EMI Central Research Laboratories, Research Engineer, 1974 - 1981

Jim studied electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Bath and it was as a first year undergraduate that he first discovered programming, initially using punched cards to programme in Fortran but later as part of a small group of undergraduates offered access to the South West Universities Computer Network, an early UK-equivalent to the US ARPANET.

Jim was sponsored through university by EMI (EMI paid him money during the academic term!) and after graduating he took up a role as a Research Engineer within EMI’s Central Research Laboratories – the company’s collaborative R&D division. CRL had an extraordinary history, pioneering innovations such as stereo sound and airborne radar, turning television into a commercial product and developing the X-ray CAT scanner. With less lofty goals, Jim was responsible for the implementation of a variety of software and hardware systems including the world’s first numberplate recognition system (later adopted by CRS, see below), a high-speed optical fibre communications system and an advanced stereoscopic machine vision-based tracking system for the UK military.

Computer Recognition Systems (CRS), Senior Engineer, 1981 - 1989

In 1981 Jim’s head of department left EMI to set up Computer Recognition Systems and Jim was one of 6 engineers asked to join as founding members of the CRS team. CRS focused on the manufacture and implementation of machine vision systems, and Jim helped the company grow to over 70 people. Flagship projects that Jim worked on or managed include advanced robot control systems, traffic management solutions such as counting cars on the Italian Autostrade, and deploying the world’s first number plate recognition system, the forerunner to London’s Congestion Charging system.

It was during one of these projects that Jim had a brush with a large ASEA robot while working on a prototype system to move windscreen glass from incoming pallets to the process line to shape the glass in a huge furnace. If you get the chance, ask Jim about divide-by-zero errors.

SEMA Group, Senior Consultant, 1989 - 1990

In 1989 Jim and his young family decided to head west to the historic landscape of North Wiltshire, home to Stonehenge and the massive stone circles of Avebury. Working as a Senior Consultant within YARD (Yarrow and Admiralty Research Group - latterly part of Sema Group), Jim was responsible for developing new business within the Software Systems and Methods group. Jim was responsible for a series of diverse initiatives, ranging from knowledge-based scheduling for heavy industry to semi-autonomous robot vehicles operating in mountainous terrain to prevent avalanches.

Kinesis, Principal Engineer, 1990 - 1994

In 1990 Sema Group decided to relocate all of its software teams to Glasgow and having only recently set up home in Wiltshire, a move to Glasgow was out of the question. Using a telephone directory to identify interesting companies and cold-calling to find job opportunities, Jim joined Kinesis in 1990 with a brief to develop new business in the recently privatised Utility sector. As a Principal Engineer Jim managed many successful projects including a large geographic information system for a water company and an emergency procedures database for an electricity utility company. Later Jim’s responsibilities were widened to include Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences sectors where he led a series of enterprise level document management and publishing initiatives, including one of the first Documentum implementations in the UK for Glaxo-Wellcome’s department of Regulatory Affairs.