The People Behind the Products
Chelton's A-Team
The People behind the Products
The pioneering spirit runs through the veins of Chelton. Our many world firsts would not have been achieved had it not been for our highly-skilled workforces’ perseverance and astute approach. The determination and skilfulness of our workforce has lead us to have a large platform presence with Chelton products on over 100 helicopters, military fast jets and general aircraft.
From our designers listening to your requirements and working with you to redefine your capabilities, to our production operatives preparing the product for shipment. From beginning to end, our workforce is fully invested and take an inherent sense of ownership and accountability to see the products through to success. The automation and artificial intelligence capabilities we have implemented to our design and manufacturing processes have no doubt improved efficiency but the implementation of these would not be possible without the humans behind the robots who feed the right data in so it can do its job. Robots, however, cannot do everything and the craftsmanship only people can deliver is an important quality for Chelton. From hand-finishing antennas to building PCBA boards and packing shipments, we value the skill and experience our workforce bring to Chelton; creating authenticity and showcasing the care and attention that goes into each and every one of our products. After all, our successes have all been driven by our top-level talent who are continuously pushing boundaries to redefine aerospace and defence capabilities.
We took a walk around the shop floor to speak with and listen to a handful of our experts; a theme as crystal for the people behind our products is the sense of pride they take in their work and how their motivation stems from the challenges they face as well as the variety of their working day.
Model Shop Technician
Alena Patterson
2 years at Chelton “The key to our success as apprentices is communication and accountability. By learning from others and asking for help when needed, we feel empowered to make independent decisions based on research and can raise key issues as soon as possible to implement solutions we think would work best. Working together and taking ownership is the key to our success at Chelton.”
Repairs Planner
Davinder Dhami
22 years at Chelton “In Repairs, we are driven by the end product and knowing that we have done an excellent job on it so the unit looks brand new. This would not be possible without the team we have here who have worked together for a number of years to make the department more efficient and leaner through continuous improvements. We bring out the best in each other to get the most out of each other.”
Model Shop Technician
Toni Clack
2 years at Chelton “The key to our success as apprentices is communication and accountability. By learning from others and asking for help when needed, we feel empowered to make independent decisions based on research and can raise key issues as soon as possible to implement solutions we think would work best. Working together and taking ownership is the key to our success at Chelton.”
Production Supervisor for Finishing
Sally Jackson
40 years at Chelton “Having been at Chelton for over 40 years, I’ve seen a lot of changes like when we moved from four separate sites in Marlow to just one which made our day to day operations much more efficient. Throughout my tenure, the best part of my role remains the challenging projects. Like the SATCOM antennas where you have to consider the shape and radius which takes a lot of skill and experience. My ethos is to never give up and to not let a project beat you.”
Antenna Engineer
Colin Whysall
7 years at Chelton “The biggest and most satisfying challenge in my role is working with brand new technology which has not been used before. It’s a huge task trying to think of new solutions to novel products but the engineering challenges are enjoyable to overcome. When I’m doing my job, I like to think that I’m doing it for the greater good and contributing to the company effort.”
Test Technician
Russell Ingram
23 years at Chelton “No two days are ever the same. I could be working closely with engineers on new designs to Electrical Inspection and mentoring new starters and apprentices. To me, this teamwork, and living and breathing the customer’s requirements, is how we are able to achieve our goals. There is an inherent sense of pride in the end product and we never compromise on quality no matter the deadline.”
RF & Antenna Design Engineer
Shpend Ibrahimi
6 years at Chelton “The challenge of the unknown and the desire to make things work, especially when they haven’t been done before, is exciting. I feel an immense sense of pride when pieces of the puzzle start to fall together and it’s a good feeling knowing that something you did helped solve that puzzle.”
Model Shop Supervisor
Cameron Miller
17 years at Chelton “Doing a good job for the customer and working on new developments is my drive in this role and to achieve this we like to understand the people around us in our team and their strengths.”
Test Technician
Richard Wevill
9 years at Chelton “The variation in this role is second to none and a personal motivation tool. With over 500 different products to test, I could be working on antennas in the morning and Explosive Ordinance Devices in the afternoon. Despite the differences in what I’m working on, one common thread runs throughout and that’s attention to detail and diligence.”
