Graham Heritage already has big ambitions for electrical testing kit manufacturer Megger, despite only being managing director since February.

The man who joined the Dover factory as a sponsored trainee in 1983 – during a brief spell when it was Thorn EMI – wants to “double in size every five years”.

He also wants to give staff more opportunities to enjoy their work, shown by an open day last month to mark the 50th anniversary of the company’s factory in the town, attended by 350 people.

“We need to do more of that,” he said. “We have become very work focused and a bit of play is good. We need to celebrate our success. The main goal is to grow the business.

"To do that we need the whole team behind us. If we have everyone behind one goal, who knows what we can achieve.”

Mr Heritage was immediately sent to do a degree in electronic systems engineering over four years when he joined the company. He returned in 1987 and did a year of industrial placements.

He became a development engineer and after a few years was given the opportunity to run the product development team, making portable appliance testers.

He was later promoted to project manager in the late 1980s and became an engineering manager in the early 1990s.

After many years running different sections of the business he became technical director in 2007. He did the job for nine years before taking over from retiring managing director Stephen Drennan in February.

“I have had a lot of opportunity,” said Mr Heritage, who is managing director of Megger Instruments, the UK manufacturing arm of Megger Group, which employs 1,200 people around the world.

The group has a flat structure, which is a great benefit because it means people that desire to progress can do so as long as they are willing to put their head above the parapet.”

Megger’s six-acre headquarters next to the A20 in Dover, was known as AVO (short for amps, volts and ohms, which its multimeters tested) until Megger brought most of its businesses under the same brand in 2002.

Megger was established in the late 1800s and AVO in the 1920s but they did not come together until Thorn Electrical Industries, which bought AVO in 1967, acquired Megger in 1971.

The Dover factory was opened by Lord Mountbatten. Bosses are said to have chosen the town for two reasons: there was an abundance of potential employees and its managing director felt if they built a factory with a view of France it would encourage the company to export.

Back then it had 45 staff and by the mid-1980s, that had grown to about 800 people.

The factory expanded with another building opened in 1982 by the Duke of Kent.

Today it employs 265 people in Dover – staff numbers have reduced as manufacturing efficiency has grown – and it exports two thirds of its products.

Mr Heritage said: “It is a tough world but the electricity market will grow despite the recession. There will always be a need for electrical testing.”

How has manufacturing changed since he joined Megger?

“There’s great pressure on design efficiencies and reducing cost in manufacturing. There is a massive pressure to reduce the time it takes to develop new products. We have to be competitive and get there before the competition. Products have to be smarter and we need to understand customers’ needs.”

How will he tackle competition in the sector?

“We are small enough to be flexible and address the smaller opportunities for different places around the world, so our products fit their markets better than others. We exceed expectations and at a sensible price which is value for money. Megger is often seen as the Rolls-Royce but in fact that is a misconception. We are not expensive. Customers get good quality but our products are also durable.”

What does he enjoy most about the job?

“My great love is engineering and designing things. I like not knowing what to do and having to find out. If I find out what to do I lose interest. I like a challenge.”

What is difficult about the job?

“I find it hard to let go sometimes. “You take it with you. That is part of the fun. You don’t do this job if you switch off at 5pm or 6pm. “You think about it when you’re at home. Brilliant ideas come along and you think ‘when I’m back in the office I’ll do that’.”

CV

Born: September, 1963

School: Brockhill Park and Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone

Live: Folkestone

Family: Married with three children

First job: Stacking shelves in Sainsbury’s

First wage: £9 on a Saturday

Salary now: Undisclosed

Car: Jaguar XF Sport

Book: Anything by Wilbur Smith

Film: “Anything exciting. I don’t like comedies.”

Music: Country and western

Gadget: SDS drill and a Black & Decker power file

Last holiday: Tuscany, Italy

Charity: Cancer Research

Typical day

Graham Heritage gets up shortly after 6am to let his dog out and then drops his children at school. He arrives in the office between 8am and 9am and first deals with “all the alligators which come up and snap at you”. He spends a lot of time answering emails and goes to lots of meetings. He is involved in product development and can be away on business trips around the world. “Mostly I keep the business running and work on how we can grow the business,” he said. He has evening engagements and will spend the day entertaining visitors. “It completely varies,” he said.