Sertec promotes from within

COLESHILL automotive component manufacturer Sertec has appointed Ben Higgins as Operations Manager of its main plant.

The 29-year-old had his first had a taste of Sertec when he took work experience with the company as a 15-year-old, eventually joining as Commercial Assistant Buyer in 2006.

Sertec said that while the economic downturn in the automotive sector affected the group quite badly, it had continued to nurture talented employees and Higgins was rewarded for his work with promotion to Logistics Manager for Sertec Birmingham.

The group, a major supplier to Jaguar Land Rover, is experiencing strong demand for its manufacturing presswork, welded assemblies and tubular components.

In his new role Higgins will be responsible for all manufacturing and logistics operations at the Coleshill factory.

Thompson forges ahead with dual appointments

BLACK Country-based Thompson Automation Systems has strengthened its engineering team with two new appointments.

Neal Owen, right, brings more than 20 years of robotics expertise to his role as projects manager at the Halesowen firm, which is part of the KUKA Group.

He gained his extensive experience with an allied robot systems business where he was responsible for developing and delivering projects for customers including car makers BMW, Ford and Nissan.

David Merchant, left, has been appointed as technical sales and projects engineer. He served his apprenticeship in the machine tool industry and has worked for many years in the manufacturing sector.

Thompson Automation Systems has been chosen by two leading research organisations to supply robotic production cells for investigating new processes for the high technology manufacturing sector.

The systems are being built for the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry and Bristol’s National Composites Centre. Thompson Automation Systems supplies automated production solutions for general industries as well as the aerospace and nuclear power markets.

New Operations Director for Pallet-Track

LOGISTICS business Pallet-Track has promoted its head of operations, Lisa Burrows, to Operations Director.

Ms Burrows, who has been with the group for nine years, has been tasked with helping to continue the growth of the business, which now has a turnover in excess of £50m.

In her new role she will be responsible for controlling the UK-wide distribution of thousands of palletised products from the firm’s central hub in Wolverhampton.

Ms Burrows originally joined the business in a sales role at the former Wednesbury site in 2004 before taking on the HR position. At that time Pallet-Track employed just 15 people and had only 40 network members. Now it has more than 100 employees at the 267,000 sq ft hub at the Titan Distribution Centre with 73 network members.

“I am very proud to become a board member of this company which has always had the refreshing attitude of giving everyone room to grow and develop their career options within the organisation. We encourage autonomous thinking and we want people to contribute and speak out – mutual respect is a cornerstone of the business,” she said.

Nigel Parkes Pallet-Tracks managing director, said: “We were delighted to reward Lisa for her outstanding work– she thoroughly deserved the promotion and she will be a great asset to the board as we plan our very exciting future.”