New Ops Director for Oxley

Steve worked for 13 years at the MoD, principally with the Army, in supply, logistics, project management and personnel management before moving into HR management in 1995 at American firm Johnson Controls Automotive (JCA). After a successful five year period as Plant Manager of one of JCA’s interior trim plants, he took on a corporate role implementing lean manufacturing systems for the company Europe-wide. He also worked extensively in the USA.

Following this, he worked for UK-based air compressor manufacturer, Comp Air for three years as Global Lean Director, before becoming Managing Director for the UK plants of German company HP Chemie Pelzer, an automotive carpet and acoustic trim manufacturer.

Directly before coming to Oxley, Steve was Divisional Managing Director for Hampson Precision Automotive, manufacturing high precision parts for the automotive and commercial vehicle turbocharger market.

As Operations Director, Steve is responsible for all manufacturing, assembly and supply chain operations at Priory Park and Barrow.

Steve says: “I see my biggest challenge at Oxley as turning what is, at the core, a superb company, into a truly world class company.

“It’s early days for me at the moment, I’m finding out where the main issues to address lie, and I’m thoroughly relishing the task at hand. There’s a great bunch of people at Oxley and I’m looking forward to working with everybody to take this great company to new levels of performance and customer satisfaction.”

Steve, who hails from Liverpool, lives in Warrington with wife Lesley, a professional photographer. He likes “Good food and good wine with good friends.” Outside work his big passion is music and theatre. He also enjoys football (he’s a Liverpool fan), cricket and golf as well as history, cinema, reading and art.

Steve wants to promote a professional, confident atmosphere at Oxley, and said: “I’m aiming to put a culture in place where our people will be trained to enable them to make the name of Oxley a major force in our industry”.

Oxley Managing Director Peter Cotterill said: “I am pleased to have found such a well qualified and passionate Director to fill this important role within Oxley.
“I have no doubt that Steve’s ideas will enable his team to make a successful journey to world class performance.”