Two Photofab legends to retire
Photofab will soon be saying goodbye to two of its hardest workers: Dave E and John Cope. Both gentlemen have contributed so much during their times with Photofab, and we wish them both happy and healthy retirements.
Dave E
Spending over 20 years with Photofab, Dave has been our go to, or even our Google, for anything remotely relating to chemistry and etching. Dave, by trade, is a chemist and we have reaped the benefits of his knowledge in our etching process. Dave has seen many changes in the etch shop with the upgrade of systems and equipment, but he still retained the knowledge of the old days when the machines were dosed with chemistry by hand.
Dave also undertook aspects of the dimensional inspection role and could always be called upon to assist with tolerances. We often used his knowledge and experience when trialling new jobs and the best way to draw these up to give the customer the best etch result.
He is regarded as a father figure and mentor to everyone that has had the pleasure of working with him, and we will miss him very much, as well as his stories of past working experiences and his links to the Bee Gees. A true Photofab legend, we salute you Dave!
John Cope
John started working at Photofab in 2012, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge in engineering, having been a draughtsman in the days “before computers”, as he would say in his own words. In fact, his first interaction with CAD on a computer system was controlled by a joystick! How times have changed.
Upon joining Photofab, John went straight into the quality team as a dimensional inspector, working closely with our etching team to advise in process sizing of the work, ensuring we were producing conforming components during the process. An opportunity came up to move across to our graphics team and John was a perfect candidate to fill this with his engineering background, and his experience of our production process.
John took to the graphics role immediately like a duck to water, with his experience benefitting the whole team directly. He worked with the supervisor in suggesting several process changes to improve the department, and made a hugely positive impact both professionally and personally.
Well known within the company as a “cheeky northern bloke”, John was never one to pull punches; he was well liked and respected throughout the business. It is with regret that we see him go, as so many people benefited from his training and advice, and we wish him a wonderful retirement.
