Andre Crawford

Background

About Andre Crawford

My career started in 2005 as a student engineer at Southern Spars in Cape Town, South Africa. It is here that I developed my passion for composite materials and mechanical design. The role of designer also required some project management at the time and I was able to broaden my skill set. I enjoyed the project management aspect, which led me to change career paths and I moved into the position of project engineer at Unique Hydra in 2010. Unique Hydra specialise in saturation dive systems. The position was both interesting and challenging and required that I manage everything from small quay side boiler units for dive suit heating to large life support machinery containers for the saturation systems. Towards the end of my stint at Unique Hydra I was asked to join a special projects team to develop and build standardised modular dive container systems. In 2012 I was asked to return to Southern Spars and assist with process and manufacturing procedures to improve the overall product. Some of the job requirements were- Improving the efficiency and quality of the final manufactured product- Problem solving in the manufacturing process and to assist with workable solutions long term and short term- Ultra Sound scanning of composite products to identify possible flaws and recommend repair procedures- Installing and commissioning new equipment to improve efficiency and quality. In 2014 I moved to the UK with my wife. In my spare time I design and build gadgets of all shapes and sizes. I prototype most of my ideas to gauge the feasibility and some have even made it further, most notably- I designed and produced 10 high power bike lights which I sold to recoup costs- A Multirotor Helicopter Platform which was the basis for a company my wife and I started in South Africa, specialising in low level aerial photography and film I also enjoy running and mountain biking.