Speakers at the next Appetite for Engineering event will include…
Steve West, Director of The Pudding Compartment
After joining MK Electric in St Asaph as an apprentice aged 16, Steve spent 20 years in the corporate world, including various management roles in Ford Australia. Steve then decided to follow his dream and start his own business. Initially this took the form of being a self-employed manufacturing consultant, then in 2007 he started up The Pudding Compartment in a 60m2 bakery in Abergele with two employees. Today the company employs to 23 people.
Steve is passionate about helping other small businesses that have plans to grow and to pass on the lessons he has learned on his journey so far.
Joe Taylor, Maintenance Methods Engineer at Nestle Purina UK Manufacturing Operations Limited
Joe is an engineer with a proven track record in delivering digital and focused improvement projects to streamline maintenance and engineering processes. He has experience in engineering-based project management and technical coaching. He is passionate about efficiency, process improvement and waste reduction.
Bertrand Emond, Membership Ambassador & Culture Excellence Lead at Campden BRI
Bertrand is an IFST Fellow and holds a Master of Food Science & Technology and a Master of Business Administration. For the last 35 years, Bertrand has been helping companies of all sizes from all parts of the agri-food chain to survive and grow. He has taken part in a number of local, regional, national and international initiatives aiming to support businesses with respect to Quality, Safety, Efficiency/Sustainability and Innovation.
Bertrand is passionate about supporting the industry in the areas of skills, knowledge, training, learning and development, competency, and achieving culture excellence through behaviour change. He won the 2020 BRCGS CEO Europe Award recognising his commitment and contribution to food safety and the Heinz Award for Excellence for Leadership in Collaborative CPD for the Industry.
Nigel Hillyer, Feed Milling Engineer & Operations Consultant
Nigel first entered the animal feed Industry in 1978 after serving seven years in the Royal Navy, having joined as a Boy Seaman at the age of 15 and leaving as a qualified electrical engineer.
He started work as a shift engineer for Pauls and Whites at their Winsford Cheshire Mill, during his twelve years with the company he undertook numerous production and engineering supervisor roles, eventually joining Criddle Billington Feeds in the Spring of 1990 as Production Manager at its Glazebury, Warringon Mill. In 1997 he took on the role of Technical Manager Engineering responsible for the operational performance and engineering development across all the Carrs Billington Agriculture Operations sites.
Throughout his time with the Carrs Billington Group Nigel as been involved in the development of all operational capital investment projects up to £3million in value, both in the UK and the USA, having more recently designed and build bespoke heat treatment process plants for the production of protein supplements both sides of the Atlantic.
Nigel is an active member of the feed industry trade association the Agricultural Industries Confederation and was most recently a co-author of the Industry Guidance to Feed Mills for compliance with the DSEAR (ATEX) Regulations.