Meet the Team: Jon Elford, Operations Supervisor

Meet Jon Elford, Operations Supervisor. Jon joined HSM just over a year ago and loves the variety the role brings. Outside of work Jon enjoys spending time with family, and cycling - both road and off road. He often gets involved in charity events; one involved him completing a return ride from Portsmouth to Paris for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

What does your role involve?

My role is extremely varied, but I would say my main responsibilities focus on production planning; ensuring the work comes through and is delivered on time and to specification. Beyond that, I spend my time dealing with staffing tasks such as annual leave and sickness, and generally keeping things running smoothly. People management is quite a big part of the role.

What’s your career background?

When I left school I became a sheet metal work and fabrication apprentice and the apprenticeship took four years to complete. From there I spent around 10-12 years working in sheet metal fabrication roles, before branching out into the world of motor sport. 

In 1994 I joined a company that went on to build the rolling chassis for the land speed record holder - and it still holds the record today! After that I got into Formula 1 and spent seven years working for the Honda, Brawn and McLaren teams, working on lots of different projects including model making for exhaust development. This allowed me to utilise my welding and fabrication skills as well as many others.

At that point I decided that I wanted to be closer to home for work, so I moved into doing composite work for F1 teams and other companies. Four years ago I branched back into sheet metal fabrication, undertaking some work back on the bench as well as team leading. From there came the move to HSM.

I’ve been fortunate to have a very interesting and varied career!

What are the most rewarding and challenging parts of your role?

I find helping to build a team, as well as working as part of that team, extremely rewarding. In addition to that, getting work to customers on time, and to the quality and specification required is very fulfilling too.

The biggest challenge we face is managing projects to make sure we meet deadlines despite outside factors that we may not have control over, but we all work hard to ensure deadlines are successfully met regardless.

What are your aims for the coming year? 

Much of the same really; I’m always striving to improve workflow in the workshop, making efficiencies and improving the working environment for our team. As a company we believe in Lean manufacturing - a production strategy focused on efficiency and waste reduction - so we’re really driving that this year.

What support have you received since joining?

The management team provided extensive support when I joined the company and I look forward to exploring some development opportunities in the future.

Why should people use HSM's services above others?

We’re a one stop shop for our customers; we do everything we can in-house to ensure we’re in complete control of their projects from start to finish, which results in excellent lead times and exceptional quality.

Why is HSM a great place to work?

HSM has a very varied workload - I can honestly say that every day is different! We have lots of very good customers and I’ve really enjoyed working with them this past year and look forward to continuing to do so.

 

Find out more about our team and take a closer look at the services we offer.

 

 

 

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