Tempest Engineering is the independent design practice of Steven Kreczman.
I’ve spent more than a decade designing mechanical hardware in environments that don’t forgive mistakes: defence, high-volume production and reverse engineering. The common thread is delivery under real constraints, with hardware that works first time for the people who use it.
Background
Northrop Grumman UK — Mission Systems
Principal Mechanical Engineer and team lead. Design of electronic equipment enclosures and mounting hardware for defence programmes, alongside responsibility for the technical output of a small engineering team.
KBR Government Solutions
Equipment support engineering on MoD contracts — sustaining and modifying in-service hardware, where the constraint is usually what already exists rather than what you'd choose to design.
Physical Digital
Metrology fixture design and scan-to-CAD reverse engineering. Building accurate models from physical parts, and the fixtures needed to measure them repeatably.
HUSCO International
Hydraulic valve design. Tight tolerances, high pressures, and volume manufacture.
Three things I'd want a client to know
I'd rather ask than assume
Most design problems that go wrong are requirements problems. I'll push on the brief early, which occasionally means an awkward first conversation and almost always means a cheaper project.
Drawings are a deliverable, not an afterthought
A model that can't be manufactured from its drawing isn't finished. GD&T applied properly, tolerances that reflect function rather than habit.
I'll tell you if it isn't a fit
Some packages need a bigger team, specialist analysis, or a capability I don't have. Saying so early costs me a job and saves you a quarter.