Oerlikon Balzers appointment

He will be working with customers across many industry sectors to provide additional customer service to users of Oerlikon Balzers high performance, wear-resistant coating technology. Mr Middlemiss joined Oerlikon Balzers in 2008, following a two-year joint research and development collaboration between the company and Cranfield University, where he put his engineering degree and Masters in Motorsport Engineering and Management to full use, developing improvements to existing PVD coatings. In addition to his academic qualifications, he is also actively involved in motorsport as a competitor and as a 'hands-on' engineer, racing and maintaining his kart and track car. Since joining Oerlikon Balzers, Mr Middlemiss has worked in a sales applications support role, where he developed solutions to customer surface engineering problems. He said: "This new role is an exciting challenge to assist Oerlikon Balzers in consolidating and expanding its presence in the motorsport, oil and gas, automotive, aerospace, medical and high end decorative sectors, and I am looking forward to meeting face to face with customers to discuss how surface engineering technology can enhance their products. One of the key areas that I am interested in developing is to work with customers at the component design stage, to maximise the benefits of the coatings provided by Oerlikon Balzers."