If someone had told me when I was studying for the Law Society Finals that I would be bandying around acronyms like MAIC and poring over Pareto diagrams as part of my job as a lawyer, I would have told them they were mistaking me for some sweaty engineering student.

I must confess however that factories and their myriad of connected processes that can turn bits of tin and plastic into televisions, cars and costume jewellery for profit have always fascinated me.