Meet The People Behind the Business and learn the stories of the amazing individuals behind HTL. This month meet Alex, the Lead Design Engineer.
Alex has been with us for 17 months and is based out of our Cramlington office. He started as a Design Engineer and in the short space of time has made his way to Team Leader.
Let’s learn more about him.
For me, the best thing about working at HTL is the fast-paced, diverse working conditions. The company prides itself on being reactive so from day to day so you never know when you could have to drop what you are doing and jump onto something with a high priority. It makes the day to day exciting and you don’t get bored with working on long term projects.
The people I work with are great. There is a good balance of work and keeping things light-hearted. When workloads are high it can be easy to drop into a stressed state and that’s not good for anyone. I think the whole company has a good attitude to the working environment. Yes, things need to get done and done on time but let’s have a laugh along the way.
I started my career with an apprenticeship programme through Rolls-Royce. This gives me a great Engineering foundation where the first year of my apprenticeship was spent learning different engineering disciplines such as Turning, Milling, Welding, Electrical work, CNC programming and Design. The final 3 years of my apprenticeship were then spent in the design office until I was a qualified Design Engineer. Alongside this, I completed a Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
I think this route is fantastic for any young people looking to get into Engineering. You learn hands-on, get your education paid for and earn a salary while doing it.
I joined the company in January 2019 as a Design Engineer working on new product development and well as custom applications. After being at the company 9 months I was made Lead Design Engineer. HTL supported my career development and have put me on an ILM Level 5 Certificate in Leadership and Management which I am working towards now. After Enerpac acquired HTL at the beginning of this year my position is now Engineering Team Leader
I have two children, Millie and Toby, aged 5 and 3 who keep me busy outside of work. We try and do as much as possible as a family at the weekends together. My wife Ashlee is currently building up her Artisan Blacksmith company, Rasp Lifestyle, so I help out as much as possible with that. I like to get to the golf course as well but getting less and less these days.
I am a big fan of both craft ales and whisky. I have a fair-sized collection of both and enjoy learning about them. A couple of years ago I even travelled to Berlin to visit some of their famous tap houses to try some of the world’s best craft ales.
