Joel Barker 2010/2011
This placement offers the opportunity to gain a hands-on
experience in a busy production environment, supporting the
manufacturing team with all activities.
Some of the duties of the role include supporting high volume
manufacturing lines using lean techniques to improve quality and
product output on life saving products. The student works as
part of a team to help reduce costs and process times using various
tools from the lean toolbox such as root cause analysis, the 7
wastes, Ishikawa (Fish Bone diagram), Kaizen, Spaghetti diagrams,
Six Sigma and process mapping.
A significant part of the role is to provide day-to-day
production support, supplying the production lines with small
tools, jigs and fixtures and resolving operational issues. With
approximately 300 members of production staff on site, this will
provide an ideal opportunity to enhance soft skills.
For the right candidate this placement will provide a fantastic
experience within a world class manufacturing environment.
Current student, Joel Barker, gives his account of the
experience:
"From my first week at Apollo I was given responsibility and
treated not as a student but as a member of the Production
Engineering team. I was impressed by the drive and professionalism
not only from the Production Engineering department but from Apollo
as a whole.
Working within the Production Engineering team has given me
hands on experience within a high volume manufacturing environment.
My primary role involves providing day to day support to a world
class factory floor, working on key projects as well as supporting
the team in applying best practice and driving change. The work I
have carried out here although predominantly production based has
included aspects of design, testing and analysis, project
management and construction of assembly lines.
Aspects and knowledge gained in my degree so far have served me
well; my time here has allowed me to gain invaluable knowledge and
experience that would have been unobtainable without doing a year
on placement."