Judges

The judges for the British Engineering Excellence Awards have been drawn from a cross section of electronic and engineering design disciplines. They are all technical and well qualified people who champion innovative engineering design.

Message from the Chairman of the Judges

The Coalition Government wants the words ‘Made in Britain’, ‘Created in Britain’, ‘Designed in Britain’ and ‘Invented in Britain’ to drive our nation forward. If Chancellor George Osborne has his way, it will be ‘A Britain carried aloft by the march of the makers’.

These are lofty ambitions indeed for a nation that contains less than 1% of the world’s population and that produces less than 2% of the world’s output. It doesn’t take genius to conclude that we can only realise those ambitions by possessing good qualities in high degree: in short, excellence.

The proper benchmarking of our accomplishments is what drives all of us to higher levels and the recognition of engineering excellence is no exception. The British Engineering Excellence Awards are the national platform for providing for such recognition, allowing the celebration of the basic truth that skill, imagination and endeavour are the true ingredients for success.

In today’s competitive world, only the best will survive and nothing short of excellence will do. There can be no better accolade than to be seen by your own community as having achieved something very special.

The British Engineering Excellence Awards are the opportunity to showcase our best products and solutions. To receive one of the Awards is a massive endorsement to any company or individual and is public confirmation of superiority. To win overall is to be world leading and there can be no higher accolade. As a proud Chartered Engineer, I am confident not only in the abilities of the UK’s engineering sector, but also in its world class skill and innovation.

Please join with me in celebrating what is British and best.

Colin Brown
Chairman

Colin Brown - Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Colin Brown, Director of Engineering at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, has spent 25 years in engineering industry since graduating with a PhD on the fatigue behaviour of titanium alloys. During that time he has worked for Rolls-Royce, BP and T&N in a range of business roles. He also has experience in SME and spin-out companies of generating value from engineering excellence. Importantly he also has worked abroad in North America, Europe and the Far East as well as here in the UK.

In 2005 he joined the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to support their work in promoting the value of engineering. He has a strong belief in the ability of engineers to add value and to improve living standards especially through sharing best practice and by displaying professional competence. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining as well as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Web: www.imeche.org

Andrew Burrows - Chief Technology Officer, i2O Water

Andrew Burrows has a yacht design degree from Southampton Solent University and previously studied electronics at Kingston University. Following five years as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, he was appointed technical director for Seldén, the world’s largest yacht mast manufacturer. He has followed this with similar roles leading multidisciplinary design teams in the aerospace and marine industries.

In 2005, recognising that the water industry needs innovative solutions to tackle the challenges of climate change and growing urban populations, he set up i2O Water with Adam Kingdon, developing technology to reduce leakage and burst frequency on water distribution networks.

Web: www.i20water.com

Ian Phillips – Principal Staff Engineer, ARM

Since graduating from the University of Wales, Swansea, in 1975, he has worked on various aspects of microelectronic system design with companies such as Pye, Philips, Plessey, GEC and Mitel, before joining ARM in 1998. Though his primary focus for most of this time was integrated microelectronic design, his experience and current technical interest cover the wider aspects of electronic systems design and manufacture. As principal scientist, his role is outward looking, involving him with European Research Universities, Institutions and Government Bodies. An advocate of improved university/industry relationships, he is visiting professor at University of Liverpool.

Web: www.arm.com

Graham Pitcher – Group Editor, Findlay Media Engineering Design Division

Graham Pitcher has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 30 years. Working mainly in the electronics industry, he also has broad expertise in computer aided design, industrial automation and computing technologies. For the past 17 years, he has been involved with the development of New Electronics and has edited the magazine for more than 10 years. As group editor of Findlay Media’s Engineering Design Division, he is responsible for New Electronics and Eureka magazines.

An engineer by training, he has worked in the steel and petrochemical industries.

Email: gpitcher@findlay.co.uk
Web: www.newelectronics.co.uk

Paul Fanning – Editor, Eureka

Paul Fanning has been a trade and technical journalist for more than 15 years. Having started his career as an Associate Editor with ‘Machinery & Production Engineering’, he has gone on to edit a number of industrial titles, including ‘ Sheet Metal Industries’. He took over as editor of Eureka in January 2010.

Email: pfanning@findlay.co.uk
Web: www.eurekamagazine.co.uk

Eric Wilkinson – Head of Product Development

In his 20 years at Cambridge Consultants, Eric has managed projects as diverse as the development of the latest in anti terrorism radar, a machine to produce premium frozen drinks, a revolutionary cosmetics applicator, the world’s most intelligent iron and even something to liven up a can of beer! Eric is a regular speaker at international conferences including, for example, a joint keynote with Diageo at the ‘Front End of Innovation’ conference, Boston, 2010.

A materials scientist by training, Eric spent the first part of his career developing aerospace composite component manufacturing processes for BP Research.

Email:eric.wilkinson@cambridgeconsultants.com
Web: www.cambridgeconsultants.com

Indro Mukerjee

Indro Mukerjee joined C-MAC MicroTechnology as ceo and has led the company’s transformation into a focused, high reliability electronics market leader.

Prior to joining C-MAC, he worked for Philips Semiconductors in several executive board positions, including executive vice president – global marketing and sales, chief marketing officer and ceo of the strategic automotive and identification business unit.

His earlier career included senior management positions within Hitachi’s European semiconductor division and working in management consulting in the technology sector.

A member of the UK Electronics Leadership Council and with a passion for the development of skills within industry, he chairs several industry groups, is a member of the Board of Sector Skills Council for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies and is the founding chairman of the UK Electronics Skills Foundation.

Web: www.cmac.com

Robin Wilson

Robin joined the Technology Strategy Board in June 2009 after 35 years in technology development and leadership in automotive manufacturing.

He started his career with Lucas Girling, where he specialised in antilock brake systems. After working in Japan for Sumitomo Industries, he joined Rover Group, where he was chief engineer for Chassis Systems and Medium Car Programs. He pioneered the application of digital mock up and virtual reality techniques for concurrent development, then moved to BMW, where he established the group’s integrated digital manufacturing strategy.

With Ford’s acquisition of Land Rover in 2000, he built and managed the integrated IT systems team for Jaguar and Land Rover engineering. He went on to develop technical strategies with Ford and Volvo to further leverage synergies and lead time competitiveness. More recently, he has focused on the research and development of lightweight, fuel efficient vehicles and shared technologies.

Web: www.innovateuk.org

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