Meet the team

Stuart Mitchell
Managing Director
I started my career with the graduate training scheme of Lucas Electrical Ltd in 1978.
Then after 6 years or so joined Black & Decker as a Production Engineer, where I came across Item for the first time. It had been extensively used on a Swiss-built special-purpose machine with which I became heavily involved. This machine subsequently needed considerable design modifications to improve the process; and the ease and speed of making those modifications, coupled with the difficulty of obtaining Item (we had to import it), led me to write to Item and ask for the opportunity to become their UK distributor.
In late 1989 I moved to Derbyshire and set up Machine Building Systems, specifically for that purpose; and I now find myself, slightly to my surprise, still doing – and enjoying – the same job some 30 years later!

Duncan Matthews
Engineering Manager
Joined MBS in 1993 as a Project Engineer making up half of a two-man engineering department when the Item range consisted of just a few hundred components.
After many years of growth, for both MBS and the Item products range, now leading a much expanded team who are creating designs with, and offering technical support for, several thousand parts and profiles.

Simon Wadeson
Senior Project Engineer
Started with MBS May 1996 as a workshop technician building frames and getting to know the system before moving into the office as a Project Engineer in 1999.

Karl Philips
Project Engineer
I joined the team in March 2016 after graduating with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Loughborough University.
Using the knowledge acquired during my studies, the guidance from MBS and the wide range of products provided by Item I have since worked to provide the best solutions possible to a large range of projects with companies in many varying sectors.

Travis Dean
Project Engineer
I joined the MBS team as a Project Engineer in January 2019, after completing a Mechanical Engineering degree.

Laurence Allwood
Project Engineer
Laurence joined the Project Engineering team at MBS in April 2020.

Pamela Evans
Sales Assistant
Pam joined the packing team in March of 2004. After a few years working in one of the busiest departments, made the move to the design office in 2015, bringing vast experience of the item product range with her. Changing roles to become the Sales Assistant, Pam is likely to be the first cheery voice you will hear upon contacting MBS!

Ian McGlone
Regional Sales Manager
I studied Automotive Engineering at University of Sussex. I graduated in 2013 and jumped on the chance to work for MBS as a Sales Engineer. Visiting such a diverse range of customers made for a very interesting start to my career. Over 5 and a half years I learned a lot from my manager Harry Kearney and he promoted me in early 2019 to Sales Manager of the South.

Filip Sevcik
Regional Sales Manager
After moving from the Czech Republic I was looking for an opportunity in a business that would be willing to provide excellent training to its employees and be a great start of my professional career. When I learned MBS and its management team can deliver that, I joined them as a sales engineer in 2016.
Working for a market leader with a vast range of customers allowed me to get the hands on experience that I needed to improve my skills.
Now as a Regional Sales Manager I still like the level of training and development that MBS provides.