Introducing Andy Wilby and the Production Team
Our Head of Production, Andy Wilby, joined Charge Cars in the summer of 2020. Coming from Pascoe International and McLaren before that, Andy brings a tonne of experience to the team. We learn more about Andy and his Production Team in our latest article.
I joined Charge in the midst of the first lockdown on 1st of June 2020 and funnily enough I received my job offer at the end of March, during the lockdown. I couldn’t start working straight away as the world had practically stopped. Prior to joining Charge I worked at Pascoe International, a company based in Southampton and specialising in building super-yacht tenders and limousines.
I previously worked with Matt Begley (Head of Electrical Engineering at Charge) at McLaren and during our reunions and through social media I kept up with what Charge were doing, so I was already interested in the company. Matt kept me informed on what the company was up to and I felt that it was time to return to the automotive industry since taking my sabbatical after working at McLaren for 11 years. I could see the EV market potential increasing and Charge had the coolest project out there which I wanted to be involved with to restart my automotive career. Additionally, the client base for both Charge and Pascoe is quite similar due to the luxury and high quality aspects of both businesses.
I kept asking Matt if there were any manufacturing or production opportunities early on, but the company wasn’t at that stage yet. Once I saw a post on LinkedIn about Charge looking for a Production Manager, I applied straight away and visited the HQ with my CV and the offer came in right before lockdown which definitely kept my spirits up during that period.
We mainly cover two areas in the company; production & manufacturing. One part of our responsibility is to provide feedback and work with the design & engineering teams to allow designs and concepts to be production ready, ensuring we have tooling access and are able to build the vehicle in an efficient manner.
The manufacturing side of our work provides the tools, information and sequencing for the production team to be able to build the car in the correct order, with the right tools and in a controlled manner. The production side receives all of the aforementioned information and completes the build from start, all the way to quality control, following the correct processes, systems and safe working practices.
At the moment, we are still growing our manufacturing team and are waiting for some pure manufacturing specialists to join. On the production side of things, we have a Production Operations Lead, Steve Mills, who supports the whole process and is now focused on the daily build while also looking after a team of 4 technicians. We have a great production team here, and I can’t wait to add some more talent to it.
For us, the way we look at the construction of the Mustang; the attention to detail should be paid as much to the parts you can’t see as to the parts that you can. The customers see almost all of it. Any part can have a massive impact on the safety, visual presentation, reliability and consequences to the owner and other road users. That’s key for us, our clients want to know that they’re purchasing a safe, reliable vehicle and all those elements aren’t ever seen by the customer. This is why we ensure everything is carried out to the highest standards, including the testing, electrical and mechanical teams.
There are always numerous challenges when you’re the first company building any cutting edge, groundbreaking vehicle. Someone always has to be the first, but it doesn’t make it the easiest. What we do very well is when we find a challenge, we work together and communicate as a team to solve the issue, to allow improvements for our future builds and parts as we move towards the start of production. This is one of the benefits of being a small team where it is easy to communicate and get hold of anyone we need; gather around a car and resolve the arisen issues face to face. It makes the work easier and contributes to a healthy dynamic.
The most exciting thing for our team is the look on the customers and fans’ faces when the car that we built together is on display and is receiving all the praise and press from the industry, including the people you look up to. Knowing that you and your team had a massive part in that feels amazing. Personally; joining Charge as the sole person in the production team and being given the support from Matas (CTO) and Vadim (CEO) to create the production environment (the shop floor, the design, the stillages, how it all comes together) and to continue building the team that will lead us to the start of production is something I am proud of. I am excited to see what comes next as we move into these stages of the build process.
