Supporting tomorrow's engineers

Towards the end of last year, Business Secretary Greg Clark launched the government’s ambitious Industrial Strategy, part of which pledged to establish a technical education system to 'rival the best in the world' and which also promised to invest an additional £406 million in maths, digital and technical education, helping to address the UK's shortage of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills.

While the government has the greater responsibility to deliver the nation’s education needs, industry, too, has a role to play. Companies can use their, not inconsiderable mentoring powers and technical resources to further the government’s aims of engaging young people with career opportunities that are not only rewarding, but which ultimately add wealth to the economy.

Proactive support

Take for example, UK based Lenze, a global supplier of machine automation and motion control systems and support services; the company is strongly focused on product design, development and innovation, activities that demand the highest levels of workforce skills. Recognising the importance of accessing and retaining these skills, Lenze has a policy of proactively supporting students who express an interest in industrial automation at both technical academy and higher education levels.

In the UK, the company achieves these aims through various support initiatives for technical colleges and university departments. These include a System Engineering Trainee Program, preparing the future generation of mechanical engineers with hands-on experience. The trainees receive individualised coaching and mentoring throughout the program and into subsequent job entry.

The provision of Teachware consoles for students’ exclusive use at their places of education, as well as places at Lenze’s professional training days enabling students to gain insights into automation engineering at a more practical level.

Lenze's donation of teaching consoles covering electric motor drive technology to the new Bridlington Mechatronic Centre is an illustration of this activity. The Centre, set up by UK tech companies, offers specialist engineering courses in response to address the growing skills gap issue.

More recently, Lenze partnered with the Engineering Development Trust and the Processing & Packaging Machinery Trade Association to support a STEM educational day at Bedford Free School. A variety of engineering themed tasks challenged the children's abilities in areas such as product design and environmentally focused problem solving.

These included a 'STEM Den' session where students were tasked with developing a new design for an everyday household item. Various teams were charged with drawing up their designs, building a prototype or model of their design and presenting it to a team of judges in ‘Dragon’s Den’ style, who voted on the best potential for investment.

The aim of this STEM day was not just to have a break from the day-to-day curriculum, but to give these children a better understanding of what engineering can offer as a career choice, while breaking down some typical stereotypes.