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Meet The Expert | Ray Mills
Delivering a new manufacturing programme is one thing. Delivering dozens of them, across Europe, China, India and South America, at the highest levels of governance, is another entirely. Ray Mills, HSSMI’s Lead Specialist for Manufacturing Strategy, has spent 45 years doing exactly that.
With over 45 years of manufacturing engineering experience across both assembly and logistics facilities — more than 10 of them at senior management or executive level — Ray has delivered various automotive new product launches across Europe, China, India and South America.
From Ford and JLR to Governance for a UK Start-Up
Prior to joining HSSMI, Ray held a number of roles at Ford (vehicle and powertrain) and Jaguar Land Rover (powertrain — engine, drive unit and battery). He has recently undertaken a two-year project within a new UK start-up, developing their Program and Executive Governance from scratch while working directly for the COO — successfully improving structure in delivery, decision-making and strategy delivery.
A Portfolio of Governance and Global Program Delivery
Ray’s project experience spans some of the industry’s most significant manufacturing programmes:
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- TEVVA — Hydrogen BEV Truck Scale-Up. Ray worked with the COO to develop a manufacturing strategy that supported the global sales plan, managed the development of a low-cost factory concept to support that strategy, and supported a circular economy assessment and the development of a sustainability improvement roadmap.
- Leyland DAF Trucks. Ray conducted a full capacity and process analysis to identify bottlenecks within the manufacturing facility.
- Jaguar Land Rover — Global Senior Program Manager (Engine, EDU and Battery). Ray held complete manufacturing engineering programme responsibility for the delivery of a new multi-million EDU assembly line (including assembly, machining, plant engineering, MP&L, IT and Finance), a new battery assembly factory (including plant engineering, module & pack, MP&L, IT and Finance) with full governance via gateway process across all of these projects.
- Jaguar Land Rover — Global Senior Process & Test Manager (I3, I4, I6 and V8 Engine). Ray held complete responsibility for a team of manufacturing engineering process engineers tasked with specifying, procuring and launching:
- two new 2.0 assembly lines (diesel/petrol) in the UK,
- a new 3.0 diesel/petrol assembly line in the UK,
- a new V8 petrol assembly line in the UK,
- a new 1.5 / 2.0 petrol assembly line in China
- a new low-volume 2.0 petrol / diesel assembly line in India.
- Ford Motor Co. — Forward Planning & Strategy Manager (Global Engine). Ray held complete strategic and project planning responsibility for global I3 and I4 diesel/petrol engine programmes, along with full responsibility for project funding estimates, strategy alignment with Product Development, and supporting senior approval reviews.
A Senior Leader with a Truly Global Track Record
Ray holds a BEng (Hons) in Manufacturing Systems. His core skills — senior management in manufacturing engineering, executive-level program governance, global manufacturing system design and installation, and integrated logistics planning from supplier to lineside — reflect a career spent delivering some of the automotive industry’s largest and most complex global manufacturing programmes.
Why It Matters
Multi-million-pound manufacturing programmes need more than good engineering — they need robust governance to keep delivery, decision-making and strategy aligned across every stakeholder. Ray’s decades of executive-level program leadership are helping HSSMI’s clients bring structure and confidence to their most ambitious manufacturing launches.
Want to learn more about how HSSMI’s manufacturing strategy and program governance expertise can support your project? Get in touch with our team.
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