OUR PEOPLE: MEET LUKE CLEVERLY

Attention to detail is what we do at Ogle so it made sense to give each member of staff a bit of attention too. The ‘Our People’ series at Ogle, highlights the people behind the work and what they like to do in their spare time.

Meet Luke Cleverly
Luke has been with Ogle since he was 18, starting as a cleaner and progressing to his current customer-facing role as Rapid Prototyping (RP) Estimator.

Tell us about your career with Ogle.
I started here at 18, so 13/14 years ago. I had previously been a cleaner at a local school while studying at the University of Bedfordshire for a sustainable construction foundation degree. My uncle, Mark, who works here as a modelmaker told me they were looking for a young person to train up. So I started doing the cleaning in the morning, and then in the afternoons I was working on the benches, learning different skills.

I was offered the opportunity to work in the workshop in the RP department, honing my hand skills and learning vacuum casting. Since then, I’ve also had the opportunity to operate the SLA and SLS machines, which has given me a deeper understanding of how the processes work and best practices, before recently transitioning to providing customer quotes and advising on their projects.

What has helped you in your career progression?
I have learned so much from everyone here. There is so much experience in Ogle. I also went on a milling and turning course at Dunstable College, so I was learning more skills to do different machining. But learning from those around me, who do the jobs, was the best training. I suppose that being young I was able to pick up the techniques pretty quick.

What do you enjoy most working at Ogle?
I’ve been able to experience various departments – I was even in the paint shop for a bit – and it has all helped me gain experience that I can now bring to my new role, speaking to clients and understanding what they’re after, and working out the best process.

What we do is impressive. It is great seeing a finished product and the clients being amazed and blown away by it. Who wouldn’t love that? Everyone puts in so much effort and goes above and beyond to produce such amazing models.

Why do customers keep returning to Ogle?
We have a great team here, with incredible experience. There is such a wide range from the guys who have been here for many years and all the younger people coming through to learn from them. Everyone helps each other out to work together to create the best we can.

And, of course, we have got the most up-to-date machine technology and we’re always looking to improve, to maintain the standards customers know we can deliver.

How do we encourage the next generation to join this industry?
What we do is amazing and when people see what we produce and the machinery, they are always impressed. So, there needs to be more awareness in schools of what career options there are in this sector, because once youngsters have seen it, they want to get involved. It’s getting the word out there.

Away from work, what do you enjoy doing?
I’m a pretty sporty person, I love my football, golf, going to the gym. I like running as well and earlier this year I enjoyed my biggest achievement, doing the London Marathon in sub three and a half hours. That was massive – even just being successful in the ballot! It was an incredible experience and I raised around £700, with Ogle’s help, for Macmillan Cancer Support.

And finally, what is a standout project or achievement from your time at Ogle?
There have been loads really! A key standout project was working on an architectural model a few years back, as it was the first big main architectural model I worked on alongside my colleagues and included plenty of problems to solve along the way. It wasn’t a straightforward model, had intricate bits and I had to think outside the box on how to make it and overcome the challenges. It also included taking the model in sections to site to set up there as it was so fragile. Actually, seeing the client’s reaction to the model first hand and how they were blown away makes this project standout for me.

Click here to meet more of the Ogle team.