive and cost effective manner, whilst never failing to provide excellent engineering solutions. We will enable this via: • Rigorous pursuit of engineering best practice in new product introduction, process application and research & development
• Knowledge management - we have some astounding experience and expertise in our people, we need to fi nd a way to ensure this is maintained and distributed effectively, especially as many of our key personnel are in the latter stages of their careers. • Balancing the day-to-day operational demands with our drive to rapidly increase the new product development activities.
AND YOUR INITIAL THOUGHTS SINCE JOINING WEIR? LL: We have great people who display a strong team ethic. Our strategic intent is clear and I strongly believe that we have the capability to meet the growth we’re targeting.
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