Simon West
Owner of Earlsdon Technology Limited and one of the first engineers to be accepted onto the Sainsbury Management Fellowship scheme. A true engineer, who began his career with Jaguar Cars, Simon is now running a small company developing customised special purpose machine tools for large automotive and aerospace customers across the globe.
- A Cambridge graduate, Simon began his engineering career with Jaguar Cars in supplier development, working with several small companies including the original Earlsdon Components
- Recognising the company’s need for a coherent strategy, Simon joined Earlsdon as a trouble shooter before embarking on his Sainsbury Management Fellows sponsored MBA at INSEAD
- Post MBA, Simon joined a small conglomerate which included a company making machine tools, which prompted a return to Earlsdon as managing director
- Spotting a market opportunity, he set up the independently owned Earlsdon Technology in 1993
- Earlsdon focuses on the design, assembly, software development, testing and aftersales, with the manufacture sub-contracted out to local businesses
- Today Earlsdon employs eight full-time staff and supports many other local companies in the manufacturing sector, exporting 60% to countries such as China, Brazil, India, Argentina, South Africa and Mexico, where the Earlsdon name is well known for engineering quality
- After his MBA in 1989 there were many offers from management consultants, but very few within British industry. However Simon was determined to continue his engineering career within British industry, in keeping with the philosophy behind the Sainsbury Management Fellowship scheme
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Industry spokesperson – machine tools, engineers in British industry
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