Tell us about your role at Walker Rubber and how you support customers
My role is still taking shape – we’re in the middle of some exciting changes here – but the core of what do is Technical Manager. In practice, that means I’m the person who gets involved when something tricky comes up during manufacturing. Problem solving is a big part of it.
Beyond the day-to-day troubleshooting, I’m working on developing and maintaining our working processes, advising on material behaviours both internally and for our customers, and making sure we’re manufacturing parts in a way that’s robust and repeatable. I also support technical purchasing decisions where better equipment or tooling can improve how we make things.
It’s very much a hands-on role – I'm not a salesperson, but if a customer has a technical question that needs a proper engineering answer, I’ll get involved.
What does a typical day look like for you?
At the moment, a lot of my time is going into supporting the integration of Clingbrook and Walker Rubber. That’s involved creating a parts inventory, getting to grips with their existing processes, and then training the team there as we bring our own systems and ways to work across. It’s been full-on, but genuinely interesting work.
When I’m not doing that, I’m documenting our many processes here at Walker Rubber - understanding where improvements can be made and trying to make life easier for everyone on the shop floor. There's a lot of institutional knowledge in a business like this that benefits from being properly captured and organised.
What were you doing before joining Walker Rubber, and how has your background shaped the way you work?
I studied Sports and Materials Science at undergraduate level, then went on to do a Master’s on Materials Science. The hope was always that I’d develop a solid understanding of how materials behave - and that’s exactly what happened, just not in rubber, as it turned out.
After university, I spent eleven years as an engineer in R&S at Hexcel Composites, working with advanced composite materials and really getting into the detail of material behaviours and manufacturing processes. From there I moved into quality management at Ion Science, where I got deep into ISO requirements and what best practice looks like in a manufacturing environment. Then I joined Lotus Cars as a Senior Quality Engineer, where I was involved in creating standards for new vehicle models.
It’s an unusual path to rubber, I’ll admit, but each role has added something useful – whether that’s understanding how materials behave under different conditions, how to build and maintain processes, or how to think about quality and repeatability in manufacturing.
What have been the best and most challenging parts of starting at Walker Rubber?
The biggest challenge has been that I’ve never worked with rubber before. Everyone I’ve spoken to in the industry since I’ve started has told me it's a “dark art” – and they’re not wrong. There’s a lot to learn. Rubber behaves in ways that can be genuinely counterintuitive, and getting to grips with that has been a steep but rewarding curve.
From an engineering perspective, what stands out about Walker Rubber compared to others in the industry?
The lead times are genuinely challenging (fast-paced is an understatement sometimes) but I've been struck by how well people work together to make it happen. There's a real sense of collective ownership over getting things right and getting them out the door. For someone coming from larger organisations, that closeness is something different, and I mean that in a good way.
What’s been your favourite product or process to work with?
The Rollaway portable stairs. They're a really clever piece of engineering – well designed, and useful across a surprisingly wide range of applications. The kind of thing that makes you appreciate what good rubber engineering can actually do.
What's been your proudest moment since joining?
Surviving three weeks at Clingbrook might be the honest answer! But more seriously, I've already been able to contribute some process improvements around traceability in our operations. It's early days, but it feels like a solid start – and the goal is to keep building on that to make things more robust and repeatable across the business.
And finally, what do you get up to outside of work?
I've got a season ticket at Norwich City, so that keeps me occupied – for better or worse. I enjoy playing sports, getting to the pub, and I'm very into music. I try to make it to Glastonbury every year, which is something I look forward to a lot. It's a good way to reset after a busy year.
Walker Rubber is a precision rubber extrusions manufacturer based in Norwich, with over 85 years of trading history. We're always happy to talk through technical challenges.
Get in touch to find out how we can help.