Career Summary

An all-round manager with the intellect to develop strategic plans, the presence to operate at senior level, the customer skills to succeed in client-facing roles.  Hands-on experience to manage and lead teams through major change and IT programs.  

Ten years as a results orientated independent Management Consultant and Project Manager with full project life-cycle skills of planning, budget and control of 3rd party resources.  Utilises systems thinking techniques in analysing the real business needs and then bringing robust information management principles to bear on the support of the critical business processes.  

Former Head of Department in large T users (ICI, Davy & BNFL) and holding European level industry marketing posts with the major  US software suppliers ComputerVision & Intergraph, and based at various times in  Malaysia ,  Japan ,  Holland ,  Norway and  USA.  

Strategic expertise in Facility Maintenance, Content Management and Engineering Database systems.  Experienced in the regulated industries of Transport & Pharmaceuticals.  

Associate Lecturer on a range of post and undergraduate courses of the Open University.

 

Skills Summary

Assignments have been completed in the, pharmaceutical, transport, government, engineering and construction sectors involving: -

  • Strategic IS/IT Planning & Implementation

  • Marketing Strategy Development & Bid Management

  • Business Analysis and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)

  • Programme/Project Management, Business Change Management

  • Staff Development & Mentoring

  • Service Management/Service Level Agreements/Outsourcing

  • Systems/Database Analysis, Design, Development and Implementation

 

2009 – Business Agency                               

SPED Texas

Promoting and administering membership sales in UK & Europe.

 

2009 – Business Promotion                         

virtualCONTACT

Promotion and launch advice for a new web-based CRM product.

 

2009 – Marketing Mentor                            

University of Nottingham

Mentor to Research Fellows on bringing developments to market.

 

2009 – CEng Mentor                                   

Aveva

Mentor to first & second year graduates seeking Chartered Engineering status.

 

2008 – Selection of Engineering Expert          

20C

Facilitating the theoretical mathematical review of a novel product.

 

2006 – Marketing Strategy & Promotion           

Confidential   

Supported a company wishing to expand its presence in the document management and scanning market.

 

2006 – Marketing Promotion                        

Confidential   

Supported a company recently quoted on the AIM market wishing to expand its turnover in the outsourced facilities management market.

 

2005/06 – Analysis of Strategic Options         

Confidential   

A systems thinking approach applied to the strategic options open to a professional institution.  The work covered a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, the relationships of the various operational systems and causal diagrams.  

 

2005 – Systems Thinking Tutorial               

Open University Worldwide   

Two day presentation of the OU Systems Thinking course T306 on the practice to the Arab Open University.  

 

2005 – Audit of IT Department                    

Royal College of Music

Audit of the IT function against ISO 17799.

 

2004 – Integration of Service Desks           

AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood   

The process and procedures of three dissimilar service desks were integrated into call centre type help desk.  Care was taken to capture and make available the implicit knowledge of the existing processes.  Integration with the SHE process was also achieved.

 

2004 – Audit of Software Development Process     

Cambridge Cognition Ltd    

Audit and direction of the Software Development Process.

 

2004/05 – Asset Management Processes            

AstraZeneca Macclesfield   

Developed the 2 day foundation course module on site’s asset management processes to enhance their use and facilitate their improvement.

 

2004 – Series of projects on Engineering Processes    

AstraZeneca Macclesfield   

Developed the 2 day foundation course module on site’s asset management processes to enhance their use and facilitate their improvement.

 

2004 – Series of projects on Engineering Processes   

AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood    

Carried out a series of short projects as follows:

1.      Updated the MAXIMO Manuals to the new ER/ES compliant system.

2.      Advised on the format and provided Quality Manual for Facility Management.

3.      Advised on the rationalisation of SHE documents.

4.      Provided direction to the review of the Project Management process.

5.      Reviewed and simplified the Document Management Process.

6.      Carried out the 3 year review of critical documents. 

 

2004 – Systems Thinking Tutorial               

The Open University   

Two day presentation of Systems Thinking theory and practice to the Arab Open University.  Repeated and extended in 2005.

 

2003/04 – Strategic Development & Interim Managing Director

Claydon Bioinformatics

Reported on the need to develop a strategic market focus for a scientific product and the specification of the documentation needs to support the sales for customers and the pharmaceutical regulators. Acceptance of the report led to being appointed interim managing director responsible for leading the organisation to a finished product and its Beta release.

 

2003/05 – Business Process Course Facilitator

COROUS, Open University Corporate Services are contracted to support BAe Systems in their change management programme.  Role to train engineering staff throughout the group in common technical and management systems.  Providing course authorship and facilitated presentations on the engineering lifecycle.

 

2003/04 – Business Process Development Contracts     

AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood   

Developed, documented and trained staff in the business processes for Asset Disposal, Records Management and Maintenance Management.  

 

2003/04 – Marketing Support               

The Open University

Promotion of OU Technology courses to SMEs in the London area and the specification of development issues for new course promotional literature.

 

2002/04 - Project Management and Marketing Support  

European College of Validation

Member of MSc Course Steering Group and project planner. Leading role in the launch marketing of the course and writer of the Information Management module. Researched the market and reported upon the potential take up of the first course presentation.

 

2003 - Asset Management Tutorial        

University of Teesside

Led 3 day tutorial and site visit to trainee oil industry engineers on asset management strategies and management systems.

 

2001/02 - Document Management Strategy             

AstraZeneca Engineering

Advised on how UK Group Engineering Standards should be named, stored and retrieved.

Then advised the central engineering functions seeking to create an integrated resource of Engineering Standards and Codes of Practice. Proposed processes, procedures and standards which were agreed and then developed into a User Requirements Statement.

 

2001/02 - Audit of Information Systems              

PostComm

The first project documented the principle information flows and audited the systems that supported them. The second contract carried out the recommendations of a full system restore; reviewed disaster recovery needs and documented outsourced service processes.

 

2000/02 - Maintenance of Controlled Documents

AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood

Maintained all controlled documents and manuals (over 600), including many with ER/ES implications, when expiry dates and operational factors created the need to review.

 

2000/02 - Marketing Assessment for Software & Services

QinetiQ formerly DERA

In the run up to and following the privatisation, a series of 6 contracts have been completed to advise on the marketing and provide the initial sales resources of a series of hi-tech products in Command & Control, PKI and GIS.

 

2001 - Project Manager

Haden Building Management Services

Haden, a major outsourced service provider, required an audit of the first stage of an advanced feature asset management system based upon MAXIMO and estimated to cost £11m, when fully implemented. Appointed by the clients to audit the project's first phase of £1.5m. Reviewed the various supplier's specifications, project plans and the risks involved to completion to specification and on time and budget.

 

2001 - Asset Management Benchmarks

Laboratory of the Government Chemist

Provided material to set benchmarks for energy usage and pointers to KPI's that may be applied to the provision of in-house and outsourced maintenance management services.

 

2000/01 - Asset Management System Strategy

Syngenta R&D Site

Reviewed the needs of this 1,400-person research site supported by c100 engineers for an improved building/facility asset management process and supporting system. Reported to management and assignment extended to manage first phase of implementation. This includes the selection of outsourced system support and the beginning of the re-engineering of business processes.

 

1998 - Interim Engineering Information Manager

AstraZeneca R&D

Interim manager of the team, of 3 Team Leaders, 5 CAD staff & 6 Document Controllers, which holds and collates all the information relating to the facilities of the site. Achieved the conversion of site information to electronic formats, to facilitate validation of the physical manufacturing systems. Supported the recruitment of the permanent managers.

Retained to advise on work planning, staff development and change management as role of section was expanded to cover maintenance performance analyses, outsource contract negotiation, administration and costing.

 

1997/99 - Programme Manager

AstraZeneca R&D

Implemented the £750k first phase of a £2.3m. systems and procedures development plan. The interdependent projects involve MAXIMO Asset Management, Documentum (which commenced as a RAD project) and AutoCAD software. Supported the migration of legacy systems sources, validation to standards acceptable to the FDA & MCA, and later the enhanced use of INTERNET/INTRANET capabilities to transfer of data from external Engineering sources. The checking and signing off of Interfaces with Ernst & Young Finance & Purchase SAP project was required.

 

1997/98 - Strategy for Supply Chain Processes

Tarmac Construction

Reviewed the direction of the construction market and the improvement targets set for Group Purchasing. Analysed, developed and submitted business processes for purchasing functions. Supported these with recommended enhancements to the IS Strategy.

 

1997 - Bid Manager

Compel

For proposals to 3i for migration to NT and Ernst & Young for IT asset management.

 

1997 - Project Manager

Samsung Electronics

Project Manager for £1.7m. upgrade of Data Centre, to a high resilience Operations Centre, to manage the SAP based sales, supply chain and production control functions throughout Europe. Managed commercial aspects, budgets and the multi-supplier 3rd party resources. The project was accomplished on time, to budget and met precise, predetermined dates for two production shutdowns of the 2,000-person factory.

 

1997 - Information Needs Analysis and Systems Strategy

AstraZeneca R&D

In the first of many contracts with this company, analysed the future business needs for Engineering Information of a 1,500 employee pharmaceutical R&D facility, with annual engineering spend on building development and asset/system maintenance of £60m capital & £12m revenue. Developed a data model for the real-time and asset life-cycle information flows. Proposed Vision Statement was accepted and the medium-term goals of an IS strategy with components of Asset Management, Document Management, Intelligent Engineering Database & CAD, with a 3 year implementation plan and budget. The strategy was integrated with the ongoing Engineering Quality Project based on business processes and workflows, involving considerable management of change in working practices. The assignment continued with the further development of business processes/information flows and the development and presentation of training to implement the processes changes, for over 5 years.

 

1996 - Marketing Advice

TSW Inc

Advised on approach to presentations and demonstrations of asset management software.

 

1996 - Marketing Support

Methods Application

Bid management of proposals to MoD and Royal Mail for the provision of contract staff.

 

1995/96 - Programme Manager

London Underground Ltd - Engineering Directorate

LUL had out-sourced their Engineering IT to EDS, through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI). As the client's Programme Manager, Norman defined the business requirements and deliverables using PRINCE. Investigated the integration issues of the proposed solutions and provided independent advice on the additional functionality required of systems, before determining the optimum procurement strategy and seeking capital approval. Produced the project plans and budget, valued in excess of £25m. The roll-out was to include migration to later releases of desktop software, provide controlled access to Document Management for 1,500 PC's in a client/server environment, integrate & update 140 UNIX CAD seats, and migrate 1,200 databases to an Enterprise wide system. Large numbers of multi-page documents were published on the network from Technical Information & corporate functions.

The project was further complicated by contractual and EU regulatory issues surrounding an extension to the existing contract and ensuring that there was "value for money" and "transfer of risk" as required by the Treasury and DoT, PFI rules. All aspects of the intended contract were set down in an ITT and draft SLA's.

 

1994/95 - Interim VP of Sales & Marketing

ASD Inc

Analysed the future trends of the pipe routing software market, the product's strengths / weaknesses and market penetration. Recommended a strategy, launched it at the Daratech Process Industries Conference in Houston.

 

1994 - IS/IT Audit

AMEC Process & Energy

The Chairman and Deputy of this large engineering Group departed in quick succession. The main Board took an enhanced interest in IT and sought reassurance from the new management that the expenditure on IT for systems represented value for money. Norman provided the audit in the required 10 days. The report and recommendations were accepted.

 

1993/94 - Systems Strategy

McDermott Marine Engineering Ltd

Reviewed all processes and systems used in offshore platform design and made recommendations on the migration of legacy systems from mainframe to client/server architecture. Audited Engineering Systems in the context of the future needs of the business, with particular emphasis of 3D Structural Modelling and 2D Engineering Databases.

 

1993/94 - Product Marketing Advice

CADCentre

Advice on competitive position of 2D & 3D process plant products opposite the main competitor in Germany. Keynote presentation to first World Dealer Conference.

 

Academic & Professional Work

Member of Council of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Chair of the Process Division and formerly Chair of the Pharmaceutical and the Information Management Committees.

Chairman and Keynote/Speaker at events on Facility Management, Document Management, Systems Integration and earlier 3D CAD Modelling in the UK, Europe and USA.  

Open University Associate Lecturer and examination script marker since 1976, currently Tutor on MBA Technology Management, in Systems Thinking, Engineering the Future and Engineer – the Problem Solver.  Consultant to the Systems Diagramming course.

 University of  Teesside , Course leader for 3-day Tutorial on Facility Management.

 University of  Brighton to  European College of Validation, Course Board member for marketing and planning and Module Leader for Regulatory Requirements & Documentation Processes.

Edited two books on Business Information Management in the Process/Project Industries.  

Founding member of NEDO committee in 1974 that resulted in graphic standard IGES.  Board member of UK PI-STEP the international successor to IGES in 1990.

Chair of Directors of Management Company for residential apartment block of 42 flats.

Goethe Zertifikat German - Threshold, Distinction, some Itallian.  CPD events attended: -

  • IMechE Seminar - Maintenance Management Strategies - 2001

  • IMechE Seminar – Containment in Pharmaceutical Processes - 2001

  • Strategic Planning Society – Knowledge Management -2002

  • Staffware – Process Management Software -2002

  • BCS – Programme Management Conference - 2002

  • ORACLE – Process Integration, Content & Web Management - 2002

  • CIMTECH – Content, Data & Document Capture Conference – 2002

  • IMechE Seminar – Pharmaceutical Cleaning – 2002

  • Datum – Knowledge Capture Seminar – 2002

  • CorVu – Balanced Scorecard Seminar – 2002

  • Cardiff Software – Process Automation – 2002

  • MAINTEC – the Exhibition of Maintenance Technologies - 2003

  • BCS –  Risk Management School – 2003

 

CORPORATE CAREER SUMMARY

In-Company Projects

  • Project Director for 1.4m drawing registry system to keep key data on-line.
  • Managed a 4 company CAD methods development for Oil Platform Design.
  • Project Director for project involving 48 graphics seats and 100+ terminals.
  • Consultant to a Merchant Bank on their clerical work processes.
  • Supported registration & conversion of 80,000 drawings to electronic format.
  • Devised strategy, secured all party agreement and carried out the plan for a systems vendor to obtain release of $1m retention payment outstanding for over 1 year.
  • Managed and edited the multi-contributor book, funded by the DTI and marketed by the IMechE on Information Management in the Process Industry.

 

Intergraph Europe resident in Holland 1992 - 1994

1992 - Process Industries Manager with a target of $56m, responsible for sales strategy, staff training and management of bids of cross-border major accounts, including strategic sales in Germany and Norway. Responsible for the assessment of proposals for product development and recommendation of European sourced products worthy of incorporation into the core products. Chair of team defining Document Management User Requirements, conducting a multi-site European study. Steering Group member for STEP and other Systems Integration projects.

Chaired World Sales Meeting on the Industry and planned response to emerging issues of: -

  • Document Management & Workflow, for continuous process industries
  • 2D Schematics, from design to use in life-time Operational Control
  • Data Capture/Conversion methods for existing facilities, e.g. Photogrammetry

Member of the corporate strategy team for Piping Design System and launched PDS Instrumentation. Supported the setting up of two Consultancy units. Major roles in strategic sales in Germany and Norway.

 

Procad Ltd/Topcad Ltd 1986 - 1991

1986 - Managing Director of UK arm of Dutch company, grew to 40 staff, £750k turnover.

 

ComputerVision Europe based mainly in Norway 1982 - 1986

1982 - Offshore Programme Manager & General Manager of the Norwegian Offshore Oil support operation of 35, including a team of 10 dedicated to design methods improvement. Country turnover grew from $2m to $6m in a year. Trouble shooting in BNFL, Australia and RSA; seconded to USA preparing the user aspects of the launch of SUN products, then returned to the UK for the MEDUSA launch.

 

British Nuclear Fuels Ltd 1980 - 1982

1980 - Computer Applications Manager, security cleared, responsible for the recruitment and organisation of a department to lead the acquisition, development and operation of project management and design systems for the £2,000m THORP project. The strategy utilised package and bespoke solutions. Staff of 76 and £6m pa budget.

 

Davy Oil & Chemicals Ltd 1975 - 1980

1975 - Systems Manager for corporate systems, of time planning, cost estimating and material control. Member of team to implement common technical systems worldwide.

1978 - Procurement Manager for Material Control of time critical work in Iran and China. Deputised for Director, authorised to sign orders to £250,000. Staff numbers varied between 45 and 85.

 

PERA 1972 - 1975

1972 - Consultant assisting clients in requirements specifications. Sales increased 470%.

 

SCICON (then part of BP, now part of EDS) 1971 - 1972

1971 - Contracts Executive responsible for defence & commercial consultancy contracts.

 

ICI plc 1960 - 1971

1961 - Mine Maintenance Engineer, statutory responsibilities, R&D to flame-proof diesel engines.

1964 - Construction Engineer supervising the mechanical contracts of 5 plants in Malaysia.

1967 - Design Engineer using early CAD techniques.

1969 - Sales Manager of ICI CAD software, ISOPEDAC, in early days of package sales.