I am a Chartered Electrical Engineer with many years experience of electrical equipment in heavy industry.
I studied electronics at the University of York where I gained an M.Eng in Electronic Systems Engineering.
As a graduate I studied electronics and software engineering. I learned how to design analogue and digital equipment and control the management of complex software projects. During this time I was sponsored by BT and had three interesting placements in a training centre, a division installing business communication links and a satellite earth station.
After leaving university I worked for British Steel (later Corus) on heavy industrial equipment. This included highly automated, PLC controlled machinery, harsh environments subject to water, heat and mechanical damage, gas systems and a large number of overhead cranes. I worked in both project and maintenance departments, learning about two very different sets of priorities.
In my last role at Corus I was in charge of a team of supervisors and electricians with a maintenance budget of £240k pa. I was also an Authorised Person for switching oil filled switchgear up to 11kV at the site substations, including applying earths and issuing high voltage permits.
I eventually left Corus and spent ten years working on the Pelamis renewable energy device. This not only gave me experience of design, specification, purchase, assembly and commissioning but allowed me to repeat this cycle several times on the same basic equipment. This gave me an opportunity to experiment with improvements to products and assembly processes in a way that few people get. Sadly this company became insolvent and all its employees were made redundant.
I decided to work for myself and then formed James E Richardson (Electrical) Limited, which I currently run today.