Arash Selahi
Sheffield,United Kingdom
Summary
Results-driven operations leader with a solid foundation in metalworking and manufacturing processes, including forging and metallurgy. Former COO with expertise in scaling small to medium enterprises through continuous improvement initiatives, Lean practices, and cultural shifts. Committed to performance enhancement with a focus on customer-centric solutions and effective implementation. Versatile in engaging with stakeholders at all levels, achieving significant operational improvements.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
9
9
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification
Work history
Chief Operating Officer
Clean Power Hydrogen – two facilities
Doncaster
12.2022 - 07.2025
- Directed adaptation of operational strategy to enhance SME manufacturing processes.
- Led EHS, quality, PMO, production, and supply chain activities to improve efficiency.
- Influenced business strategy as a key member of group board and SLT.
- Formulated operational strategies in alignment with broader business goals.
- Oversaw daily operations to ensure optimal performance.
- Implemented business process development and optimisation initiatives.
- Mentored team members, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
- Managed operational budget with a focus on financial discipline.
- Spearheaded operational expansions in capacity and geographical reach.
- Championed development of advanced electrolysis technology for sustainable energy solutions.
- Liaised regularly with CEO to align strategies and objectives.
- Chaired meetings with stakeholders to facilitate better communication.
- Directed staff training programmes to ensure competency and skill development.
- Spearheaded efforts towards sustainability, making significant environmental contributions.
- Negotiated contracts with external partners for mutual benefits.
- Advanced the use of technology in operations for streamlined workflow.
- Improved business performance by implementing effective strategies.
- Drove process improvement initiatives for increased productivity.
- Managed vendor relationships, securing timely delivery of products.
- Ensured compliance with regulatory standards by establishing stringent protocols.
- Optimised resource allocation to maximise output and minimise waste.
- Fostered a culture of continuous learning, promoting innovation and creativity.
- Established key performance indicators to measure operational success.
- Orchestrated major change management initiatives, leading to smoother transitions.
- Oversaw financial management operations, ensuring fiscal stability.
- Streamlined operational procedures, enhancing overall efficiency.
- Led cross-functional teams for project execution.
- Designed business strategies to acquire short and long-term goals for company.
- Created long-term business strategy to drive company success.
- Developed crisis management strategies to address unforeseen challenges.
- Recruited and developed high-performing teams, fostering positive and results-driven workplace culture.
- Facilitated cross-functional collaboration to achieve organisational objectives.
- Formulated business development strategies to expand market presence.
- Identified and resolved operational issues impacting productivity, performance or profitability.
- Worked with board of directors to establish objectives and decisively lead operations.
- Established budgets based on historical, current and forecasted business data.
- Partnered with management team to optimise operations and reduce costs.
- Maintained organisational compliance with applicable legislation and regulations.
- Reviewed reports from subordinate management to identify areas of opportunity.
- Recruited and managed senior staff with focus on delivering clear results.
- Established strong rapport with stakeholders to enhance business credibility.
Head of Operations
Clean Power Hydrogen
Doncaster
05.2022 - 12.2022
- Duties and Responsibilities:
- Promoting EHS and quality culture
- Structuring the business to create efficient and effective organisation.
- Formulating company’s technology pathway
- Working on scale up strategies
- Improving technology and manufacturing readiness levels
- Key Achievements:
- Business restructuring and strategic resource deployment by reskilling the existing work force or employing new recruits to bridge organisation gaps.
- Initiating the business technology pathway and contribution to its evolution to achieve the industrialisation of the technology.
- Developing partners network to help us in our journey.
- Developing tools and activities to guide production, engineering and supply chain activities.
- Maintained high standards of service by implementing quality control procedures.
- Achieved team collaboration with regular staff meetings and feedback loops.
- Improved workflow efficiency for enhanced productivity.
- Fostered a positive work environment with open communication channels.
Head of Manufacturing
Impression Technologies
Coventry
11.2020 - 05.2022
- Duties and Responsibilities:
- Reporting to director of operations and programmes, in this role I:
- Led site manufacturing operations and managed annual P&L, driving cost control and process efficiency in a specialised high-spec SME environment.
- Directed and managed production, dispatch, maintenance and quality departments and delivering operational KPIs (OEE).
- Oversaw the production from order receipt, production planning to delivery to customer.
- Resource planning to meet internal/external customer demand.
- Oversaw the development of a robust and continuously improving people and process for production of HFQ parts
- Site and personnel health and safety as well as team development
- Maintenance & management of manufacturing plant, site infrastructure & facilities
- Supporting the launch of new products and processes
- ITL, as a startup with patented technology serving automotive industry, is the only facility of its type in the world, developing technology to serve new generation of light-weight automotive industry. Also, ITL had 100% market share for multiple Aston Martin body parts.
- Key Achievements:
- Effective relationship management with customers, suppliers and service providers to create functional and mutually effective working framework. This improved key asset availability by 10% and reduced the time to repair by 40%, as well as 65% average OEE and achieving 100% OTIF.
- Implementing robust TPM programme (i.e., operator, site engineering, suppliers)
- Creating different levels of quality reaction plans (i.e., operator, quality engineer, technical support)
- Initiating internal health and safety audits and allocation of SPAs
- 6S implementation to maintain safe and clean working environment.
- Collaborated with suppliers for better negotiation on price and payment terms.
- Instituted robust quality assurance protocols to minimise product defects.
- Streamlined inventory management system to avoid stock-outs and overstock situations.
- Executed continuous improvement initiatives, enhancing overall factory performance.
- Improved team morale by fostering a collaborative working environment.
- Developed training programmes, improving overall staff competency levels in the plant.
- Managed supply chain operations, resulting in timely delivery of raw materials.
- Optimised resource utilisation by devising efficient production schedules and plans.
Product Engineering Manager
FSG – Sheffield Forging (3 facilities: Meadowhall, River Don, Provincial Park)
Sheffield
10.2015 - 11.2020
- Duties and Responsibilities:
- Reporting to the site manager in this role I:
- Led several cross functional teams to run different process improvement/optimisation, cost reduction and technology related projects.
- Managed four key functions withing the business, Design, Metallurgy, Pyrometry and Estimation with 3 direct reports and 10 indirect.
- Created and maintained strong support lines to production and manufacturing.
- Managed the introduction of new products (NPD&I projects) into the business from quotation, raw material definition, product design, workflow and production operations definition, production coordination to qualification approvals (cradle to grave) by using gated process.
- Sheffield Forging (part of Forged Solutions Group) are a group of three facilities serving Aerospace, Off-Highway, Mining, and energy market with more than 320 employees and group turnover of more than £66M.
- Key Achievements:
- Improved productivity and margin and reduced cost of two major products (£12M per annum revenue) following a kaizen event by re designing manufacturing processes and operations streamlining, inventory and bottleneck review and alleviation through supply chain network management and utilisation improvement of internal assets, which resulted in more than 10% margin improvement (~£1.2M) and more than two weeks lead time reduction.
- Initiated change in maintenance strategy to improve machinery up time through investment in predictive maintenance and condition-based monitoring.
- Ran multiple six sigma projects through leading cross functional teams to improve right first time of strategic products to more than 95%.
- Developed a margin review methodology by analysing historical variances vs earned standard hours which reduced the variances by more than 50%.
- Up skilled, trained, empowered and developed the staff through managing skill matrix, training programmes and succession plans preparation.
- Fostered a collaborative work environment to boost team productivity.
- Directed troubleshooting procedures, minimising equipment downtime,.
- Streamlined workflow processes by adopting innovative technologies.
- Developed new process improvements for efficiency increase.
- Gathered requirements for ongoing projects and organised details for management use.
Technical Manager
Arconic Engines – Sheffield Forging, MH Plant
Sheffield
03.2012 - 10.2015
- Duties and Responsibilities:
- Managed Metallurgy and test and release function in Meadowhall facility.
- Managed the introduction of new products (NPD&I) into the business from workflow and production operations definition, production coordination to qualification approvals by using gated process.
- Leading customers and third party technical/quality audits.
- Proposal preparations for approval of budgets to invest in infra structure.
- Meadowhall plant within Sheffield Forging is a Forward/Backward extrusion facility serving, Aerospace, Off-Highway and Mining market with 120 employees and £40M turnover.
- Key Achievements:
- Initiated creative solution to manufacture a new product through collaboration with all stakeholders including partnership with the customer, which increased the facility revenue by £2M per annum.
- Alleviated testing bottleneck by reducing inventory from £1M to £150K through change management and close collaboration with suppliers, capacity planning and competency/risk assessment as well as supplier’s performance review.
- Implemented £250K budget to digitise heat treatment facility to monitor furnace performance in Meadowhall plant.
- Successfully led three consecutive NADCAP heat treatment audit with achieving merit on two of them.
- Ensured timely completion of projects through effective resource management.
- Set realistic technical KPIs based on past performance and motivated teams to achieve them.
- Collaborated with multidisciplinary teams to develop creative, customer-focused solutions.
Technical Manager
Hillfoot Multi Metals
Sheffield
02.2011 - 03.2012
- Duties and Responsibilities:
- Managing customers technical enquiries.
- Technical management of the supply chain.
- Managing release function.
- Preparation of purchasing specifications.
- Hillfoot Multi Metals is a steel and aluminium stockist business serving Automotive, General engineering and Oil and Gas market with around 100 employees and £25M turnover.
- Key Achievements:
- Re-structured Technical/Quality department, its functions and links with other departments and introduced and measured KPI s to meet business demands through effective change management skills.
- Re-defined and implemented raw material stockholding strategy in collaboration with cross functional team.
- Investing in company’s ERP system which improved quotation lead time considerably by empowering sales team to quote directly without technical team intervention for most of the stock held and removing one of the quotation bottlenecks as an outcome.
- Re-wrote company’s purchasing procedures through collaboration with raw materials manufacturer to improve stock compliance and saleability with customers’ specifications and regulations.
Product Metallurgist
Firth Rixson Forgings, Meadowhall
Sheffield
04.2008 - 02.2011
- Duties and Responsibilities:
- Writing manufacturing process routes
- Leading RCCA activities
- Sub-contractors’ technical liaison
- Meadowhall plant within Sheffield Forging is a Forward/Backward extrusion facility serving, Aerospace, Off-Highway and Mining market with 120 employees and £30M turnover.
- Key Achievements:
- Improved the durability of £15K extrusion tooling through failure investigation, root cause identification and material selection by 200%
- Reduced tooling heat treatment cost by reviewing the heat treatment operation and managing the technical changes to the process by 50%
Sales Engineering Manager/Production Manager
Farapox Co.
Shiraz
03.2006 - 03.2007
- Duties and Responsibilities:
- Managed creation SOPs and work instructions for the business.
- Managed the implementation of design and manufacturing standards.
- Customers and internal technical liaison.
- Production Managing of tank and fitting manufacturing facilities.
- Farapox, as part of Fara Holding, was the first company in Iran that stared the manufacturing of composite tanks and fittings. Following the joining of the company, I created and implemented multiple manufacturing and technical processes and procedures.
- Key Achievements:
- Successfully managed 24/7 tank assembly and fittings shop workforce and delivered production schedules to ship quality products on time.
- Successfully oversaw the site installation of machinery and monitored the maintenance and repair programme.
- Trained a team of 4 engineers and technicians by holding workshops, arranging seminar attendance and collaboration with experts in sister company to carry out design, manufacturing process definition and control and quality control of Glass Reinforced Plastic tanks and fittings.
- Increased the productivity by 10% and reduced the waste of GRP fittings workshop by 50%, applying daily, weekly and monthly planning, implementing 5S principals in production line and warehouse and investment in recycling capability of some of the consumables.
- Resolved a major technical/operational problem in a key project by conducting research forming cross functional team including suppliers and external academic resources, which reduced the scrap rate of the project by 90%.
Education
Executive MBA - Distinction
Bayes (Cass) Business School
London, UK 01.2018 - 01.2020
MSc degree - Metallurgy
Sharif University of Technology
Tehran, Iran 01.1998 - 01.2001
BSc degree - Metallurgy
Shiraz University
Shiraz, Iran 01.1994 - 01.1998
Skills
- Business performance measurement
- Budget development and oversight
- Performance metrics implementation
- Quality assurance oversight
- Multi-site operations
- Continuous improvement techniques
- Excellent communication skills
- Strategic leadership
Certification
- IOM3 Chartered Engineer
- IOM3 MIMMM
- Six Sigma Green Belt
- IOSH Managing Safely
- Project Management
- AS9100 Auditor
- AMS2750
Hobbies and Interests
Playing basketball, Playing guitar, Reading, Music/Movies
Timeline
Chief Operating Officer
Clean Power Hydrogen – two facilities
12.2022 - 07.2025
Head of Operations
Clean Power Hydrogen
05.2022 - 12.2022
Head of Manufacturing
Impression Technologies
11.2020 - 05.2022
Executive MBA - Distinction
Bayes (Cass) Business School
01.2018 - 01.2020
Product Engineering Manager
FSG – Sheffield Forging (3 facilities: Meadowhall, River Don, Provincial Park)
10.2015 - 11.2020
Technical Manager
Arconic Engines – Sheffield Forging, MH Plant
03.2012 - 10.2015
Technical Manager
Hillfoot Multi Metals
02.2011 - 03.2012
Product Metallurgist
Firth Rixson Forgings, Meadowhall
04.2008 - 02.2011
Sales Engineering Manager/Production Manager
Farapox Co.
03.2006 - 03.2007
MSc degree - Metallurgy
Sharif University of Technology
01.1998 - 01.2001
BSc degree - Metallurgy
Shiraz University
01.1994 - 01.1998