Bentley prize for engineering student - 25-09-2007 - 15:16

Bath with an award for Best Mechanical Engineering student.

The company based in Crewe, where it employs over 600 engineers, graduates and apprentices, presented Chris Lamming with the award and grant worth £15,000 at the Science, Engineering & Technology Student of the Year Awards on Sunday.

Dr Ulrich Eichhorn, a member of the board for engineering presented Mr Lamming with the prize for his paper on the analysis and computation of regularly-spaced localised buckles in pipelines.

He said that the overall standard among the short-listed finalists had been very high and that it had made it difficult to choose just one engineering student.

"However, Chris's entry was truly exceptional and we were proud to present him with the award - we're confident he has a great future ahead of him in engineering," he added.

Mr Lamming said: "I'm really proud to have contributed to the growth of knowledge in engineering, and pleased that I've been able to raise the profile of University of Bath at the same time."

Engineering centre providing jobs - 24-09-2007 - 11:27

fortunes around and prove its value to the business community in Norfolk.

The Hethel Engineering Centre, which cost £5 million, was built in an attempt to reverse the downturn in the region's manufacturing and engineering fortunes, was on the verge of being shut down.

Norfolk County Council, which provided a £3.1 million loan towards setting up the centre where Lotus now has its headquarters, was considering shutting it down in November, eight months after it was opened.

Next week, the council will be told that the centre, which has created 52 jobs, is operating with a "satisfactory" profit.

Simon Coward, chief executive of the centre told the Norwich Evening News that it was currently 80 per cent full and that he expected it to be completely full by next April.

He added: "There is a real desire among engineering companies to be part of a cluster and the benefit we offer is that they can use the expertise and skills of other companies at the centre."

Engineer role 'unclear' to society - 21-09-2007 - 14:58

Engineers need to do a better job of demonstrating their role to the public, according to an industry expert.

A recent survey by the Engineering and Technology Board and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) showed that the broad use of the word engineering left young people with a muddled understanding.

While it showed that all ages believe engineers make many of the things without which daily life could not continue, the application of the term "engineer" to jobs from financial engineering to boiler installation, left seven out of ten respondents saying that it was hard for average person to understand.

"This is the first real data we have ever gathered of public attitudes to engineering and it's given us a very clear message that we need to do more to demonstrate our role in society," said Dr Scott Steedman, vice president of the RAE.

"If the government is to achieve its vision of the knowledge economy it's vital that we enthuse young people. We need to be more joined up across the profession, our campaigns need to be much more visible and we personally need to be more outspoken about the value we bring and the contribution we make both to improving people's lives and to the economy," he added.

Engineering firm wins prize for apprenticeships - 18-09-2007 - 15:56

A control systems engineering company was awarded for its role in developing skills and careers through apprenticeships.

The prize for east of England's small business employer of the year was awarded to King's Lynn-based Lawtronic by the Learning Skills Council.

Lawtronic currently employs 36 people, seven of which - over one in five - are apprentices and has trained 14 engineering apprentices with the College of West Anglia over the last five years.

Project manager Mark Gaskins at the firm told the Eastern Daily Press: "Apprentices supply our business with a future in our engineering/technical manufacturing sector."

He added: "The structured policy of recruiting apprentices each year has allowed Lawtronic to develop a skilled workforce to our industry and products, thus enabling increased business sales with sustained growth and development."

The company, which was founded in 1986, has also been awarded the ISO 9001 Quality System Standard and the Investors in People award.

New university matches engineering skills to employers - 13-09-2007 - 11:31

A unique university is set to work closely with employers to match the engineering skills they need and help start students' careers.

The University of The West of England (UWE) is planning to start construction on a campus in Swindon, where students can be closer to the town's major businesses.

By focusing on engineering, financial services, ICT, health and social care, the university - which will accommodate 3,000 students - will better serve the need of local business while providing work-based learning for the students.

John Rushforth, the deputy vice-chancellor at UWE, told the Gazette & Herald local newspaper: "We will deliver teaching to employees while they work.

"The courses will be bespoke to the individual needs of employers like Honda and Intel.

"We are also looking at delivering heritage courses, which aren't available elsewhere."

Rikki Hunt, chairman of the Swindon Strategic Economic Partnership said that focusing on work-based learning would allow people to learn different skills in the workplace and match the skills that were taught to the needs of businesses.

Engineering thermoplastics demand up in Europe - 10-09-2007 - 11:17

The European market for engineering thermoplastics grew five per cent last year, according to figures from research group AMI.

Investment in automotive and consumer electronics helped drive the growth which could also be seen in the plastics industry as a whole.

AMI figures showed that demand for thermoplastics rose three per cent in 2006 to almost 40 million tonnes and recording its best results in ten years.

However, while the growth for Europe overall was good news, some of the data showed the UK industry did not get the same lift.

Relocation of injection moulding capacity to states in central and eastern Europe and Asia as well as a slowdown in the UK automotive industry contributed to a largely static UK market.

PVC was subject to increased demand, AMI noted, with its rise put down to its growing use in the construction industry.

According to the figures, the use of PVC, including its use in products such as window frames led the market to experience a growth in demand of three per cent compared to last year.

Swindon offered as home of engineering excellence - 07-09-2007 - 16:23

After losing out on an expensive bidding war in Bath, billionaire inventor James Dyson has been invited to set up his centre of engineering excellence in Swindon.

Mr Dyson, from Wiltshire, had invested £3 million over two years to secure a location close to Bath Spa University in the city's centre, according to the Swindon Advertiser.

The university's arts campus eventually won the land after a competitive tender and Dyson's dream of establishing his School Of Design Innovation on the historic waterfront evaporated.

However Swindon Council says it has land available and that the town has vital links to industry that Dyson can capitalise on.

Spokeswoman for Dyson Julia Curry said: "We're still utterly committed to getting the Dyson School up and running by September 2009.

"We're currently investigating other sites and are confident that the school will go ahead in the south west but not in Bath."

Mr Dyson created his empire by developing the world's first bag-less vacuum cleaner over a five-year period, during which more than 5,000 prototypes came and went.

Record number of engineering apprentices for UK factory - 06-09-2007 - 16:03

The intake of apprentices at engineering plant Heller Machine Tools in Redditch, Worcestershire, is higher than at any time in its history, its managing director has announced.

Heller boss Geoff Lloyd told Manufacturing Talk magazine that the scheme which started in September 2007 had a higher intake than ever before, with five new apprentices brought on board.

The new generation of engineers will learn skills in constructing horizontal machining centres, courtesy of a company committed to broadening trainees' opportunities for career progress.

The chosen few rotate around each department in Heller, gaining an overview of every aspect of the company's work and pinpointing where their individual growth potential lies.

"Apprentices are the lifeblood of the industry, without them, we have no future," Mr Lloyd commented.

One in five Heller employees was formerly a company apprentice.

The tailored training programme is only the beginning of a process of learning in the workplace, however.

Staff training continues to be critical throughout, Mr Lloyd stressed, and employees are encouraged to gain expertise and qualifications such as NVQs in their field.

UK manufacturers at best since 1995 - 03-09-2007 - 16:43

The mechanical engineering sector lead the way as UK manufacturers' output reached the highest level in 12 years, according to the EEF business group.

In its survey of the third quarter, EEF found that the balance of firms with higher orders an output was at plus 30 per cent, the highest it has been since 1995.

"Manufacturers are now enjoying a sustained period of growth and reaping the rewards of increasing their investment in skills and innovation," said EEF chief economist Steve Radley.

"Long gone are the days when a strong currency and increases in interest rates would have stopped companies in their tracks," he added.

This resilience in the face of a strong pound may be linked to an increase in domestic orders that saw them overtake exports for the first time since the final quarter of 2002.

And, although Mr Radley warned that problems in the credit market could cause the manufacturing sector's growth to slow down, manufacturers themselves seemed confident of continued growth, with 35 per cent predicting higher output in the fourth quarter.