Rethink the Model: Fractional Leadership in Operations

Too often, companies rush to recruit full-time senior leaders — when what they really need is focused, high-impact operational expertise for a defined phase of growth or transformation.

Fractional Operations Leadership offers:
- Immediate access to 25+ years of experience in scaling high-tech, multi-site manufacturing.
- Strategic focus without long-term overheads — driving measurable performance, culture, and efficiency gains.
- Agility — ideal for turnaround, growth acceleration, or pre-investment readiness.
From implementing ISO-integrated systems and driving OEE gains across UK sites, to leading transformation in B-Corp and technology-based manufacturing environments — I’ve seen how targeted, senior input can deliver 80% of the impact in 20% of the time.
If your organisation is in transition, preparing for investment, or scaling production, it may not need a permanent Operations Director. It may require a fractional one who delivers fast, embeds capability, and moves on once momentum is built.

If this interests your company or you just want to talk through how it works please get in touch with me and I would talk you through it, and you could have a solution in place as early as next week, to help you through your difficult times.

These are just some of the key areas I can help with :

- Operational Transformation & Efficiency
Streamlining multi-site manufacturing operations to improve OEE, throughput, and cost control.
Embedding Lean, Six Sigma, and TPM principles to drive sustainable performance gains.
- Integrated Management Systems & Compliance
Designing and implementing ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, and 13485 frameworks.
Aligning quality, safety, and environmental standards with operational goals.
- Strategic Growth & Scale-Up
Leading operational readiness for rapid scale-up, investment, or product transfer.
Aligning production capacity, supply chain, and systems to strategic growth plans.
- Leadership & Organisational Development
Building strong, values-led teams that perform under pressure.
Coaching supervisors and managers to sustain operational excellence.
- Financial & Commercial Performance
Full P&L ownership and performance improvement.
Cost modelling, capital investment justification, and investor confidence building.

Will be developing this site to expand on the key areas a business needs to excel to be competitive

in this new season.

News Update

On the move again relocating to work with www.scotmas.com a world leading company delivering environmentally sustainable biocides and application technology.Profile

My home in the Lake District, on the edge of Penrith. Introduction to Home

Never give up on life, work hard, live abundantly, take care of yourself and love ones.

Regards

Gordon

Peace for Ukraine, Life in Ukraine

 I don't do politics, but I am moral and have ethical principles, and what I see happening to my friends in Ukraine is heartbreaking; I would ask my network to think about the situation, and if the war in Ukraine lays heavy on your heart, then please let your voice be heard through every channel you can, if you have a faith then pray, if you have a political alliance, then please communicate your feeling to them, ask your friends to do the same, There have been millions of lives disrupted and over 500 civilian lives lost at a minimum so far, and it continues. Let your heart and soul speak out.

#peaceinukraine #lifeinukraine

Friday Evening muse

 Friday Evenings muse
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anaïs Nin.

Speaking to business leaders, I brought this quote. I asked what they thought about it at first read and how would they explain it to their employees, there was silence from many, but one stood up and said that he would explain it as their career as his, would take effort and risk to find their potential, he would provide the opportunity and guidance. Do you provide the opportunity for your employees to grow to their potential? This gentleman's company has shown significant growth for the last five years, and last year was his best.

 

Imitation Vs Creation

 Friday Muse

“Imitation is suicide.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

As an individual or organisation, do not imitate but be original, live life in your own skin, build your own organisation, build a better mousetrap. Imitation will only constraint and constrict and ultimately die off.

Regards

Gordon

Plans, talking, and plans

 “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

Great plans are just that, they have no value until you engage and execute, and review.

G

 Motivation thought

"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." – Theodore Roosevelt 

Work is worth doing for many reasons, find them and encourage them across your organisation, remembering your reasons are not everyone's reasons. Have a good weekend

Gordon

 New job, new home, a new location

It has been a long time since I have been on here posting, I have found my self in a new role, working in a new industry combining the whole gamut of my experience, from UVC LEDs to supply chain and Quality and a few stages in-between.  I am working for an early-stage company who design and manufacture drinking water disinfection systems for water utility companies and large scale users of potable/clean water. I will describe my adventure over the next few months, so far it has been fun as we push on to deliver our first major contract. Watch this space as the adventure continues in rural Cumbria.

www.typhontreatment.com 

 

Some help for a friend: Katharina M. Saghi

Some help for a friend who is a solid performing corporate recruiter



Name: Katharina M. Saghi

Linkedin profile 

Need: Looking for a corporate recruiting position in San Francisco. Size of the company doesn't matter.

About

Results-oriented: 90% offer acceptance, the average tenure of hires 5 years. Research, network, do what it takes to seek out and engage passive candidates who are potential matches.
Accountable trusted adviser: career coach approach, consultative approach with candidates and hiring managers.Full knowledge of Federal regulations affecting hiring practices (OFCCP, EEO, and Affirmative Action) Diversity and inclusion understanding.
Process-driven pragmatist: Scope requirements, create compelling job profiles, source, engage and screen candidates, facilitate the interview and selection process. Yet pragmatic, with a process as a means of making the best hire.
Keen listener: Really good at listening – truly hearing what hiring managers and candidates are saying to connect the dots that solve the puzzle. as well as being a sounding board for hiring managers.
Strong researchers and quick learner: So much to learn, so little time! thrive on rapidly absorbing information and doing great detective work to uncover all that I need to know about hiring group and prospective talent.
Flexible multitasker: Change happens. The mix of projects and activities the dynamics of no two days are the same. excel at juggling competing priorities and adapting to change.
Persistent and resilient: There are lots of ups and downs in recruiting thrives on a little healthy adversity to drive me forward.
Technology-enabled. Social media, job boards, internet searching, video conferencing, email, most ATS's–

 Contact Katharina on LinkedIn profile link above

Thanks
Gordon
Profile link 

Help for a friend needing work

Help for a friend needing work


George Hand   

Business Development Executive 

I am a creative, persistent, agile and driven Business Development manager who is more than able to nurture relationships with existing clients and to develop new business opportunities. I am an expert at putting together penetrative sovial media marketing strategies that can help businesses to fulfil their potential. On an individual level I am committed to my own personal development and progression. I have a highly enthusiastic approach to Business Development and possesses a proven track record of achieving targets in a competitive environment. Right now, I am looking for a suitable position with a company that is well-positioned for continued growth and development and looking to cement themselves as a market leader in their given industry.

Introduction 

For the past 5 years I have carried out various short term freelance roles undertaking such tasks as Business Development, Project Management, Process Mapping etc, I spent two years with Carillion Amey before this as a technical trainer, training all the engineers working on regional prime contract on using their new handheld devices. (Contract ended) Prior to this I worked as a Client Relationship manager for PH Jones (redundancy) and I was a contract operations manager for HomeServe performance managing their subcontractors from Carlisle to Birmingham. (Redundancy)

 I know it's getting boring for everyone connected to me, but I have to keep posting and asking for work, less and less people are looking at the posts, I know its depressing seeing someone going under, but I need all your help, I need an opportunity to work, I will consider anything that's not commission based only or that's not building a residual income, I need a job that's pays money so I can pay Bill's and give my family a life. All I ask is that you share this with your connections and make as many people aware of my situation as you can, I am not lazy, I work damn hard for everyone I work for and need something ASAP.

 

LinkedIn profile George Hand 

 

Our future Business and home life or our de-personalised life

Our future business and home life or our de-personalised life. 


When unemployed you are your CV or your online profile, either two pages of script or 300 words contain you and an AI decides if you are a "fit", a fit to what? To fill a box, role, need. The saying WYSIWYG is apt in its fullness and so wrong in its labelling. The person is more than the paper, profile or characters but companies make "value" decisions on the future of there business via these virtual people representations. 
The correct fit for your "box" means you are building a uniform structure that will struggle to adapt to modern-day life, and the right hire to develop your company as just been scrubbed, due to the lack of picking up the phone, invest in the hiring process, don't take the human out off it. 

Life can be filled out by computer-driven interactions, online shopping, online dating, online chat rooms, online church, online banking. I know there are much better "lettered." individuals who have taken this up as a cause, but this real, live person would rather live a life where you need to interact with people to bring the richness that is life back and enjoy a coffee from a barista and build companies with people, not boxes, and goals and vision, not needs and requirements. 

Bring back humanity to your life and to others, we owe it to ourselves and to humanity, life is precious and fought for every day of our existence do not waste it, use it fully, explore it passionately, share it furiously.

Be blessed
Gordon
LinkedIn Profile

"Squeaky wheel gets the oil time"

"Squeaky wheel gets the oil time."

Hi fellow bloggers, hope you are all well, I have had two major projects, and a permanent job offer fall apart, so in the run-up to Christmas I am looking for employment, not proud and not pretty, I will turn my hand to most general supervisory or management roles for manufacturing organisations, I can take on short term contract roles locally. What can I do for you, I can help you with any growth challenges in the business that you have, and BD or SCM challenges that you may have, I have extensive experience overseas developing supply chains? Implementing Lean and other CI programs, It would be worth us having a chat to discuss where I could bring value to your business, so as a friend said nothing asked for nothing gained. I hope you have a great evening.

Gordon 



LinkedIn profile

What is the most precious item in the world

 Time

What is the most precious item in the world, it is a jiffy, The jiffy is a measurement of time, and as time can't be created it is irreplaceable, who would not want more time. There is a trend to put a cost to time, I have looked at someone who would offer me £8.35 for an hour of my time flipping burgers, (thinking about it) If I was working in India I could earn a minimum wage of 20p an hour. I have spent over 30 years looking at ways to save time, improve yield, add automation, (Faster / Cheaper) improve process time, transport time, queue time, VSM and the implementation of the culture of CI, the great timer saver strategy. It has always been a challenge to find the best use of the precious resource time, here are some keys that I have found to be useful. 1- The 80/20 rule is the truth. 2- Before every task, we should be asking ourselves how important is this task? is it worth the time!!! 3- Your time is your own, so don't let others waste it for you. 4- Learn to say no to others, nicely. 5- Invest your time in those who appreciate it. Imagine we're at a graveyard. You look at a tombstone and see the person's name, the date they were born and when they died. In between the dates, there is a dash. So I want to ask you: What are you doing with your dash?

Regards
Gordon
LinkedIn Profile

Company morale:-

 I was talking with an employer of a precision engineering company, the discussion was centred around staff retention and company morale and how do you measure the second and improve the first, this used to be a traditionally managed business but has made some positive movement away from that, after a few coffees and some rabbit holes descended, we concluded with an action plan to improve both, he was not surprised that they were linked, these are the basic "cliff notes" version. 

To measure morale:

 -Surveys. An easy way to monitor your employee's morale is through an employee satisfaction survey. ... 

-Periodic Interviews. Performing periodic performance interviews with your employees can also help you gauge the overall employee satisfaction. 

-Productivity levels and Quality performance. 

-Turnover Rate. 

-Absence Rate.

-Open door and "roam the floor" policy. 

To Improve morale hence improve staff retention.

-Give them a reason to believe. 

-Show you care. 

-Recognize the good. 

-Learn the value of “fringe”. 

-Promote from within. 

-Bring on the fun. 

There is a lot of meat to put on these bones, but that is the basics of how to tackle these issues and a company with good morale is a strong company.

Regards
Gordon
LinkedIn profile

Job Hunt Tool Box

 Tool box for assting with your Job hunt


*Top 10 Sites for your career:* 



1. LinkedIN 
2. Indeed
3.Careerealism 
4. Job-Hunt 
5. JobBait 
6. Careercloud 
7. GM4JH 
8. Personalbrandingblog 
9. Jibberjobber 
10. Neighbors-helping-neighbors 

*Top 10 Tech Skills in demand in 2019:* 
1. Machine Learning
2. Mobile Development 
3. SEO/SEM Marketing 
4. Data Visualization
 5. Data Engineeringj 
6. UI/UX Design 
7. Cyber-security 
8. Cloud Computing/AWS 
9. Blockchain 
10. IOT 

*Top 10 Sites to learn Excel for free:*
 Search for these on Google: 
1. Microsoft Excel Help Center 
2. Excel Exposure 
3. Chandoo 
4. Excel Central 
5. Contextures 
6. Excel Hero 
7. Mr. Excel 
8. Improve Your Excel 
9. Excel Easy 
10. Excel Jet 

*Top 9 Sites for Free Online Education:* 
*Search for these on Google:*
 1. Coursera 
2. edX 
3. Khan Academy 
4. Udemy 
5. iTunesU Free Courses 
6. MIT OpenCourseWare 
7. Stanford Online 
8. Codecademy 
 9. Open Culture Online Courses *


Top 10 Sites to review your resume for free:* 
1. Zety Resume Builder 
2. Resumonk 
3. Resume[com] 
4. VisualCV 
5. Cvmaker 
6. ResumUP 
7. Resume Genius 
8. Resumebuilder 
9. Resume Baking 
10. Enhancv 

*Top 10 Sites for Interview Preparation:* 
1. Ambitionbox 
2. AceTheInterview 
3. Geeksforgeeks 
4. Leetcode 
5. Gainlo 
6. Careercup 
7. Codercareer 
8. InterviewUp 
9. InterviewBest 
10. Indiabix

JOB HUNT 103

JOB HUNT 103:



I mentioned in my previous post 102, ATS "applicant tracking system", and I have been asked a few questions about it, have a read at the jobscan web site and you will get a better understanding of the system and see how you can use it for your own benefit.



 https://lnkd.in/gyRHRYk

www.jobscan.co

Job hunting 102

Job hunt 102: 



When you are looking for your next job, urgency can drain your strength, as the bank account drains and you spend resource on your job hunt, everything becomes more urgent and desperate. I will not talk about how to conserve your hard earned money you will know well enough about that, but I have a few points that may help your job search and mines.

- Applying for roles, start with the roles that closely match your own previous job, common sense but many people try the shotgun approach, it does not work that well.
-Cover letter needs to be written to address the role you are applying for, you can cut and past, but make sure it does not carry over parts relative for a previous role.
- When you can not find roles that matched your previous role, you need to look at roles that you have specific transferable skills suitable for that role, these need to be highlighted in your cover letter. -Companies and recruiters using ATS, usually, through job boards, website applications, if at all possible avoid an email directly, search for the email address or phone number to contact directly many good candidates get lost in the ATS system if you have to use the online application rewrite your CV and make it full of words directly from the job description. 

 Research ATS to help you defeat that bucket that swallows up your changes before it even gets to a human




Have a good weekend

Update: 


I had a few questions regarding ATS: Applicant tracking systems see below for a better understand and hop over to www.jobscan.com

1. Use standard resume headings

There are several different acceptable ways to phrase headings within your resume (for example, “Professional Summary”, “Career Summary,” “Work Experience” and “Work History”). Whatever titles you decide to use, be sure to stick to these standard headings in order to keep your resume clean, professional and ready for ATS.
By over-customizing your resume headings (for example, using “About Me” and “Accreditations”), you make it more difficult for Applicant Tracking Systems to parse your resume. ATS are typically unable to recognize nonstandard headings, and as a result they’re unable to sort the content appropriately in their databases.

2. Choose the correct resume format

Many qualified resumes have been rejected because their format was not optimized for an ATS. There are three main resume formats: chronological, functional and hybrid. While chronological is the most popular, it might not be the right fit for you.
Making sure your resume is formatted correctly will only increase your chances of getting through applicant tracking systems.
Check out Jobscan’s 20 ATS-friendly resumes. Get a bonus template here.

3. Don’t touch headers and footers

While it is tempting to make your resume stand out, colorful, eye-catching images (including tables and graphs) and fancy typefaces often confuse Applicant Tracking Systems.
 
Headers and footers are best left empty (leave your contact information out of there!) with standard 1-inch margins. It is always best to let your experience and skills set you apart from others.
For all job seekers applying to creative positions, such as web designer or architect, save the color and creativity for the in-person interview and times (for example, a job fair) when you’ll use a paper copy of your resume.

4. Echo resume keywords exactly

If anything on a resume can beat Applicant Tracking Systems, it would be those trusty resume keywords. Resume keywords are the skills and qualifications in the original job description that should be included in a resume (e.g., communication skills, Microsoft Word, and academic degrees).
However, simply using any form of these keywords will not win over an ATS: keywords must be formatted to echo the original job description exactly (to an ATS, there is a difference between “Microsoft Word,” “MS Word,” and “Word”).
Jobscan is an excellent online resource to make sure you have included all your resume keywords and formatted them correctly.

5. Left alignment and conservative typeface

Use left alignment for your resume text. While right text alignment might appear to give your resume a formal or edgy appearance, it won’t actually boost its chances of beating Applicant Tracking Systems. In fact, it could prevent the system from parsing content correctly.
Any typeface that is not conservative (such as Helvetica, Times New Roman, Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, or Calibri), or that is not a standard size, runs the same risk.

6. Write out all acronyms

You may have thought your parents and grandparents were terrible at deciphering texting slang such as “LOL” and “OMG,” but compared to them, Applicant Tracking Systems are stuck in the Stone Age when it comes to acronyms.
Even if an acronym is well known (for example, BMW or IBM), it may not be recognized or categorized correctly by an ATS.
To avoid misunderstandings, always spell out the acronym first before including the acronym (if necessary):

• Companies and Associations: International Business Machines (IBM); American Cancer Society (ACS)
• Products: Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
• Brands: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M)
• Years: 2015-2016 (never 2015-’16 or ’15-‘16)

 www.jobscan.com