about
I am Nick Herbert of Herbert Projects and we help businesses within the fresh produce industry to achieve their targets and deadlines within budget by leading and motivating teams. I am an experienced designer, engineer and project manager with in depth fresh produce knowledge and over 30 years experience of leading and motivating teams within the fresh produce industry in the UK and globally. I thrive on helping to achieve objectives by effectively managing projects from initial design through to installation.
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In my spare time I enjoy windsurfing, spending quality time with my family, walking the dogs, and have recently taken up kitesurfing. My love of the beach comes from growing up near the Norfolk coast.
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"Let us help you achieve your goals more effectively and efficiently helping your business grow in this fast paced and ever-changing environment."
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Delve into the experience of Herbert Projects
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June 2021 to present
Sales, Engineering and Business Support for a family-owned manufacturer based in California supplying the USA and Canada with electronic sorting and machinery for the fresh produce sector. Designing complex packing house solutions in conjunction with the engineering department. Supporting sales team both in cold calling new customers and helping existing customers make the next technology step. Advising within operational infrastructure and sales growth strategy.
2020 to 2021
Engineering Project Manager for a large family owned fresh produce business based in England. Project managed a replacement 40 tph large carrot intake washing, hydrocooling, optical sorting and bin filling line. Managed the design and specification process to establish exactly what the customer needed within budget. Hands on reviewing all the aspects of the design stages for this bespoke line.
2021
Onsite Project Manager for a large sweet potato optical sorting project for a family owned fresh produce supplier based in South Africa supplying a UK supermarket. Responsible for the everything onsite from an empty building to a complete complex sweet potato installation including managing local companies supplying electrical installation, control panels, catwalks and conveyors/elevators. Evaluated overall success of the project against its benchmark and shared lessons and best practice with internal and external parties.
2018 to 2020
Engineering Project Manager for a large fresh produce business based in Scotland. Implementation of 8+ projects including fresh carrot, parsnip, brussels sprout lines, tri-packing line, process carrot/swede lines and building a fresh pack building. Reporting directly to the Managing Director and working alongside the incumbent engineering team.
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2020
Project Manager for a fresh produce business based in Scotland. Designed and sourced a 10 tph brussels sprout intake grading line to include 2x optical sorting machines to reduce the manual grading labour. Monitored the whole build process from the UK and managed suppliers through to the complete installation.
2016 to 2018
Engineering Director for an integrated farming, packing and fresh produce business in Lincolnshire. Oversaw entire engineering activities within the packhouse producing spinach, kale and leeks. Redeveloped the engineering team to cope with all the farm engineering activities from land preparation, growing to harvesting.
1992 to 2016
Herbert Engineering - Managing Director / Works Director for a family owned business producing fresh pack, processing and agricultural equipment both nationally and internationally. Key management of sales, design, research and development, manufacturing and installation. A majority of my time was focused on large scale sales and project management.