Visit Support Centre Visit Support Centre Find a Distributor Find a Distributor Contact us Contact us

Meet the team:
Chris Hocking,
Chief Executive Officer

Blogs January 4, 2022

Why OxTS? We’re committed to innovation, because we care. We were first to develop MEMS-based INS products for the automotive industry and have been pro-actively developing improvements and new technologies ever since. We deliver honesty and transparency, backed by proof; we deliver what we promise. Our numbers, stats and facts are real, and we can prove it – and we are always more than happy to do so through a demonstration or test. Our accuracy is underpinned by our integrity, always. Chris Hocking, OxTS’ Chief Executive Officer, tells us more about OxTS and a ‘day in his life’:

 

Chris Hocking, OxTS CEO1. When did you join OxTS, and what appealed to you about working for the Company?

I joined back in December 2010 and was drawn to the quality of the technology and the potential of the business. There was a drive to achieve the best possible results out of the sensor hardware, and this was, and still is, at the heart of the company. By careful expansion over the years, we’ve kept true to this original vision and our products are now providing accurate measurements across a much wider set of industries and applications, and we’ve built a strong and resilient team of people to make it all happen. It’s very satisfying to see how far we’ve come.

 

2. What’s typically on your ‘to do’ list when you get to work?

It’s usually about balancing my focus on today, and on the future for OxTS. We have the usual day-to-day challenges that are familiar to all businesses, and they can take time to work through. But I have a great team around me and generally there will also be someone with a creative new idea or opportunity they want to explore with me. I work with our leaders and specialists thinking through how we can do the best job for our customers, how our products and services can evolve, and what we need to do now so we’re well placed in 3 to 5 years. Again, it’s all about products and people.

 

3. What energises you at work?

Making progress on what at first looks like an impossible problem, and seeing others making that progress. As the company grows and we develop new expertise, collaboration is springing to life all over the business. Like other companies we’ve had to find new ways to work within departments and across them, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re doing more with Agile these days, with project teams from right across the business, so that our new product developments run quickly with all the input we need to meet market requirements. We are using leading-edge technology, and developing products that we need to be able to buy for and build efficiently. It’s inspiring and energising to see what our teams are delivering, and enormously satisfying to see customers using our products to strengthen and build their own products.

 

4. What’s been your greatest challenge as OxTS’ CEO, and how have you overcome this?

Working out how to scale up smoothly is a challenge for all successful businesses. We’ve done this by sticking to our core vision and values, and expanding carefully to give different departments and teams the capacity to cope with the type and volume of business we are doing. When I started with OxTS we had 19 employees, and now we’re up to 80 and still growing. We are almost continuously seeking new talent to join our teams. Fundamentally we are all working to ensure that our customers can measure with confidence, and we achieve this through our six core brand values; collaboration, dedication, confidence, quality, care and drive. We recruit and nurture people who demonstrate these qualities.

 

5. What’s the company culture like at OxTS?

Because of the kind of products we build and the character of our founders, we’ve naturally attracted people who are either engineers or who work well with engineers. So quality and high standards are a part of what we do every day. I would say we’re also a particularly friendly and open organisation which encourages good communication and close working together. I highly value honest feedback from everyone in the business, and I’m fortunate to receive it. It’s not always easy to hear, but it’s what we need to make ongoing improvements to what we do. This is how we can engage and be engaged – and our products and business are the better for it.

 

6. What would you most like to say to OxTS’ customers and colleagues, as we begin 2022?

Firstly, happy New Year! We are a determined bunch working hard on the core technology and products for automotive testing, autonomy, surveying and more. We want to work even more productively with our channel partners, and even more in partnership with our end users to release them to build the competitiveness of their businesses. We are people who care and love a challenge! We are proud of the long relationships we’ve enjoyed with many of our customers, particularly some of our automotive testing customers who have been with us from the start. We’re equally delighted to find new customers who seek to use our capabilities to accurately measure position, time, orientation, and dynamics in other, new and evolving ways. I look forward to working with you all throughout 2022 and beyond.

 

Further resources:

 

 

return to top

Return to top

,