The Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) recently attended the Engineering Development Trust’s Year in Industry (YINI) Contribution to the Business Awards (Cttb), with Eileen Kinghan, LRF Grants Manager, holding a position on the judging panel. The award and event is funded by LRF and organised by the Engineering Development Trust (EDT).
The overall winner was student Ciarán McEvoy who developed a panel ejection system.
Ciarán’s duties included the design and implementation of a bespoke operator-friendly tool shelf; the analysis of a significant work process, identification of a major synchronisation problem and the design and delivery of a cost saving and efficient solution. The system Ciarán developed virtually automated the transition of the side panel assembly onto the next stage. The overall time taken at this step was greatly reduced, as he entirely removed a bottleneck and subsequent downtime. The process itself was simplified and made more manageable for the operators and the transition is now a smooth, single movement, assisted by a roller table assembly and lifting mechanism that Ciarán designed and introduced. The net result of this work was a reduction by a third of a critical stage in building the Luton van.
Other award winners were Zoë Triston for her development of a low cost laundry detergent and Charlie Hardstone for the manufacture of advanced blade casting. You can find out more information at the following link:
http://www.etrust.org.uk/the-year-in-industry/about-yini
The LRF sponsors Year in Industry students and can have a massive impact on the young people’s lives. One student, Tom Joy, who recently completed his industry placement at Colas Ltd. thanked the LRF:
“I'm writing to thank you for providing my company with the funding for my placement, this enabled me to embark on the biggest life changing experience of my life and it's already had a positive impact on my career, something I am eternal grateful for.
"Twenty-four months ago my heart was set on civil engineering as my chosen career path, and I was in the process of applying to university. I can remember being concerned at the lack of extracurricular activities on my application, I discussed this with a member of the sixth form staff who had just received a leaflet for the YINI and she mentioned it but seemed keen that I go for Duke of Edinburgh Award. The scheme was an instant win in my view and I knew that this was something that wouldn't just look good on my application it would help me in the real world. That night I discussed it with my mother who didn't seem quite convinced that I should have a gap year and get a full time job, but being young and naturally ignoring my parents advice I decided to apply to the scheme - this is the best decision I ever made. So I went through the selection process and attended a few interviews which sadly led to rejections. It was coming up to around May time and I had already applied to university to start in September 2012 and I had secured an offer at Bath to read Civil Engineering, it was around then that I had my interview with Colas Ltd. I attended the interview, which I felt went well and a week or so later I was asked to come back for another interview which was a success. It was during this interview that I found out that I wasn't successful for the placement advertised however I was offered a different placement working on a multimillion pound scheme - a better placement in my opinion. When I knew I was offered a placement I emailed the University asking if I could defer my Place for next year.
"I started my placement on the 13th August without a great deal of knowledge as to what I would be doing. In the first couple of weeks I mainly just helped out the assistant project manager and got to grips with what was going to be built. As the time moved on and I became more confident and my boss trusted me more I began doing a range of things from organising pre-works tests and overlooking preliminary works on site. The project started in January and it was a joint venture with VolkerFitzpatrick, this was where the real engineering started - something I hadn't done much of prior to this point. From here I was immediately trained up to use a GPS, which is used to set out locations and record surveys on site. I was assigned (with the supervision of the quality manager) to be the earthworks engineer, these duties included setting out hundreds of profile boards and batter rails. I had great responsibilities to ensure that the earthworks contractors always were always able to work and were never standing around (which incurs a cost). I enjoyed my placement hugely and worked with fantastic people but I realised that civil engineering wasn't what I'd be happy doing for the rest of my life. Luckily after receiving my A-Level results last August I reapplied to University with support from my Sixth Form. Armed with 4 A*'s in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Systems and control I applied to the incredibly prestigious University of Oxford to study Engineering science - this course gave me a lot more scope and diversity, and I was lucky enough to be offered a place at St Catherine's College (something which wouldn't have happened had I not been offered a placement). This year enabled me to realise that I find Electrical Engineering and Computers more interesting and that this is my chosen career path, something I'm glad I learnt sooner rather than later.
"Whilst I was on my placement I enrolled on a CMI introduction to fist line management and took an AS level in Further Additional Maths (A grade) and participated in multiple courses with Colas. Since then I have given presentations and attended career events on behalf of YINI as an ambassador. This year has provided me with a wealth of opportunities and this wouldn't of been possible without the funding provided by the LRF, I can't even begin to describe how much I thank you for this.