Tom Atkin
Director of Operations at ChopValue Manufacturing
Vancouver, British Columbia
In My Own Words
A manufacturing operations professional, with a background in the aerospace industry. Motivated by climate change to take more impactful path. Now leading Operations at ChopValue; scaling a global distributed manufacturing model. Leading and demonstrating change through example.
Work Experience
Director of Operations
ChopValue2022 – Present
Responsible leading and building a high performance operations team to scale an innovative distributed manufacturing model, during a phase of rapid growth.
Manufacturing; - Responsible for the leadership of Manufacturing Operations - Responsible for the delivery of new facilities on our network - Responsible for team performance
Continuous Improvement; - Responsible for the continuous improvement of operational processes - Responsible for the continuous improvement of manufacturing processes
People Performance; - Responsible for the development of a high performance team to deliver on growth goals and operational performance.
Redefining “waste” to “resource”, one chopstick at a time.
Operations and Business Performance Manager
ChopValue2020 – 2022
ChopValue is a circular economy Microfactory franchise concept. Developing, designing and manufacturing recycled chopstick products. Focused on giving under-utilized urban resources a second life, a role model and thought leader in the Circular Economy space.
Responsible for the operation and performance of ChopValue's manufacturing network. This included establishing the processes to support our early stage Franchise developments.
Director Of Operations
3DQue Systems Inc.2020 – 2020
Operations lead at a dynamic early stage startup developing disruptive technology that enables the end to end automation of fused filament fabrication, additive manufacturing technology.
The companies mission is to remove the barriers associated with traditional polymer manufacturing; equipment costs, tooling costs and the time taken to realize design iterations, though enabling; fully automated digital printing solutions, that can be scaled to meet industry needs.
Responsible for the industrialization of technology, team schedules, project management and the management key client accounts.
Production Manager
Rolls-Royce2016 – 2019
Responsible for two highly automated production cells machining Nozzle Guide Vanes for the latest series of Trent engines. Annually a £50m value stream (2018), producing precision product that is critical to the engine performance and delivery.
Whilst in the role, circa £20m has been invested in these machine tools, personnel numbers have increased from 16 to 50 and output has increased by over 400% to meet the requirements of our customers.
Leading using Production System lean practices has been key to the successful ramp-up of output.
Operations Management Leadership Program
Rolls-Royce2013 – 2016
A 36 month graduate program designed to support the development of leaders in the manufacturing industry. This 18 month graduate program focused on secondments in; Production Planning, Procurement and Manufacturing Engineering.
April 2015 – March 2016 Production Leader, Turbines, Rolls-Royce Bristol
September 2014 – March 2015 Manufacturing Engineer, Texas Aero Engine Overhaul (TAESL), Texas
April 2014 – September 2014 Sourcing Specialist, Infrastructure and Services Purchasing (ISP), Derby
October – March 2014 MRPC Buy, Compressor Components, Barnoldswick
Education
Sidcot School, North Somerset
2000 – 2008