Welcome to our latest team spotlight, where we sat down with one of our newest recruits, Jacob Hanson. Jacob has been brought on as our Head of Engineering and is our first ever recruit from a commercial door company.
We spoke to him about how his background at a steel door company will help him in his new role and how it will benefit Rhino Doors.
Tell us about your career journey in the commercial door industry before joining Rhino
I have a Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship in the Aerospace Industry, where I learnt a wide range of engineering disciplines. I then spent a couple of years as a technician with the business before deciding to look for a role as an engineer.
I then became a Quality Engineer at a local Steel Door manufacturer, where I introduced a Quality Control department and implemented quality control principles. Once this department had been successfully implemented, I shifted my focus to production engineering. This involved introducing Standard Operating Procedures, Statistical Process Control, and Total Productive Maintenance to enhance the efficiency and reliability of machinery throughout the production process.
Part of this process included the introduction of an Engineering department and a promotion to the position of Engineering Manager. As the Engineering department developed, we began working on Product Development and Capex projects, most notably developing the production facility to produce EI (integrity and insulated rated) fire doors and introducing an automated punching and folding production line.
Following the conclusion of these Capex projects, I focused solely on product development, where I spent the remainder of my time with the business refining the fire, security, and thermal performance of several different products.
What drew you to make the move from traditional commercial doors to Rhino?
I discovered Rhino while researching the steel door market, and they stood out for having one of the broadest product ranges in the UK, with many high-performance doors compared to competitors. At the time, Rhino was developing its EI290 door while my previous company was working on our EI door.
When the Head of Engineering position opened at Rhino, I saw an opportunity to apply my experience in the steel door industry while staying in South Wales. I was particularly drawn to working on higher-spec products, such as blast doors, where structural engineering calculations play a crucial role in development.
How does your previous experience shape your approach to this new role?
At my previous company, I handled a wide range of responsibilities that provided me with a solid understanding of the entire business. I was part of a team that managed rapid growth in both turnover and product range, so I’ve seen and solved many challenges that growing businesses in this sector face.
I’ve identified approaches that worked well and could benefit Rhino, as well as lessons learned that can help Rhino avoid potential pitfalls. My approach focuses on continuous improvement – applying what I know works while drawing on the team’s knowledge and experience of what works for Rhino to achieve sustainable growth.
How does working with bespoke door solutions compare to standard commercial door projects?
What I’ve found so far is that bespoke door solutions require a larger volume of engineering work to achieve the customer’s requirements. There are similarities in terms of the focus of the engineering function, which is to ensure the solution offered to the customer is fully compliant with our fire, security, and all other certifications. However, in my previous company, a large portion of this work was completed during the product development phase, before a product was launched to market. With more bespoke and higher-performance doors, these requirements must be considered on a job-by-job basis, along with other factors such as blast performance. The process for determining a door’s blast performance, in particular, requires a much higher level of engineering input than other lower spec products.
What’s the biggest difference you’ve noticed between mass-produced doors and Rhino’s custom approach?
The biggest difference that I’ve noticed so far is the levels of automation, both in the design process and the manufacturing process. Due to the volume of product in a mass-produced doors business, automation is business-critical in terms of generating design information for manufacture, as well as progressing work through the manufacturing process. This is something that I, along with other engineers at my previous company, spent a considerable amount of time developing. Rhino’s custom approach requires a significantly larger amount of engineering input on a job-by-job basis, due to the bespoke nature of the products and the increased complexity in the design. I’ve also noticed a much bigger emphasis on welding and fabrication within the manufacturing process at Rhino, whereas these kinds of activities were not required in lower spec doors, where the manufacture was largely controlled through CNC machinery.
What unique engineering challenges do bespoke doors present?
The biggest engineering challenge I’ve noticed with bespoke doors is the level of structural engineering theory and calculations that need to be applied throughout the design phase. The design phase of a standard door would typically include a testing programme to determine the structural performance of the door in various aspects, which isn’t feasible with bespoke doors from a time or cost perspective. Instead, there are British and European engineering standards from which information can be used to calculate the structural performance of all aspects of the product. However, producing these calculations requires advanced engineering knowledge, which seems to be unique to the bespoke door industry.
What’s the most complex or interesting project you’ve worked on since joining?
The design calculations for a double blast door, which needed a high security rating. This level of design calculations is not something I’ve seen before in the door industry, and it shows a complexity that I find interesting. In terms of projects that I’ve worked on, one of the first things I have identified that we can improve in our design process is transitioning from 2D design to 3D design for our personnel doors. Building a parametric 3D model and setting up a 3D modelling portal for the engineering team to use has been an interesting challenge and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
This is a newly created position – what does success look like in your first year?
In a year’s time, I would like to see all customer and manufacturing drawings being produced using 3D modelling software, with parametric modelling controlling the design of the less bespoke designs. I would like to see the engineering team fully trained on maintaining and updating parametric models, as well as conducting thorough Root cause analysis on all NCRs, in line with Six Sigma principles.
Jacob brings fantastic technical and practical expertise to Rhino, having worked across quality control, production engineering, and product development in the steel door industry.
With ambitious plans to implement 3D modelling systems and advance Rhino Doors’ design capabilities, Jacob is already making his mark. We’re excited to see how his fresh perspective and continuous improvement mindset will help drive Rhino forward.
