I’ve sort of morphed into this role, I’ve been over here for 10 years now. I started when I was 13, I’d come in my summer holidays I’d work along the CNCs. I’d wash them all down do like real basic tasks– you know, sweep the floors, make sure they’re all working and slowly from there each holiday came back and upskilled and then it led me to this role now.

As a kid I always liked the Lego Technics, even though the box set said ages 15+! I was always interested in building those bigger models – I didn’t care about the regular Lego bricks, I just like the Technic stuff. I always had an interest in building stuff and knowing how things worked.

Then I did the school science fair and came up with a product called Gudgeon Pro which did quite well. That got me more interested in the development and the manufacturing side of things and I guess it grew from there.

The Gudgeon Pro is a multi-functional tool that allows farmers to drill straight and accurate gudgeon holes and then quickly and easily hang gates on their hinges.Patrick was just 11 years old when he came up with the idea for his school science fair after seeing his Dad struggle with hanging gates on the farm. APL helped Patrick with production, starting a relationship that would eventually see Patrick join the team as a Product Development Engineer. Patrick has sold hundreds of Gudgeon Pros and has collected a range of awards for his invention, including the Field Days Young Innovator of the Year award.

My days are never the same, it’s always something different. Variety and problem solving and always new challenges that pop up and you have to adapt and change how your day is going. Especially at APL Manufacturing, we’re trying to drive innovation in the sector and always come up with new things to try and make not only our customers happy, but also our manufacturing processes more efficient.

Systematic. You know you have to follow a process. If you don’t follow a process then you’re probably not going to get very far.  

Willingness to learn I think is quite big. Especially when you’re young, you don’t actually know everything and take all that advice from all the people surrounding you.

Attention to detail is also important. You have to make sure that what you’re doing is good. And having a good work ethic.

I like the team environment and the values that we have. We’re a very close-knit family even though we’re such a big company. We’re like a little family here. There’s great work ethic, everyone is trying to achieve something.

I think age is a massive part, sometimes I might have some more experience than some of the new people but I think some people see age first and not take you as seriously, even if you might have good ideas. You have to stick it out but do make your position known. You can’t be quiet and sit in the corner and not say anything. As long as you stay true to yourself and express what you think, I think it’s quite important you back yourself and have that self-belief. 

I found team work to be a bit challenging. When you’re at school, yes you do team work but it’s a completely different environment and you have to manage different departments especially in such a big company. Sometimes you find it challenging to try and manage your ideas different people’s ideas and find a mutual agreement. Project management was also something I found hard and managing all the different people in the team and all the different personalities. No one can really teach you what’s the best way, you just have to learn on the job. And if you make a mistake don’t be embarrassed by it, just learn from it.