David Fitzpatrick has been named Young Manufacturer of the Year.30842 Picture: Luke Plummer
By Melissa Meehan
DANDENONG’S David Fitzpatrick has been named the 2009 Young Manufacturer of the Year.
At 29 years of age, Mr Fitzpatrick has packed more into his life than most.
After growing up abroad, he returned to Australia in 1998 and soon began a bachelor of engineering degree at Monash University.
Mr Fitzpatrick worked for several local companies before catching the eye of Hilton Manufacturing, which approached him to head its engineering services department.
He has since undertaken several improvements ranging from company policy to product efficiencies, including reducing his department’s defect rate by 30 per cent while increasing output by 50 per cent.
He also has improved the way jobs flow through the shop, found superior ways to program CNC machines and altered customers’ designs to benefit all stakeholders.
Mr Fitzpatrick said he fully recognised the need for and benefits of continuous improvement and as such considered himself not an engineering manager, but a problem solver with an engineering background who was dedicated to continuous improvement.
“It was a real surprise to be named Young Manufacturer of the Year,” he said. “It is very exciting.”
