Employee Spotlight: Ewan Goodier

At Eclipse Magnetics, our employees are at the centre of our business, and we want to shine a spotlight on the individuals who make our workplace a thriving and dynamic community.

This month, we caught up with Technical Manager, Dr Ewan Goodier, to find out more about his life both inside and outside of work.

When did you join Eclipse?

I joined Eclipse in May 2013 as Product & Business Development Manager.  I then progressed to Technical Sales Manager and am now Technical Manager.

What did you do before Eclipse?

I studied Electrical & Electronic Engineering at University of Birmingham and then obtained a PhD at the University of Leicester (Reluctance Machines with Flux Assistance to be precise – that means research into electric motors using permanent magnets!).

My first job was as a trainee patent attorney, but I realised I enjoyed the technical side a lot more than the legal side, so I became the Applications Engineer at Swift Levick Magnets (as I understood about using magnets from my PhD and they manufactured custom SmCo and Alnico).

I have worked for Arnold, e-MagnetsUK and Bunting over the years, developing my design and application skills and moving into sales, marketing, web design and business development. But when I asked if I was interested in joining Eclipse, it was an easy choice to make, and I have never looked back.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The variety of the work is what I love.  No two days are the same and I would not change that.  There is something different all the time.  I may be guiding a customer with a new application (sharing knowledge with them and learning new things along the way - plus I love a good challenge).  I work with sales and service on some quotations to help them win new orders or just to clarify a specification for them.  I help marketing with literature and demonstrations (marketing think I secretly want to be part of their team as I find it fun working with them).  I also work with Engineering, Production and Quality with testing, FEA modelling and R&D.  And, at times, I might be asked to assist Purchasing or Commercial on things they are working on.

So, I get to work with all areas within Eclipse - there is always something to keep my brain whirring. New work or new challenges appear all the time.  And everyone is great to work with which makes it better still.

The customer base is also so diverse with so many applications in so many industries.  There are always new things to learn about (which is great) to understand the customer’s application to work out how our magnets can aid them better.  Using your brain to problem solve – that is always the fun part for me!

I love working with Matt, who is in my team – he is great for bouncing ideas off (and he tolerates my quirks!).

We are going Net Zero, so it has been fascinating noticing how our initiatives to achieve this filter through the whole company and to see the company evolving and improving, such as reviewing how we make and pack products, and to see the positive results we’re getting from this ongoing process.  Even my car is now electric!

And, although we’re based in Sheffield, it’s quite easy to go for a walk at lunchtime and start hearing the sounds of birds singing and river flowing and then to start noticing all the different things around you; it’s a good way to reset your brain and feel refreshed and re-focussed for the afternoon.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I like gardening.  Trying to work out what you will grow in your vegetable patch this year. Or wondering why a plant is not growing as well as you thought it should and what you can try to help it. Looking at the bedding and deciding that you want to move plants around or add new plants.  Once you start it becomes an addictive never-ending project.  This year it is a Red Devil apple tree as the project – it is meant to have a red stain within the fruit with a hint of a strawberry flavour; an intriguing prospect so I am going to try it.  Last year was Fultons Strawberry Surprise Rhubarb – that worked out better than I hoped, which spurs you on to try more new things.

I like taking photos of nature, be that flowers, animals or something visually inspiring– I find it calming and lets me appreciate the beauty and complexity that nature has created.

I play Fortnite, but I cannot keep up with my boys’ ability at it –which does bug me, but I have to concede they are simply better than me (I’m extremely competitive at times).

I also like cars (I’m a practical car nerd and I love getting a good water beading from the polish I put on them; if you’re into cars, you’ll understand this…).

Oh, and I mustn’t forget about being a fan of visiting McDonalds at nearly any opportunity!!! (Friends who know me would be surprised that a mention of cars and McD’s wasn’t higher up the list!).

Tell us a surprising fact that not many people know about you.

I originally wanted to be a veterinarian, so I’ve always had an big interest in medical-type applications.  I’ve worked on farms (I got to use tractors at harvest time) and learned how to successfully foster abandoned lambs to other ewes and also how to help cows with calving.  I have even been lucky enough to get work experience at Chester Zoo– it’s a fantastic place with so much more to it than meets the eye (with amazing people who even helped my fear of spiders by somehow getting me to hold a tarantula – I’m not cured but I’m much better with them now).

What is your biggest career highlight so far?

There’s several that are kind of linked really.

The role I have with Eclipse and being lucky to have a great team of colleagues around me is truly up there.

Designing new products to solve a customer’s problem is always satisfying.  When I get a thank you from them later or they contact me years along because they remembered that I helped them, that is the icing on the cake for me.

It still blows my mind, even having worked with magnets for over twenty years, to think that there are so many things I have created, worked on or advised for customers out there in the world doing all sorts of strange or important things, from possibly being in space through to aiding medical production methods.  But, by numbers, I designed a magnet topology that was for use in cars, and I estimate there may be towards twenty million of them around the world – I still find that a bit staggering when I think about it.

I am working on (hopefully) my next big highlight with Eclipse, but you will have to wait and see for that one!