Meet the team | Office

Having previously met the Rapid Prototyping Team and the CNC team, it’s time to pull back the covers and meet the office team.

Read on to meet the team:

• Hannah Game, Sales Co-ordinator
• Gary Turner, General Manager
• Vikki Pringle, Accounts Administrator and Company Secretary
• Justin Pringle, Managing Director

Hannah Game, Sales Co-ordinator

The beginning

Hannah has lived in and around Hertfordshire for most of her life. She spent a few years living in Somerset where she set up and ran a jewellery / gift shop called the Spotty Chicken but home is where the heart is and she soon moved back to Hertfordshire where she lives with her children.

A busy bee

With a background in business administration, Hannah has worked at Prototype Projects for nearly 5 years. Hannah has a real fondness for the team declaring “I love my boys”! In between making many cups of tea for Gary(!), Hannah’s days are typically spent placing orders, preparing dispatch paperwork, chasing quotes as well as being the first point of contact for customers.

Things are about to change for Hannah though as she moves over to work more closely with Gary by preparing quotes ensuring we are even more responsive to our customers’ needs.

Shakespearean dogs

Outside of work Hannah spends time with her family, continues to make jewellery and keeping fit by attending a Boot Camp group. She also looks after her Italian Spinone dog called Obi named after William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream character Oberon. This naming of dogs after Shakespearean characters has become a bit of a tradition in the Game family!

Gary Turner, General Manager

The beginning

Gary was very wet behind the ears when he started with Prototype Projects as a, barely out of short trousers, 16 year old. He started working as a tea boy / sweeper-upper when Prototype Projects was in the Spirella building in Letchworth. The then-owner of the company, Dennis, took Gary under his wing as an apprentice where he learned the ropes as a model maker and saw the business move to Melbourn.

A growing business

In 2000 Dennis sold the company to design consultant, Adrian Pringle. Over the next year Gary ran the business for Adrian while his son, Justin Pringle, worked up through the ranks in much the same way that Gary had done. During his time at Prototype Projects Gary has helped ensure the business is sustainable through the recruitment and training of apprentices.

Experience

Gary’s vast experience of working for one of the UK’s first companies to use polyurethane vacuum casting as well as SLA machining means he is ideally placed to lead the quoting service at Prototype Projects.

As part of the management team, Gary also works closely with Justin in the overall management of the technicians as well as steering the business ensuring Prototype Projects is always ahead of the game.

The best parts

With many memories to draw upon, Gary fondly remembers hand building a Philips roller cassette player model for the purposes of photography for catalogues. When the model was placed beside the newly manufactured version months later it was virtually impossible to tell difference. And the best part of the job? Receiving the positive feedback from clients and passing that on to the team, as well as being the quality checker!

Vikki Pringle, Accounts Administrator and Company Secretary

The beginning

Trained in Applied Biology, Vikki used to work as a quality control lab technician for a vaccine manufacturer where she also trained new lab technicians. Seeking a new challenge, she then moved into medical sales before taking a career break to raise her family.

Day to day

Vikki now works flexible hours, mainly from home, for Prototype Projects running the day-to-day elements of the business in her role as Company Secretary. In addition, Vikki processes invoices for customers and suppliers, runs the payroll, processes everything for accounting purposes and manages the banking as well as reconciliation of accounts.

As part of the management team, Vikki works alongside Justin and Gary to steer the company forward.

Free time

Outside of work Vikki enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, socialising, eating out (with the kids and without!), walking and having motor-home holidays.

Justin Pringle, Managing Director

The beginning

After leaving school Justin secured a car mechanic apprenticeship with Volvo achieving the ‘Volvo Apprentice of the Year’ in 1989. He continued working his way up through the ranks and, by 1993, Justin became the service manager.

Having progressed as far as he could at Volvo, Justin’s career saw a change in direction as he went to work for his father’s design engineering company. Justin worked on projects for Mercedes, designing under seat drawers for the new Smart car, as well as managing various other projects for the company.

Apprentice to MD

After Justin’s father, Adrian, bought Prototype Projects in 2000 it was apparent that the ship had lost its way a little and needed a new direction. Adrian brought Justin into Prototype Projects where he learnt the ropes working on the shop floor before assuming the role of managing director.

In those early days the company was focussed on the automotive industry and, as such, RIM moulding was the main service provided. Justin saw the opportunity for the company to target the medical sector and, as such, the company gradually moved from RIM to Vacuum Casting, CNC and rapid prototyping technologies including SLA and SLS.

Staying afloat in Germany

When the economy took a turn for the worst, and businesses had to think differently to weather the storm, Justin looked for a strategic opportunity and found it in Germany. He began working for a client as their resident support engineer working on a complete rear seat unit for the GL SUV Mercedes.

This opportunity, which subsequently secured more contracts for Prototype Projects, saw Justin working in Germany, Monday to Friday, from 2008 to 2012. He continued to run Prototype Projects from afar but it would not have been possible without the hard work and support of Gary and the rest of the team at the bureau.

Best of the best

Justin works hard to manage the expectations of the company’s clients in terms of what can be achieved and actively works to ensure clients are aware of everything the company does.

He is incredibly proud of Prototype Projects, in particular what they have achieved in the last five years.

The journey was difficult at times but the team is very dedicated and understand the needs of the company’s clients. The team work hard, embrace new technologies and work to achieve industry standards such as ISO 9001 which they were awarded with in 2004. Prototype Projects is currently working towards ISO 13485 which is focussed on medical devices.

Outside of work it’s all about family for Justin, and their puppy, Barney!

Find out more

To find out more about our prototyping services, please contact us on 01763 249760 or click here to request a quote.

Find out more about Prototype Projects by meeting the rest of the company. Meet our Rapid Prototyping team and our CNC Team.