New Engineering Foundation
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Progress Reports

The New Engineering Fellowship Scheme was established in 2004 in order to offer grants to Further Education Colleges so that their engineering and technology lecturers were able to gain valuable skills and knowledge of industrial practice by embarking on three week placements in industry. It is designed to improve the quality of engineering and technology lecturers by updating their skill sets and competencies, thus ensuring that what is taught in the classroom is what industry really needs. Backed by a generous financial support from the Gatsby Technical Education Trust, the Scheme will enable each participating college to apply for a grant of £10,000 towards the secondment of up to 3 of their nominated engineering and technology lecturers. The fellowship scheme aims to raise the lecturers’ skills and knowledge and achieve the industrial relevance thereby improving the overall learning experience of students. Each lecturer who takes up a secondment is expected to suggest new curriculum topics; define educational goals for embedding new engineering in to the curriculum; develop effective classroom practices using engineering subjects; produce e-learning teaching materials, and make presentations to peers on the secondment experience.

Broxtowe College

Fellow Name: Bill Potter
Fellow's Department: Faculty of Enterprise and Technology
Fellow's Subject: Engineering and Electronics
Placement Company: Boots
Placement Contact: Peter Wood
Description of Placement Activities: Use of programmable controllers in a production environment.
Fellow Name: Mike Ryan
Fellow's Department: Faculty of Enterprise and Technology
Fellow's Subject: Engineering
Placement Company: Industrial Automation
Placement Contact: Mark Banton
Description of Placement Activities: Mike used his placement at Industrial Automation as a case study on modern manufacturing methods. It looks at how a product is developed from idea to final product, and how ICT is used in the product life cycle.

Burton College

Fellow Name: Julian Johnson
Fellow's Department: Motor Vehicle Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Engineering and Manufacturing Department
Placement Company: Scania Training
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Mani Kang
Fellow's Department: Engineering and Manufacturing Department
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Engineering
Placement Company: Coors Brewery
Placement Contact: Kevin Parker
Description of Placement Activities: Mani’s placement allowed him to gain a better insight into what his students actually do when they go on industrial assignments. As well as that, he also gained an insight into the industrial practices that Coors use, something else which enhanced his relationship with the host company.

Carshalton College

Fellow Name: Chris Cameron
Fellow's Department: Academy of Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Motor Vehicle Technology
Placement Company: Wilson’s Renault
Placement Contact: Paul Nye
Description of Placement Activities: Both Chris and Paul used their placements to update their knowledge on individual parts of their courses. They spent time with local car dealerships observing their work, as well as visiting air conditioning, navigation, multi-media, restraint systems and diagnostic facilities to gain more knowledge of these areas as well. Their placements have allowed them to create links with industry, understand the importance of key skills and technology in the modern motor vehicle trade and to disseminate and share good practice with the college and students.
Fellow Name: Paul Warnett
Fellow's Department: Academy of Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Motor Vehicle Technology
Placement Company: Wilson’s Renault
Placement Contact: Paul Nye
Description of Placement Activities: Both Chris and Paul used their placements to update their knowledge on individual parts of their courses. They spent time with local car dealerships observing their work, as well as visiting air conditioning, navigation, multi-media, restraint systems and diagnostic facilities to gain more knowledge of these areas as well. Their placements have allowed them to create links with industry, understand the importance of key skills and technology in the modern motor vehicle trade and to disseminate and share good practice with the college and students.

City of Wolverhampton College

Fellow Name: Dave Heywood
Fellow's Department: Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Mathematics and Engineering
Placement Company: Epson
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Rachel Price
Fellow's Department: Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Project Management and Manufacturing
Placement Company: Goodrich Aviation
Placement Contact: John Derry
Description of Placement Activities: Rachel’s placement was with Goodrich Aviation and she was primarily involved with investigating flap systems on the A400M, a military transport aircraft designed by a European consortium. As a result of her time with Goodrich, Rachel produced an excellent worksheet for students looking at the forces on flap actuation systems in an aircraft. Also the company is keen to work more closely with the college after such a beneficial experience took place on both sides.
Fellow Name: Will Jellyman
Fellow's Department: Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Engineering Business and Project Management
Placement Company: Johnson Control
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:

College of North West London

Fellow Name: Mark Bolus
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Electronics
Placement Company: Delphi Systems
Placement Contact: Gary Forward
Description of Placement Activities: Mark’s placement had him working in the Bench testing section of the company developing Diesel Engine Management systems for trucks. The technology he focussed on was Controlled Area Networking (CAN) which is a cost-effective alternative to expensive wiring looms used as a communications bus in vehicles. CAN can now be found in many more applications other than engines, thus Mark was delighted to have been able to experience this technology.
Fellow Name: Martin Biron
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Gas, Heating and Ventilation
Placement Company: Logicom
Placement Contact: Dr Majid Al Kader
Description of Placement Activities: Logicom is a company specializing in Integrated Digital Solutions and they have been working with British Gas in developing training and assessment programmes focussed on developing the skills needed to demonstrate competency in the field of domestic gas installation, maintenance and fault rectification. As the College has over 200 learners on gas training programmes each year, Martin’s placement allowed the College to build a strong bridge between themselves and Logicom which allows both parties to hone their products.
Fellow Name: Ray Burnside
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Manufacturing and Production Engineering
Placement Company: United Biscuits (McVities)
Placement Contact: John Holland
Description of Placement Activities: Having done his placement at McVitie’s biscuits, Ray was able to put together some learning materials which showed a real life example of an automation and control system. The production line at McVitie’s uses the latest technology to make their products, and thus is provides and excellent example for students to study.

Darlington College

Fellow Name: Gary Potts
Fellow's Department: Mechanical Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Engineering Design, Operations and Management
Placement Company: University of Teesside
Placement Contact: Ahmed Abbas
Description of Placement Activities: Gary’s learning materials focus on Computer Integrated/Aided Manufacturing, its meaning and how it works. Through examples, Gray has developed a course which illustrates CIM setups and explains how individual elements of a CIM system work. The placement has allowed him to keep up to date with the latest technologies and links with companies have enabled classroom cast studies to be visualised with visits to companies.
Fellow Name: Julie Winter
Fellow's Department: Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Digital Electronics and Communications
Placement Company: University of Teeside
Placement Contact: Ahmed Abbas
Description of Placement Activities: Julie’s placement led her to look at how to measure system elements and how they effect system dynamic error.
Fellow Name: Steve Richardson
Fellow's Department: Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Engineering Materials and Drawing
Placement Company: Schott Industrial Glass
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:

Doncaster College

Fellow Name: Glen Riley
Fellow's Department: School of Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical and Production Engineering
Placement Company: WBB Materials
Placement Contact: Robert Sutton
Description of Placement Activities: Glen’s association with WBB Materials started when they approached the college to help them in cutting a loss in production. Glen visited a site to understand better the company’s concern and as a result designed a Basic Maintenance Course and a relevant health and safety module. Having delivered the course on site to the workers to assess the level of competence within the company, the course is now being regularly delivered on one site and is being rolled out to other quarries. The result has been an improvement in production following a better standard of maintenance.
Fellow Name: Samantha Ashman
Fellow's Department: School of Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Science and Mathematics
Placement Company: Independent Forgings and Alloys
Placement Contact: James Sier
Description of Placement Activities: Samantha’s placement lead to a case study which investigates the suitability of ceramics in replacing metallic castings on furnaces. By using new ceramics technology significant cost and operational benefits could be achieved for forgers and the ceramics industry. As an additional result of the placement, Samantha has formed very close ties with the company and has been able to gain significant further industrial experience.
Fellow Name: Stephen Duffey
Fellow's Department: School of Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Workshop and Practice
Placement Company:
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities: Stephen’s placement lead to some very detailed notes on selecting and interpreting engineering information in scenarios such as engineering drawings, metals selection, workshop calculations, marking out components, carrying out fitting, assembly and joinery functions and applying quality control.

Dudley College

Fellow Name: Carl Timmins
Fellow's Department: Manufacturing and CAE Department
Fellow's Subject: CAD, CAM and Engineering Workshop
Placement Company:
Placement Contact: Lawday Engineering
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Gary Finch
Fellow's Department: Manufacturing and CAE Department
Fellow's Subject: Engineering Design, CAD, CNC
Placement Company:
Placement Contact: Kennametal UK Ltd
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Oliver Kolontari
Fellow's Department: Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Management, Maintenance and Business Improvement Techniques
Placement Company:
Placement Contact: Kennametal UK Ltd
Description of Placement Activities:

Eastleigh College

Fellow Name: Graham Farmer
Fellow's Department: Motor Vehicle Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Motor Vehicle Practical Skills
Placement Company: Scothall BMW
Placement Contact: Gary Holmes & Barry Letts
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Mike Howgate
Fellow's Department: Mechanical Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Production and Engineering
Placement Company: Mahle Filter Systems
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities: Mike also went to Mahle Filter systems and gained experience and systems information on how BITS is implemented on the shop floor at Mahle. The placement was successful as the experience of being in a company gave him a lot of information that otherwise he would not have gained from remaining in the classroom.
Fellow Name: Terry Pickford
Fellow's Department: Mechanical Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Production Engineering and Business Improvement Techniques
Placement Company: Mahle Filter Systems
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities: Terry went to Mahle Filter Systems for his placement and worked with the staff there to reduce the tool change time on one set of twelve machines from 150 minutes to under 20. He produced a case study to show how and why tool change reduced in duration and the effectiveness of the approach used.

Fermanagh College

Fellow Name: Dermot McSorley
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Placement Company: NI Technology Centre, Queens University Belfast
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Gareth Rooney
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Engineering and Maintenance
Placement Company: NI Technology Centre, Queens University Belfast
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities: Gareth and Dermots’ time at Queens University was spent on investigating industrial control methods and applications. Using PLCs, motor control systems and fluid power automation systems, they were able to gain a good working knowledge of industrial control technology and integrated it into the curriculum at their college. One of the main aims of the curriculum at the college is to bolster current provision with industrially relevant automation and control applications, and this placement has gone a long way to helping them do this.

Hartlepool College

Fellow Name: Geoff Lindridge
Fellow's Department: Technical and Design Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Business Improvement Techniques
Placement Company: Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd
Placement Contact: Nigel Jones
Description of Placement Activities: Geoff’s placement at Nissan centred around Business Improvement Techniques (BIT). Nissan were keen to participate as it would allow continued staff development, promotion of the “Kaizen Mind” approach, manufacturing capability improvement and the workforce to gain a nationally recognised qualification. Hartlepool have gained a strong link with Nissan as a result which has allowed access to new technologies and the sharing of good practice. The link is due to continue through to at least mid-2008 and Nissan are delighted to participate as it gives them feedback on their operation from a wide variety of staff.
Fellow Name: Martin Brown
Fellow's Department: Technical and Design Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Electrical Principles and Manufacturing Systems
Placement Company: MFI UK Ltd
Placement Contact: Lee Smurthwaite
Description of Placement Activities: Martin’s placement was at MFI UK Ltd manufacturing facility at Stockton-on-Tees. It consisted of participating in a Continuous Improvement workshop run by NEPA (North East Partnership Alliance), working through the improvement process and learning of the benefits of these techniques. It is hoped that these techniques can be incorporated into future students’ study and also to aid other companies in the area, through the college’s Business Development Centre.
Fellow Name: Stuart Butler
Fellow's Department: Technical and Design Engineering
Fellow's Subject: Manufacturing Methods and Project Management
Placement Company: Caterpillar
Placement Contact: Peter Prest
Description of Placement Activities:

Highbury College

Fellow Name: David Thompson
Fellow's Department: Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Engineering
Placement Company: Accuracy International
Placement Contact: Chris Eaton
Description of Placement Activities: Collection and analysis of results from final testing of product for the purposes of process control and commercial decision making. Use of dedicated software to produce control charts and “T tests” to enable comparison of data from small samples. The use of DOE for determining critical variables in product testing. The knowledge gained and the data recorded will be used to enhance the teaching of SPC on a range of courses within the college and enable the development of up to date case studies for the teaching of “data driven decision making” and “a factual approach to management” for use on courses.
Fellow Name: Ian Clapson
Fellow's Department: Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Electronic Engineering
Placement Company:
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Peter Swain
Fellow's Department: Automotive Studies Department
Fellow's Subject: Automotive Studies
Placement Company: Camberley Auto Factors & Lillywhites Garage
Placement Contact: Collin Taylor & Mike Lillywhite
Description of Placement Activities: Initially looking at what the small independent garage requires with regards to diagnostic equipment. Went on a road show with Camberley Autofactors to gauge where the interest of the independent dealer lay or to find the gap in what equipment is required to run an independent franchise bearing in mind the technology involved in modern vehicle diagnosis and fault coding. Lillywhites garage enabled me to see how they managed using hand held diagnostic equipment and the impact on time saved. Once I had seen both the departments, I asked numerous companies to demonstrate their hand held diagnostic equipment. As a result we have now purchased two hand held Scanners from Omitec with a view of running courses for local industry in diagnostics and air conditioning.

Lincoln College

Fellow Name: Andy Ollier
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Science and Thermodynamics
Placement Company: Siemens Industrial Turbo Machinery Ltd
Placement Contact: Angela Borman
Description of Placement Activities: Andy’s experience at Siemens drew him into looking at lean manufacturing as a continuous business improvement technique, and uses Siemens Gas Turbines as a case study, to examine how lean manufacturing can be implemented in industry.
Fellow Name: Mike Runnacles
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Principles and Materials Engineering
Placement Company: AMP Rose
Placement Contact: Malcolm Davis
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Mike Salter
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Microelectronics and Digital Electronics
Placement Company: Micrometric Techniques Ltd
Placement Contact: Neil Main
Description of Placement Activities: As a result of the funding from the Foundation, Lincoln College were able to work with a number of local companies to investigate their needs when setting up engineering Foundation Degrees. As a result, Mike has been able to produce a document examining work based learning aspects of foundation degrees to ensure successful outcomes for engineering-focussed projects.

Newcastle College

Fellow Name: Lee Rosby
Fellow's Department: School of Technology (Engineering)
Fellow's Subject: Aircraft Electrical Systems, Instruments and Indication Systems
Placement Company: TNT Aircraft Maintenance Services
Placement Contact: Steve Waddell
Description of Placement Activities: Steve’s time with TNT enabled him to gain an insight in to some of the standard maintenance procedures carried out on aircraft. The college is working closely with aviation maintenance companies to certify students to the JAR 66 qualification so that they can gain employment as licensed engineers once they have left the college.
Fellow Name: Paul Rumbles
Fellow's Department: School of Technology (Engineering)
Fellow's Subject: Engineering Design and Project Management
Placement Company: MKW Engineering
Placement Contact: Ian Young
Description of Placement Activities: Paul spent his three weeks at MKW Engineering who are an engineering design company. His experiences there helped him to produce his learning materials which is an overview of the methods employed to create a 3D model using the Top Solid CAD/CAM software package. In addition, MKW Engineering is very keen to work more closely with the college in the future, including organising visits for staff at the company to the college.
Fellow Name: Steven Harrison
Fellow's Department: School of Technology (Engineering)
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Technology, Material and Manufacturing Systems
Placement Company: Rolls-Royce Power Engineering Plc
Placement Contact: Norman Potts
Description of Placement Activities: Steven’s placement gave him more knowledge of different aspects of manufacturing. He was able to gain experience in both virtual and actual machining, as well as welding and technical drawing using CAD software.

Preston College

Fellow Name: Christopher Wright
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Engineering and Manufacturing
Placement Company: Leyland Trucks Ltd
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: David Edge
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Control Systems
Placement Company: Hanson Building Products
Placement Contact: Gary Corless
Description of Placement Activities: The three weeks of David’s work placement were spent at Hanson Building products near Lancaster. This small factory is heavily automated using PLCs and produces approximately 1 million bricks per week form a total staff of about 50 people. (It requires about 8000 facing bricks to build a modest detached house.) His work at the factory consisted of familiarizing himself with the Siemens PLC and the automation systems in use, and assisting fault finding for the occasional breakdown. Partly on the strength of the work placement, the Department of Technology at the college will be re-equiped using Allen Bradley PLCs to both update the present course provision and deliver full cost courses for the growing demand for PLC training.
Fellow Name: Roger Watson
Fellow's Department: Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Automotive Vehicle Technology
Placement Company: FW Developments
Placement Contact: Frank Wrathall
Description of Placement Activities:

Redcar & Cleveland College

Fellow Name: David Craddock
Fellow's Department: Engineering Department
Fellow's Subject: Design, Materials and Mechanical Technology
Placement Company: Labman Robotics
Placement Contact: Andrew Whitwell
Description of Placement Activities: Labman Robotics gave David the opportunity to investigate one of the more cutting edge areas of engineering. Following his visits to the company, he put together some learning materials explaining the different types of robotic sensors, the interfacing of sensors with microcomputers and some basic interfacing techniques.

The Oldham College

Fellow Name: David Mills
Fellow's Department: School of Engineering
Fellow's Subject:
Placement Company:
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: George Baker
Fellow's Department: Information and Computer Technology
Fellow's Subject: Information Systems
Placement Company: Oldham Borough Council
Placement Contact: David Honeywell
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Michael Bonney
Fellow's Department: School of Engineering
Fellow's Subject: CAD/CAM, Mathematics, IT
Placement Company: Robert Whetham Associates
Placement Contact: Robert Whetham
Description of Placement Activities: Investigation of Company and industry standards used Modification of client drawings to suit design specification for: Fire alarm, lighting, lightning protection and power circuits. Accompanying company director on site visits. Application and practice in modifying existing drawings to suit use of previously constructed drawings to copy and paste selected symbols. Knowledge of fire alarm systems and standards gained, also layout of lightning. To inform students of company standards and methods of file storage, modification, and plotting.

Tresham Institute

Fellow Name: Andrew Mensley
Fellow's Department: Engineering and Construction Department
Fellow's Subject: Plumbing, ACS, Heating and Ventilation
Placement Company: Schulter Solutions Ltd
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Darren Hooper
Fellow's Department: Engineering and Construction Department
Fellow's Subject: Construction Maintenance Skills
Placement Company: Fairline Boats Plc
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: James Tomkins
Fellow's Department: Engineering and Construction Department
Fellow's Subject: Mechanical Engineering Workshop Practices
Placement Company: Utile Engineering
Placement Contact: Terry Ekins
Description of Placement Activities: James had a successful experience at Utile Engineering. As a result, he prepared some learning materials on how to approach an engineering task in an industrial environment, something students would not normally be used to doing. This included looking at Health and Safety issues, as well as awareness of industrial machining operations and inspection and testing procedures.

Uxbridge College

Fellow Name: Graham Fleming
Fellow's Department: Engineering Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Electrical Installation
Placement Company: AMEC Construction
Placement Contact: Norah Moss
Description of Placement Activities: Graham’s college is well placed for his placement, which saw him gain experience of electrical installation at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 site. His time there allowed him to update his own skills, make his trainees more vocationally aware, make their training more targeted and perhaps most importantly to develop the curriculum to reflect current training issues and future needs.
Fellow Name: Mohamed Mokhtari
Fellow's Department: Engineering Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Placement Company: GCD Security Ltd
Placement Contact: Eddie Clarke
Description of Placement Activities: As well as aiming to gain experience in the security industry, Mohamed was keen to establish more links with industry, understand their needs and requirements and also to gain a better understanding of the business side of the host company. He found that as well as subject tutors needing to maintain close links with industry, it is important that awarding bodies keep up to date with modern technologies so that the courses can fully include them in their curricula in order to reflect students’ real life experiences.
Fellow Name: Ray Earley
Fellow's Department: Engineering Technology Department
Fellow's Subject: Motor Vehicle
Placement Company: Lance Owen
Placement Contact: Andy West
Description of Placement Activities: An interesting finding of Ray’s placement was that as well as reinforcing the need for good technical training for students, a weakness in the system is training in communication and customer facing skills. As a result he is hoping that more lecturers will be able to go out on placements so that the delivery of the courses within the college becomes much more relevant across all aspects of the curriculum, something which can only benefit the students.

Writtle College

Fellow Name: Arnold Fenner
Fellow's Department: Department of Rural Industries
Fellow's Subject: Motor Vehicle
Placement Company: Lely UK
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Charlie Reilly
Fellow's Department: Department of Rural Industries
Fellow's Subject: Agricultural Machinery
Placement Company: Claas UK Ltd
Placement Contact: Alistair Tulloch
Description of Placement Activities:
Fellow Name: Clive Perrins
Fellow's Department: Department of Rural Industries
Fellow's Subject: Land Based and Motor Vehicle Engineering
Placement Company: Briggs & Stratton and Tecumseh
Placement Contact:
Description of Placement Activities: