01423 771 645 enquiries@taplanes.co.uk

Our Teams

Design & Programming

Our Teams

Machine Shop

Our Teams

Fabrication

Our Teams

Despatch

It’s our People Who Make the Difference

Taplanes designs and makes great products, however we are only as good as the people who work here. From the people who have been working here for 30 years to our more recent graduate design engineers, our amazing workforce is committed to designing, manufacturing and delivering first class products and customer service.

Senior Team

Tracey Phillips

Tracey Phillips

Retired

In October 2022, Tracey decided to retire, which she hopes will give her more time to improve her croquet handicap……..

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….She is still on hand as a non-exec director to encourage and support the senior leadership team, who are responsible for day to day operations.

Jon Frewin

Jon Frewin

Director

Jon is an accountant by profession, but he is far from boring….

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….His dry sense of humour and dead pan delivery often leaves people wondering did he mean what he just said?!

Unsurprisingly, Jon chose to work in business rather than in professional services, and in a career spanning 30+ years, he has served as Group Finance Officer in multi-national businesses, been involved in improving operations using Six Sigma and lean manufacturing, and overseen dozens of acquisitions in multiple countries.

He now looks after the numbers at Taplanes and as co-owner he represents us at corporate golf events!

Kylie To

Kylie To

Business Growth Director

Bio to follow…….

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Project Managers

Stephen Chung

Stephen Chung

Project Manager

Stephens main aim is to create new designs and products…..

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….using his previous experience in both Commercial Kitchen design and Product design

Stephen is a massive car fan, Petrolhead as most people call it. He currently owns 4 cars and is massively into the Drift scene. He is looking to get his drift cars ready to enter some drift competitions in the future. He says nothing is more exciting than entering a corner sidesway.

 

Nick Casiero

Nick Casiero

Project Manager

Nick joined Taplanes in 2007 and was for many years….

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….one of our most skilled and experienced fabricators but is now putting his vast experience of making the product to good use – by moving into specifying and selling them! He has always enjoyed supporting the design team to build prototypes and new products and when the need arises, offers customers on-site support; so this is a natural transition for him.

Outside of work, Nick loves spending time with his family and teaching his kids all about Italian food just the way he was taught. Born in North Yorkshire but fluent in Italian, he likes his football, enjoys keeping fit, is a boxing enthusiast and has a passion for drawing.

Nikki Gray

Nikki Gray

Business Development Manager

Bio to follow…

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Sales Support & Marketing

Olivia Sparnenn-Josh

Olivia Sparnenn-Josh

Office Manager

Joining in 2008, Livvy’s sunny disposition keeps us all smiling….

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….Livvy is amazing – she is one of those people who can turn her hand to anything; be it sales or marketing admin, assisting with the prep for exhibitions, managing bookings or organising competitions.

When she isn’t working at Taplanes…..or running around after her toddler!.. she performs with the band ‘Mostly Autumn’, with music being a great passion. Leisure time is enjoyed camping in the Lake District or going to the gym.

Jennifer Mackenzie

Jennifer Mackenzie

Sales Operation Manager

Like every good boomerang…..

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……. Jenny returned to the UK after 10 years in the land down under. Now expanding and developing her skills into exciting new fields and settling the old debate of which way the water flows when a toilet is flushed. Jenny is a fun and vibrant person with a passion for the outdoors and keeping fit. She enjoys spending quality time with friends and family

 

Design & Programming

Tomasz Woznica

Tomasz Woznica

Technical Manager

Tomasz has been with Taplanes since 2008, although he…. .

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….is another boomerang employee, who briefly left then returned after realising how great Taplanes really is!

With a wealth of experience in Taplanes modular bathrooms and assisting to implement new products, Tomasz is now working with our new design engineers to support the next generation of innovative Taplanes product designs.

Other than his passion for history, Tomasz is interested in the best use of small living spaces and loves a design challenge. He created a wonderful ‘Manchester bee’ shower base design but dreads Tracey coming up with another of her creative ideas.

Tim Sippel

Tim Sippel

Design Engineer

Tim is an absolute whizz when it comes to Driveworks….

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….is another boomerang employee, who briefly left then returned after realising how great Taplanes really is!

With a wealth of experience in Taplanes modular bathrooms and assisting to implement new products, Tomasz is now working with our new design engineers to support the next generation of innovative Taplanes product designs.

Other than his passion for history, Tomasz is interested in the best use of small living spaces and loves a design challenge. He created a wonderful ‘Manchester bee’ shower base design but dreads Tracey coming up with another of her creative ideas.

Joseph Mansbridge

Joseph Mansbridge

Graduate Design and Manufacturing Engineer

Bio to follow….

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Amy Barnes

Amy Barnes

Design Engineer

Amy has joined us straight from University……

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Having always been very creative from a young age she always knew that she wanted to go down the design route. Amy was also motivated by the fact that there are not many women in the industry and wanted to change this.

Before joining Taplanes, Amy used to work in a bar for 3 years so she knows how to make the perfect Pornstar martini!

She absolutely loves dogs – she has a springer and a cocker spaniel at home. Binley is 12 years old (don’t ask her about the name it’s a long story) and Tilly is only a puppy. Our new dog friendly office policy has proven very popular with her.

Outside of the office, Amy can be found going on walks and getting well needed fresh air. She’s very family orientated spending lots of time with them as well as with her friends on weekends. She says that the spontaneous plans are the best ones!

Bharath Vijayakumar

Bharath Vijayakumar

Design Engineer

Bharath’s natural technical skills since his early teenage years motivated him ……

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……to pursue Mechanical Engineering and to later start a career as a Design Engineer in a Machine tool retrofitting industry, he served that company for 1 year but realised that he was too young to settle. In the meantime, he was offered a place to study Master’s in the UK, his only opportunity to go back to University and experience a different culture, so he accepted the offer and moved to the UK. Starting afresh by following a minimalistic lifestyle with an organised routine (as his parents weren’t around to spoil him.) Bharat is proud of his new independence and can say that he is a responsible adult after his trip to the UK. He has also worked Part-time as a Barista (at Costa), Delivery rider (at Deliveroo) and Technician (at Halfords).

Apart from his career, Bharat is trained in motorsports, and owned plenty of motorcycles and a car with “BUILT, NOT BOUGHT” stickers on it, in India. For now, he enjoys going to the gym, cooking, and cycling up mountains.

His long-term goal is to gather some lump sum money and set up an organisation, contributing towards global sustainability.

 

Neil Murfitt

Neil Murfitt

CNC Programmer

Neil has worked at Taplanes from the year dot and after….

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…. 29+ years, is the longest-serving employee!

He programmes the CNC machines and recently programmed a fantastic ‘Manchester bee’ designed shower base; although he swears that it looks more like a wasp – we told him to buzz off.

Away from Taplanes, Neil loves riding Italian shopping bikes, better known as Vespa and Lambretta scooters. He owns 3 and would happily buy more but his wife won’t let him. Like Craig, Neil is also a long-suffering Leeds supporter.

Arunkumar VK

Arunkumar VK

Design Engineer

Bio to follow….

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Abin Joe Jimmy

Abin Joe Jimmy

Design & Programming

Abin completed a mechanical engineering degree in….

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….Kerala, India and worked abroad as a design engineer before joining Taplanes earlier this year.

He is quickly broadening his knowledge of CNC machine programming and is looking forward to using his technical knowledge to contribute to the design of the next generation of Taplanes modular bathrooms.

Abin is awaiting the imminent arrival of his first born, and is preparing for fatherhood by trying to get as much sleep as possible before the baby arrives!

Purchasing, Processes and Finance

Rebecca Beasley

Rebecca Beasley

Supply Chain Manager

After spending a few years trying to teach teenagers to fulfil their potentials in school…

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….. Rebecca realised that she wasn’t a massive fan of teaching and longed to be around adults again. She fell into a small and busy business doing anything and everything, quickly taking on more than she had bargained for. She came to Taplanes to focus on Supply Chain Management, taking on the buying for the company alongside organising deliveries to customers.

Finance Manager

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Factory

Production, Fabrication and Machine Shop Managers

Jasmine Taylor

Jasmine Taylor

Head of People and Processes

Jasmine’s number one goal is to make Taplanes a great place to work……

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…… by both improving the wellbeing of staff and improving the efficiency of all the different processes. She is also responsible for ensuring production is running to schedule and maintaining our high standard of quality so she has her hands full! She loves walking in the dales, running and meeting up with her family who are a lot closer now. She also loves baking even though she says not everything turns out right. Her best recipe is her mums lemon drizzle cake.

 

John Harrap

John Harrap

Machine Shop Manager

John joined Taplanes in 2008 & having read the other bios….

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….it looks like 2008 was a good year. As Foreman, John runs the machine shop with the efficiency of the British Army!

When he isn’t co-ordinating the machine shop, training people or supporting the General Manager, he likes to cycle home and spend his time away from work looking after his family and having fun with his 4 grandchildren – he doesn’t look old enough!

Jimmy Baxter

Jimmy Baxter

Fabrication Manager

Joining Taplanes in 2004 and working his way up to….

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….be a senior fabricator, Jimmy is yet another of our most skilled and experienced fabricators who enjoys supporting the design team to build prototypes and new products and offer customers on-site remedial support.

In his spare time, when he gets the chance to escape the kids, he likes to go wreck fishing of the North East cost for some peace and relaxation.

George Nickson

George Nickson

Quality Engineer

Bio to follow…..

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Factory

Production Fabrication and Machine shop Team Leaders

Neal Whitmore

Neal Whitmore

Supervisor

We’d like to know more too but he’s enjoying a well earned break….

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….

Dave Winter

Dave Winter

Senior Fabricator and Training Leader

Dave joined Taplanes in 2003 and hasn’t looked back since….

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…. He is one of our most skilled and experienced fabricators and enjoys supporting the design team to build prototypes and new products and offer customers on-site support.

Away from the factory, he and his wife enjoy cycling and walking in the Dales and travelling abroad. He loves a good movie or boxset and he reckons his greatest achievement in life is his three daughters, Robyn, Kerry and Amy but we reckon his greatest achievement is living in a house full of women and holding onto his hair.

Dave Anderson

Dave Anderson

Supervisor

Dave is too busy enjoying the sunshine to write anything….

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….

Andy Watson

Andy Watson

Foreman

Otherwise known as Gadge, he likes to go incognito….

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….

Machine Shop Team

Fabrication Team

Despatch

James Robinson

Delivery

Steve Denton

Steve Denton

Transport Manager

Steve joined in 2007 and you may well have met him when….

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….he delivered your shower or bathroom pod in ‘Nancy Marie’, Taplanes 18 tonne wagon. Steve has over 32 years experience in the transport industry, incorporating journeys around the UK and to Europe; so there is probably not a town (or service station!) that he hasn’t visited.

Away from work, when he’s not spending time with his young daughter, he is restoring vintage vehicles; however his latest project is restoring an 1895 Robey Portable Steam Engine, which is nearing completion after buying it in pieces at auction. We cannot wait to see the finished product!

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