How then, is he able to keep the different plates spinning? “It’s by having good processes in place. You can’t clone yourself, but what you can clone is the undertaking of particular tasks, using technology to make them happen and to complete them,” he suggests. But how hard was it to be accepted by the staff as managing director when he moved up from the ‘shopfloor’? “On my first day I received a resignation, but you have to keep in mind the expression about what has to happen if you want to make an omelette,” he says ruefully.