Sean Long

Moving to Chess Dynamics opened up many opportunities for me, I came in as a trainee nearly 3 years ago and since then have worked on a large handful of varying different projects and builds. With some being similar to my previous occupation, but with many being more of an electro-mechanical standard. This has given me a better understanding of engineering as a whole.

After 2 years at Chess I was promoted to "mechanical fitter". And have worked very regularly on orders for some of Chess's most important customers. This has also included working closely with the RMA team to repair or upgrade the same products that have been returned from the field. In ways, this has presented different sorts of challenges than what I have previously faced when assembling new products. Ones that I find very interesting.

As a build technician at Cox Marine, I was tasked with the assembly of their twin turbo 300 and 350 Horsepower diesel V8's. This was a first introduction to an engineering environment, and gave me a good understanding of how a manufacturing company operates, as well as how general assembly works.

Starting on the main powerhead line, my first key area was that of assembling the crankshaft and bearings into the engine block. This lead me naturally on down the entire production until I could work every individual station.

After 4 months working on the line I was moved into the final assembly area. I really made this my own, this would involve gathering the powerhead after test, draining it of all fluids, fitting the mid-section, PTT (steering mechanism), and eventually the transmission. Being well experienced in this area opened a door to help a couple of field service engineers in Southampton harbour. Where a gasket had failed on an outboard. I was asked to come along and help due to my strong knowledge of the particular area on the outboard.