Precision sheet metal fabricator Contracts Engineering Ltd has restructured its leadership team to align day-to-day management with a multi-year strategy of winning and retaining higher-volume work with original equipment manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers.
The changes consolidate production, sales, supply chain, engineering, quality and production under a single leadership structure designed for longer-cycle programmes and partnership-based customer relationships.
Daniel Mills, who joined as Production Manager in 2024 and stepped up to Operations Manager in the second half of 2025, has been promoted to General Manager with effect from March 2026. He now leads day-to-day management of the business, with sales and supply chain joining operations, engineering and quality under his remit. Before joining Contracts Engineering, Daniel spent 20 years working in Brazil for multi-national OEMs, with senior roles including Plant Director.
Craig Pagett moves from Engineering Manager to Production Manager, taking responsibility for planning, labour, workflow and daily SQDCC performance. He will also lead the company's continuous improvement programme, including 5S and wider Lean practice across the shop floor.
Samantha Doy moved from Purchasing and Office Manager to Purchasing and Supply Chain Manager, a role she took on in August 2025. Her remit covers supplier performance, cost control, and managing the volatility introduced by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, prolonged conflict in the Middle East, and broader inflationary pressure on raw materials. Amy Simmons was promoted to Purchasing and Office Team Leader to support the expanded function.
Sean Johnson's role expands from Quality, Robotics and Automation Manager to Technical Manager. He continues to lead quality while bringing engineering and the company's robotics and automation programme together under a single function. The new structure aligns jig design and manufacture with NPI prioritisation across the welding cells. To support the expanded scope, Tyrone de Saedeleer continues as Sales Manager. The role itself has shifted substantially over the last two years toward consultative, partnership-led account development that mirrors how OEM and Tier 1 customers want to work with their fabrication partners.
Dave Fisk, Managing Director of Contracts Engineering, has stepped back from the General Manager remit to focus on group manufacturing services strategy alongside Catherine Barratt, CEO of BAMUK Group. His role as Managing Director continues, with primary responsibility for the strategic and commercial direction of the business and senior client relationships.
"The clients we work with are facing a different cost picture from the one their procurement models were built around," said Fisk. "Carbon border pricing comes into force in January 2027, bringing penalties where emissions data isn’t properly evidenced. Alongside that, shipping volatility has become a constant rather than an exception.
Our job is to be the partner that takes complexity out of the equation for our clients. The structure we’ve set out here is built around that - clear accountability through the operation, engineering and quality properly aligned, supply chain managed as the core discipline it now demands to be, and a business development function focused on long-term, partnership-led relationships."
Contracts Engineering is part of the BAMUK Group, which also includes powder coating specialist Custom Wytelyne Ltd and street furniture designer-manufacturer Furnitubes International. The group structure gives Contracts Engineering an integrated fabrication-and-finish capability under shared infrastructure and a single accountable schedule, and the operational stability of a long-term, group-backed business.
The conditions facing UK manufacturers are changing in ways that were not on the horizon five years ago," said Catherine Barratt, CEO of the BAMUK Group. "Carbon border pricing, persistent supply chain volatility, and the economics of automation in domestic production are converging to reprice the case for UK supply chains. The manufacturers who see that clearly and who build relationships with fabrication partners capable of growing alongside them will hold the stronger position when the rules of cross-border trade settle. BAMUK Group invests in businesses ready for that environment. The leadership team announced today is the structure Contracts Engineering needs to deliver on it.

Before you go…
➡️ Have you joined the Kent Business Community yet? - https://kentbusinesscommunity.co.uk
➡️ Don’t miss the latest networking events near you - https://www.kentbusinessevents.co.uk
➡️ Do you have news or announcements you’d like to share about your business?
Contact us today - [email protected]
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe and pass it on to another Kent business owner who might also like it! Thanks.


