Profile

My name is Steve. I am married with two grown up children.

I have been in engineering since I left school, now that was a long time ago! I served an apprenticeship, at the same time studying part time at my local college. At 22 I moved from North Devon to Hampshire to get into design. Once again I studied part time for a further 3 years.

A few years later I decided to get into the artificial limb industry and help people less fortunate than me. I spent twenty years designing various types of prosthetic legs. As part of a dedicated team we won engineering awards for the limbs we developed.

I got my degree in my forties through the Open University, then a few years later I started my own business. I now support companies with their engineering needs, solving problems and designing their products.

I love my holidays and now my children have grown up, my wife and I can go where we want to. We’ve been on night time jungle walks in Costa Rica, zip lined in Mexican forests and swum with whale sharks in the Caribbean. My favourite is snorkelling in Egypt, which is why I won’t be joining you until the 14th.

I started my engineering career at sixteen with a traditional five year apprenticeship within the aerospace industry. During this time I gained a qualification in production engineering (manufacturing things). At 22 I was given the opportunity to enter the field of design, but had to move half way across the country to the company’s HQ.

Once working in design I discovered a flair for innovation and ingenuity. At this time, I also studied part time to gain a qualification in mechanical engineering (designing and developing products).

I moved into the prosthetic limb industry in the 1990s. My first job was, together with experts in electronics (yes, other engineers) and biomechanics (yet more engineers) to design and develop the first microprocessor controlled knee. Constantly evolving this concept, over the next twenty years, we developed some of the worlds leading technology within the artificial limb industry.

More recently I started a company providing freelance engineering help to other companies. I Work within various industries  such as automotive, aerospace and general industrial areas, whilst maintaining my links with medical device companies.