People: Director appointed to lead Siemens factory; COO joins digital specialist; New SMT at machinery firm, non-exec appointed at media firm; and more

Siemens Mobility Limited has appointed Finbarr Dowling to lead the development of its new UK factory, which will manufacture and commission trains.

Dowling takes on the new position of Director of Localisation for Siemens Mobility Limited with a brief to maximise the benefits of the £200m investment in Goole, East Yorkshire, for the local, regional and national economy and the UK rail industry.

Dowling has worked for Siemens for almost 30 years. Prior to his new role, he was Customer Service Director for Siemens Rolling Stock, which has a fleet of 3,000 units based at 10 UK depots, and operated by Eurostar, Heathrow Express, Thameslink, South Western Railway, West Midland Trains and Transpennine Express.

Previously he was Project Director for the development and construction of Siemens’ offshore wind blade manufacturing, harbour and service facility in Hull.  That project involved an investment of £310m and created 1,000 new jobs for Siemens in the UK.

Last month London Underground Limited (a subsidiary of Transport for London) signed a £1.5bn contract with Siemens Mobility Limited to design and build 94 new generation Tube trains to replace the existing 1970s fleet on the capital’s Piccadilly line.

The contract award marked a significant move forward for the plans to build the new factory in Goole. The planned factory would employ up to 700 people in skilled engineering and manufacturing roles, plus up to an additional 250 people during the construction phase of the development.  Around 1,700 indirect jobs are expected to be created throughout the UK supply chain.

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West Yorkshire digital transformation specialist Vapour Cloud has appointed a new Chief Operating Officer with more than 20 years’ experience in the technology space.

Andrew Nash has joined the Elland-based business following a year of 51% growth, and will play a key role in a further 50% revenue uplift in 2019.

Having ‘fallen into’ technology during his college years – admittedly by accident – Nash soon got the bug for all things innovation. The business offered him a permanent role as a PC configuration engineer and two decades later he was still with Avaya, having progressed to the position of Global Services & Support Director.

He then became Managing Director of unified data and voice communications firm SBL Group, where he spent over two years of his career, before joining the Vapour team.

Now he will be responsible for spearheading further innovation throughout Vapour’s cloud portfolio, especially within the voice and video product suite.

CEO Tim Mercer said: “We’re as much about people as we are about tech, and Andy’s skill-set fulfils both strands of our ethos perfectly. Digital transformation has evolved from being a buzzword that few people understand, to a powerful source of value creation for businesses. And with Andy’s help we’ll empower more clients and develop more people, as the next few years unfold.”

Nash added: “Everyone loves communicating and it’s been a privilege to work for companies that make this possible, throughout my career. I’ve loved being on board with cutting-edge firms that have constantly been at the forefront of the latest tech advancements, and Vapour is no different. They spot an opportunity and whatever boundary they promise to break, they do. That means my role is very exciting indeed. Tim values collaboration and I look forward to having a big part in ‘what’s next’ at Vapour.

“2018 has been the year when conversation surrounding things like AI, the IoT, video and 5G has really ramped up. 2019 will be about knitting all of these opportunities together so that they’re understood and within reach of companies irrespective of their size and sector. We’re constantly crafting new ways of delivering voice and I believe that this has been the key to our vast expansion so far. The next 12 months though, could be massive.”

Vapour Cloud is a private equity backed business founded in 2013. The company – which specialises in cloud voice, video, connectivity, security and storage – is on track to breakeven in March.

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York-based arable machinery specialist, Sumo, has hired new members to its Senior Management Team.

Sumo supplied premium-quality cultivation and drilling machinery across a global market in 2018 and saw a record year in terms of sales.

Mark Curtis has been promoted to Sales Director and remains an integral part of Sumo and is responsible for overall Sales and Aftersales. New Commercial & Business Systems Director, Tracey Roberts, is working with the firm’s supply chain to maintain quality and delivery and upgrading current business operating systems within Manufacturing and CAD Engineering.

John Richardson, new Finance Director, is managing accounting and financial control, concentrating on the profitable long-term growth of the business.

Also joining the senior management team is Mark Henson, Head of Manufacturing. Henson brings a wealth of operational improvement experience gained in both precision engineering and manufacturing assembly businesses across Europe.

Managing Director, Steve English, said: “It’s an exciting time to be here at Sumo UK. We’ve got a brand-new management team in place and we’re dedicated to building innovative arable machinery to help farms be more productive.

“Sumo is stable and secure and over the next year we plan to further support and grow our dealership network, both in the UK and overseas”.

As well as the new senior management team, Sumo have hired in most areas of the business including Marketing, Sales, Design Engineering, Fabrication and Manufacturing, with the new team filling integral roles within the business.

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Tailor-Made Media has welcomed Chris Henry to the business as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect. Henry joins at a time of growth bringing his considerable expertise in marketing, project management and working with large, well known brands.

He formed the internationally renowned Intermarketing Communications in 1990 with his brother. There followed 25 years of steady organic growth which saw massively successful campaigns with Next, Halifax Bank and Adidas, to name a few. By the time Henry sold his shares to a management team in 2015, the company had a turnover approaching £20m and employed more than 80 people.

With his experience of working with the largest UK and International brands, as well as his knowledge of building a business that is known and respected across the globe, he will help the company achieve its visons and aspirations of growing its portfolio and having overseas offices.

Henry said: “I’m delighted to be joining Tailor-Made Media, a company that truly understand digital marketing and how powerful it is in the brand building process”. He further added “The growth that they’ve seen this last year is phenomenal and I feel that the company has a very bright future, it is a privilege to be involved”.

Samantha Ware, Founder and CEO of Tailor-Made Media, added: “Asking Chris to join Tailor Made Media was a simple decision. With his knowledge of building an international marketing agency, which is the area of the business we seek to develop, Chris will help Tailor-Made Media with creating and developing a strategy to secure the large contract wins required to take the business to the next level.”

2018 has been a busy and successful year for Tailor-Made Media, which has seen a 72% increase in sales. This growth has seen the addition of new graphic designers, account managers, digital marketing executives and senior PR professionals to the business.

Ware said: “I’m really happy with the team we’ve assembled. There’s so much talent in the office and with clients based everywhere from York to New York, and even as far afield as Australia, the business is growing at a phenomenal rate.”

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Cepac, a corrugated packaging producer, has appointed a Head of Innovation to further develop pioneering new technologies to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing market and the new opportunities presented for paper packaging in particular.

Appointed to the newly created role, Roger Thomson brings many years of experience, following previous commercial and sales roles across the printing and packaging industry. He will work closely with Group Sales & Marketing Director Steve Moss to implement strategies towards key innovations, introducing new, sustainable and highly innovative products utilising the latest technologies.

Cepac’s commitment to innovation has been the key platform for its successful growth since its foundation in 2000. Roger’s appointment underlines the Company’s continued commitment and future direction.

Attracted to the role by the scale and ambitions of the independent producer, Thomson said: “Cepac has always impressed me as a business, which actively and openly embraces the future with an entrepreneurial approach, driving the business growth and development and staying ahead of the curve.

“It’s this dedication to doing things differently, more sustainably and effectively that I want to build upon and help to take to the next level.”

Moss said: “We are delighted to welcome Roger to the team. Roger’s appointment demonstrates just how much emphasis we place upon innovation, development and continuous improvement.

“His significant industry experience will prove invaluable as we grasp the opportunities the future of packaging holds. He will work collaboratively with our customers to innovate and pioneer together.”

Founded in 1999, Cepac is the leading independent producer and pioneer in innovative, performance packaging and print solutions across four UK plants; Darlington, Rawcliffe, Doncaster and Rotherham.

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