After finishing school, I completed two years of military conscription as a combat engineer, carrying out essential front-line engineering duties such as breaching enemy fortifications, demolition work, bridge building, and minefield clearance.
After completing my military service, I began my career at General Motors as a die model maker apprentice. This role involved designing, building, and repairing metal press tooling, molds, and dies used in mass manufacturing. During my apprenticeship, I received several awards, including Best Apprentice, Diligence, and Apprentice of the Year. I qualified with a 94% pass mark and went on to win a national award as the top apprentice of the year in South Africa. After qualifying I progressed to the design department where I designed press tooling for Body in White components.
Following my career at GM, I joined African Hide in the tanning industry as Assistant Engineering Manager before moving to Comau, where I designed automated production lines for Body in White manufacturing and coordinated projects.
After Comau, I joined Mecasonics, where I designed ultrasonic testing machines used to inspect turbine blades and aircraft components for defects. I then moved to ABT Products as Design Manager, where I designed cabs for Linde, Toyota, and Terex forklifts, as well as a cab and chassis for SuperCat’s all-terrain vehicle. In addition, I designed a monorail service train for the Severn Bridge.
After leaving ABT Products, I became Managing Director of a pharmaceutical company that manufactured supplements, ointments, fortified glycerine soaps, and herbal teas. After selling the company, I sold my possessions and spent two years touring South Africa with my caravan. It was a life-changing experience, and I would recommend that everyone try it.
I relocated from South Africa to the United Kingdom due to concerns about political corruption, violence, and poor governance, which I believed posed significant long-term challenges for the country. These concerns were reinforced by the ranking of the most dangerous cities in the world, where South Africa accounts for five of the top ten cities globally.

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How did you get into can making?
When I moved to the UK, I initially stayed with a friend in Chester before purchasing a property near Wrexham. I decided it was too early to retire, so I began looking for opportunities that matched my skills and interests. There were many options available, particularly given the UK’s unemployment rate of around 5%, compared with approximately 43% in South Africa. This led to an interview with Mark and Paul, followed by a second interview with Mark and Berty. I was subsequently offered a position as an R&D Design Engineer. The can-making industry was new to me, which made the opportunity particularly interesting, and I was also attracted by the range of challenges at Unimaq.

Why Unimaq?
Unimaq appealed to me because it is a relatively small and dynamic company, where individuals are able to contribute across a broad range of responsibilities rather than being confined to one narrowly defined role. This environment provides regular exposure to different technical, operational, and problem-solving challenges, which suits my experience and preference for varied work. I also value the level of visibility and accountability that comes with working in a smaller business, where individual effort, initiative, and the quality of one’s contribution are more readily recognised. For me, this creates a more engaging and rewarding working environment, as it allows me to apply my skills broadly while continuing to learn and make a meaningful impact.

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Career highlights 
Over a 36-year career spanning multiple demanding industries, I have built a track record of significant technical achievement, leadership, and problem-solving. My experience has given me the opportunity to take on complex engineering challenges, deliver practical solutions, and contribute meaningfully across manufacturing, automation, inspection technology, product design, and business growth. Among the achievements I am most proud of are:
•    Receiving multiple accolades at General Motors, including recognition as a top-performing apprentice and national award winner.
•    Designing a T Top hemming press at Comau that combined 45º and 90º operations in a single press, significantly improving production efficiency.
•    Designing and manufacturing an ultrasonic aircraft wing inspection machine for high-precision defect detection.
•    Design and manufacture of the cab and chassis for the SupaCat all-terrain vehicle.
•    Design and manufacturing a monorail service train.
•    Successfully expanding a pharmaceutical product range and marketing strategy, helping to quadruple turnover.
Although my career at Unimaq spans only three years so far, I believe I have already made a meaningful contribution by applying the depth of expertise, technical judgement, and leadership experience gained throughout my career.

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How I see the 2-piece industry
Much of the two-piece can-making industry is still built around proven technology that has been refined over many decades. This is understandable, as it is a high-volume, high-speed sector where any interruption to production can quickly result in significant cost and lost output. However, this also creates a major opportunity for carefully selected innovation. The latest developments in can making are focused on improving line efficiency, reducing energy consumption, increasing quality control, and supporting more sustainable production. Technologies such as live optical inspection, automated defect detection, improved coating control, UV and LED UV curing, and digital printing are becoming increasingly important as manufacturers look for ways to reduce waste, improve consistency, and respond more quickly to customer demands. Unimaq is well placed within this shift, with products such as UniCAM, a live optical quality-control system designed to identify defects early and help prevent large-scale production losses. We are also continually assessing advances in UV inks, lacquers, and LED UV curing to determine how they can be integrated into existing production lines without compromising reliability. Our mass rim coaters already demonstrate this approach, combining high-speed capability of up to 4,000 cans per minute with the benefits of LED UV technology, including improved energy efficiency, reduced heat, lower emissions, and faster curing. Looking ahead, I believe the future of can making will be shaped by smarter inspection systems, more efficient curing and coating processes, lightweight and recyclable packaging, and greater use of data to improve production performance. These developments create significant opportunities for Unimaq to work closely with can-making customers worldwide and help them modernise their lines while maintaining the reliability and output the industry depends on.

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Away from work life        
Away from work, much of my free time has been taken up with renovating my house, which has become both a challenge and an adventure. From plastering, painting, and laying new floors to replacing ceilings, fitting new switches and sockets, removing old light fittings, and installing downlights throughout the house, it has certainly kept my weekends busy. I have done most of the work myself, with my wife lending a hand whenever she can, and we are now happily getting close to the finish line. Once the renovation is complete, we are looking forward to turning our attention to the garden and landscaping the outside space. After that, the plan is to start exploring more of the UK, as there are still so many places, we have yet to discover. One idea we are particularly excited about is hiring a canal boat for a week or two; if we enjoy it, we may even consider buying one and perhaps one day living on it. We are also hoping to visit my family in South Africa, so the next challenge will be fitting all these plans in between our holidays — but it is a nice problem to have!