Key TWI staff involved with the automotive industry

Stephan Kallee gained his diploma in Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich, where he specialised in production technology and business administration. After completing a course as a European Welding Engineer, he joined TWI in May 1995. He was actively involved in the development and implementation of friction stir welding (FSW) and his activities included the application of the process to automotive lightweight structures, aluminium pipelines and high-speed ferryboats. He managed large collaborative projects, e.g. the government funded R&D Phase of the EuroStir ^® project on industrialisation of FSW and the LinFric ^® project on development of hydraulic linear friction welding machines. Stephan is now Sector Manager in Industrial Membership Services and focuses on the Road Transport, Construction and Engineering Industry Sectors. He is a Member of the Institute of Rail Welding (MIoRW), Member of The Welding Institute (MWeldI) and Chartered Engineer (CEng).

Peter Oakley originally joined TWI in 1972 with a BSc in Chemistry from Leicester University. Having worked in the Materials and Laser Departments, he left TWI in 1991 and obtained an MBA in 1992. He rejoined the organisation in 2001 as a Business Developer in the Group and European Projects Department, and became Manager of the Department in April 2003.

Peter is currently involved in developing collaborative projects supported by regional, national and European funding, and also undertakes work in the areas of marketing and innovation management. Much of this work is based on his experience gained from working for the European Commission in Brussels, other government agencies, and both large and small enterprises.

Steve Westgate joined TWI in 1972 with a BSc in Industrial Metallurgy from Birmingham University. As Consultant - Resistance Welding in TWI's Laser and Sheet Processes Group, he is involved in and manages R&D projects on resistance welding and mechanical fastening.

Steve's specialist knowledge and background in processes and materials covers a wide range of industry sectors. Through his experience in industrial applications and scientific studies, Steve has an active consultancy role involving trouble-shooting, training and advice on best practice.

David Calder works for the Business Process Support Section, part of TWI's Manufacturing Support Group. He has experience of lean manufacturing systems and of New Product Introduction (NPI) processes. David is conversant with many of the tools in the automotive manufacturing professional's tool box such as Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, Design of Experiments, Ford 8D problem solving and Statistical Process Control. He is also familiar with project management techniques and has spent several years working in a range production environments.

Michelle Lamprecht joined TWI as Group Marketing Manager in September 2006. Prior to working at TWI, Michelle worked as a Marketing Manager for Huntsman, managing a global team responsible for the Industrial Adhesives, Consumer Adhesives, Coatings and Construction markets. Michelle also held a variety of Marketing positions at Ciba, including Acquisitions/Mergers, and before this worked as a Senior Process Chemist.

Alan Day

Tim Mitchell joined TWI as a project leader in the Electron Beam Department in 2001 after finishing his PhD at the University of Surrey. He has been involved in a wide variety of projects in the EB department involving: EB welding of crack sensitive alloys, deflection techniques for improved weld quality, and EB hardening.

Calvin Blignault joined TWI in 2006 as a Project Leader in the Friction and Forge Processes Section. He is primarily involved with project management and innovative research that focuses on Friction Stir Welding and Linear Friction Welding.

Calvin received his Master and Doctorate degrees in Mechanical Engineering at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in South Africa. Both his degrees involved Friction Stir Welding, which concentrated on monitoring and control, process modelling for optimisation, machine design and development, multi-axial transducer design development and calibration techniques, strength of materials, elementary statistics, tool design and basic metallurgy.

Chris Otter has been at TWI since 1983. His career at TWI began as Technician in the Fatigue Laboratory, testing welded specimens and structures. From there he moved into the Laser Section and spent five years operating high power lasers and working on a wide variety of applications as well as developing novel processes. In 1993 he moved into the role of Project Leader in the Microtechnology Section. Upon gaining a Degree through part-time study at University of Hertfordshire, he attained the position of Senior Project Leader.

Through his career development at TWI Chris has gained experience in a wide range of welding and joining processes, in particular: ultrasonic wire bonding, miniature resistance welding and laser welding processes.

Ajay Kapadia has been with TWI since 2006, his background is in Composite Materials and has worked in the Oil & Gas, Marine and Aerospace Sectors. He is currently Programme Director of the National Composites Network. Ajay has qualification in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and brings a Design for Manufacture approach to his work.

Dave Harvey joined TWI in 1986 with a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering, working initially on projects related to process control in gas shielded arc welding. He has subsequently been closely involved with the development of TWI's thermal spray and cold spray coating facilities. He was Chairman of the UK Surface Engineering Society from 1994-97 and is an active member of the Thermal Spraying & Surface Engineering Association (TSSEA). He has been actively involved in the development of Pb-free coatings for automotive applications such as connecting rod big end bearings and the development of metal-coated composites for motorsport component thermal management. His current responsibilities for TWI are in project support and business development for TWI's joining process groups.

Paul Burling
Current Position: Principal Engineer Composite Materials
Qualifications: HNC ONC in mechanical and production engineering
Career Summary: Paul has extensive experience in research and development and project management of large commercial projects world-wide, which include in-depth knowledge of composite materials for Military, Medical, Construction and Aerospace applications. This required comprehensive customer support throughout the life cycle of the projects. Skills include MRPII for forecasting, planning, purchasing and manufacturing - with the ability to be able to implement cost reduction programmes, tender review, contract reviews. Many of these projects are single client projects and collaborative projects funded by either the DTI or Europe (CRAFT).
Key Industrial Projects

• Jaguar Sports Chassis for Jaguar XJ220 Project
• Fokker F50 aircraft floors
• Alenia ATR 42/72 aircraft floor
• Thorn EMI Adad radar
• Exterior profile Lombard St Bank
• SML Rail transit railway doors
• Westland Aerospace/Lynx/EH1000 Helicopter blades and interior composites
• Rolls Royce Tay Engine Laminates
• Management of dissemination of the LINK Structural Composites Programme for the DTI.
• Development of two CRAFT projects using composite materials for the orthotics industry
• Project Management of Performance Specification of Orthotic Devices
• Primary adhesive joints for the wing box on the A380 Airbus
• Licence agreements on high temperature materials UK and Asia
• Principal composite engineer for the National Composites Network (UK)

Technical expertise includes: research and development, design, fabrication joining and costing composite materials using novel production techniques in producing carbon laminate for the manufacturing industry.
Publications: Over 25 reports and papers on manufacturing and using composite materials.

Ruth Hammond is currently a Senior Project Leader in the Materials, Corrosion and Surfacing Group at TWI. This involves managing technical projects, failure investigation, consultancy, and general enquiries. Ruth has an interest in the performance of materials in high pressure hydrogen. She has developed the facilities for mechanical testing in high pressure hydrogen at TWI in order to support the automotive industry's move towards a hydrogen economy.

Ian Hogarth

Jitendra Patel joined TWI in 2007 as Technology Group Business Manager for Structural Integrity, and Materials-Corrosion-Surfacing Technology Groups. He has a range of international experience covering R&D, technical, and the business development arena. Jitendra has over 10 years experience working with the international steel and ferro-alloy industry sectors. He has a range of knowledge in process metallurgy, and has gained experience with the world's major steel producers and R&D centres in the area of microalloyed high strength plate and strip products. In addition, having successfully developed a number of multi-million pound, multi-partner R&D and Technology Transfer Programmes he also has an understanding of UK regional government, UK and EU funding mechanisms.

He is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and holds an Engineering Doctorate from the University of Wales, Swansea, and is completing an MBA from the University of Warwick. He is also on Editorial Board of the Journal Ironmaking and Steelmaking: Process, Products & Applications.