Nov 29 2011
A general manager from one of the biggest steel companies in Europe has joined global testing firm Exova.
Mark Eldridge has been appointed as general manager at one of the group's most successful aerospace testing facilities in Bridgwater, Somerset.
At Exova, Mark will have overall responsibility for the operations of the Bridgwater facility, which went through a major capability expansion earlier this year.
On his new role, Mark said: "The Bridgwater facility works with some of the biggest aerospace primes including Rolls Royce, Airbus and GKN Aerospace, so it is a very exciting team to be part of. I'm looking forward to growing the facility further, taking advantage of the recent investment in fatigue capability. My immediate focus will be on maximising my support to an excellent team, in order to create optimum service processes to support the increased demand for our testing services from our customer base."
Exova Bridgwater, which has a team of 25, specializing in the testing of composite materials for the aerospace sector, with core services including mechanical, physical, metallurgical and failure investigation.
The facility recently introduced six servo hydraulic test frames in response to diverse requirements from Exova's growing portfolio of clients.
The type of work undertaken is split between composites and metallics and ranges from product development and approvals through routine and quality control tests to finished product and failure investigations.
Mark, 37, studied at Leeds University initially with a BEng in Materials Science and later for a PhD in micro-structural development of low aluminium ferritic steels. In more recent years he has completed an MBA from Warwick Business School.