Our people engineered around you

Operating across the UK and Ireland

• Sean Martin

  Managing Director for Operational UK and Simdean

  Sean is the Managing Director for both Operational UK and Simdean Group Limited, who are both located within our headquarters in Daresbury, Warrington.

  Prior to joining Operational Group, Sean worked for a leading global manufacturer of steam and hot water equipment where he led the company’s United Kingdom operations as Market Manager.

  Born and raised in Stockport, Greater Manchester, Sean is a proud supporter of his local football team (Stockport County FC).

• Tim Brodest

  Service Sales Manager for Operational UK

  Tim joined the group from the polyurethane industry where he has worked for many years servicing UK and Ireland territories. Tim studied at Sheffield and Lancaster Universities, graduating with both a B.Eng and B.Sc (Hons) in Mechanical and Electronic Engineering.

  Born and raised in East Lancashire and a father to two children (Will and Keeley). Tim enjoys all sports but mainly football, cricket and rugby and spends most of his free time taking his son, Will, to all of his sporting activities.

Operating across France and North Africa

• Philippe Irlinger

  Managing Director France

  Thermal engineer UTC/Cranfield institute – 25 years experience in heat recovery and thermal process optimisation.

• Nathalie Hillou

  Executive Assistant / Office Manager

  25 years experience in administrative, commercial and financial management.

Operating across Benelux, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Turkey

• Hans van Collenburg

  Managing Director (Benelux BV & Deutschland GmbH)

  Hans is a sales orientated MD with a focus on Customer relationships and Product Leadership. By working across several countries in Europe he has a lot experience in Export and International Business Development. His drive is to help production facilities in the area of energy, process enhancements and production efficiency improvements and is very passionate about the outcomes that are achieved.

• Marc Rolfes

  Process Manager

  Marc is responsible for Process design and Sales support. He has worked at Operational for over 30 years and has developed an enormous amount of knowledge to serve our customers. Marc started as a field installation engineer and has fulfilled all technical positions since (service, engineering, surveys and projects).

  Marc’s strong points are – identifying process problems, finding solutions and calculating optimised situations for the best client outcome.

Operating across Germany and the DACH region

• Johannes Piffka

  Sales Manager Operational Deutschland GmbH

  Johannes has extensive experience in an engineering and sales capacity, on a national and international basis, within manufacturing and process industries. In recent times he has been responsible for the successful development of a new business division focusing on ‘turn-key’ energy-saving solutions and is able, with his experience and process-based approach, to communicate clearly with clients and assist them on all commercial and engineering matters.

  The arrival of Johannes is in line with Operational Deutschland’s strategy and desire to assist more of our customers implement process-based improvements to their manufacturing lines with a clear focus on optimisation of dryers and ovens, waste heat recovery and abatement systems. Each with the objective of increasing production efficiency, reducing energy costs and meeting, where necessary, environmental standards in the most cost-effective manner.

• Kelvin Krott

  Service Co-ordinator

  Kelvin Krott, joined Operational Group in 2017 and is service co-ordinator for German and Dutch services, based at our office in Kleve, Germany. As a qualified Electrical Engineer, he takes care of planning and co-ordination, service and maintenance, liaising with customers and working with colleagues in sales, process and process management.

Operating across Iberia and Portugal

• Carlos Llauder

  MD of Operational Spain

  Carlos is Managing Director at Operational Iberia, with an MBA from IESE Business School and more than 20 years of experience as a general manager and strategic consultant. He has an international profile, and has managed clients in Spain, Italy, Chile, Portugal, Mexico and United States for groups such as Telefónica Móbiles, Endesa, Abertis, Cie Automotive, Leche Pascual, Panrico and Ercros among others.

• Joan Mases Fernandez

  Sales Manager of Operational Iberia

  Joan is an experienced Project Engineer, with 20 years’ service at Operational. Having attended ETSEIT, Engineers Industrials Terrassa in Spain, and experience as a Project Engineer for ASENGIN he has developed valuable project management and technical abilities. He is a Specialist Heat Recovery Project Manager and Sales Manager for Operational Spain.

Operating internationally

• Nick Carter

  Technical Manager

  Nick Carter has been with Simdean Group since its inception and has worked on the technical side of air pollution control for over 35 years. Having graduated from Leeds University with a degree in Fuel and Combustion Science he has spent the whole of his working life in the fields of pollution control and Energy recovery. Nick has extensive experience in assisting clients to help solve their challenges in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

• Andrew Rawshthorne

  Sales Manager

  Andrew joined Simdean in July 2021 as a Sales Manager and has over 20 years of experience in project management and technical sales. He holds a HNC in Plant & Process Engineering and is BOHS P601 & P602 Qualified in LEV Design & LEV Testing; enabling him to advise customers on appropriate solutions for the challenges they face.