Bob Bradley

Experience

• 

  Honda Engineering Europe Ltd.

  Apr 2007 - Sept 2011

  R & D Engineer

  For four and a half years I worked in a small top-flight R&D group at Honda monitoring EU trends for the Japanese parent company and developing advanced manufacturing technologies for the next generation of the company’s products.

• 

  GKN Aerospace

  Oct 2011 - Sept 2014

  I worked as the Head of the multi-million-pound Additive Manufacturing (AM) organisation that I personally established at GKN. Working closely with the SVP Engineering and Technology and regularly reporting to the group company Board of Directors, this role gave me the opportunity to develop my understanding of a large engineering organisation’s research and development function and among other things how this relates to product strategy. I joined GKN Aerospace in October 2011, having taken the decision to leave grass-roots manufacturing R&D and to move into a dedicated position in AM – at a managerial level. This involved setting up GKN’s first foray into AM R&D for the aerospace division – from the ground up. Within 12 months I established a 6-person R&D Centre with an annual budget of over £1M. I regularly reported to the Group Technology Strategy Board (GTSB) chaired by the CEO of GKN Plc.

  • Head of Additive Manufacturing

    Apr 2013 - Sept 2014

  • Additive Manufacturing Centre Manager

    Oct 2011 - Apr 2013
• 

  Rjbradley consulting

  Sept 2014 - Oct 2016

  Principal Consultant

  My consultancy provided a unique perspective on what the adoption of AM technologies could mean for a variety of customers, both in terms of market opportunities as well as the threats from competitors. I provided specialist consulting specifically tailored to a broad range of customers’ needs – working with start-ups through to billion-dollar multinational organisations.• Worked with the founder of a pre-launch Silicon Valley start-up on process and cost-modelling as well as mapping the market landscape for selective laser melting metal manufacturing machines. I authored reports analysing the global metal AM market and produced detailed models illustrating the impact of various process variables on part and production costs. In 2022 the company turned over $75M - $80M.• I consulted for executives of a $2.8B turnover business alongside Boston Consulting Group and contributed strategic advice on market areas for their subsequent major move into industrial AM. This involved participation in workshops at the company global headquarters and meeting with the board of directors and the wider senior management team for discussions and strategy sessions.• For over a year I worked on a large piece of strategic work with a diversified conglomerate examining how they could enter the wider AM market. I worked on an innovation team comprising senior directors, occasionally alongside Frost & Sullivan and presented to the board several times on my own. This work included the production of multiple reports including an in-depth overview of AM technologies; AM global markets and sectors; a competitor intelligence report contrasting four competing service bureaux in UK, France, Germany and USA and an exploration of the relative merits of JV, company acquisition and lone-launch strategies. Show less

• 

  Scaled

  Oct 2016 - now

  Technical Director

  Secured angel investment and along with my co-founder created a novel 3D printing start-up that developed novel large-scale thermoplastic extrusion technology. Built a specialist technical team to evolve and exploit the developing technology and took responsibility primarily for the technical side of the business, including the creation and roll-out of a technical roadmap as well as design and modelling approaches to support bids and proposals. Successfully won and delivered a range of challenging customer projects across multiple sectors including oil and gas; aerospace; automotive and rail. Always delivered on time and to budget.• Spearheaded the acquisition of over £350k of angel investment in 2017 and £500k of further financing over the next five years.• Secured over £600k of Innovate UK grant funding in 2017 for the development of robot 3D printing and led the consortium for the duration of the 18-month RHIFALS project achieving a 4 / 5 project rating.• Developed the technical scoping for a £250k public facing project and successfully rolled out the production and delivery of 53 (fifty-three) 4-metre-high structures comprising 13 tonnes of recycled plastic materials.• Produced Europe’s first 3D printed vehicle in remote collaboration with RAFINEX and the University of Birmingham Race Team students during the COVID pandemic.• Created a 5-metre railway signalling arch support structure comprising 125 kg of printed thermoplastic – installed outside Bristol Parkway in 2019 – thought to be the largest printed structure in the UK at the time.• Produced a four-module training programme for a major oil and gas international and delivered it to AM engineers and scientists in various departments across the business.• Mentored and hosted four work experience students in addition to the oversight of two full-time engineers. Show less