Rotec welcomes local school students for work experience

Max and Yaakoub from Taunton Academy
Max and Yaakoub of Taunton Academy

During June and July, Rotec Hydraulics Ltd welcomed students from Year 10 to provide them with an insight into an engineering workplace.

The students, who are pupils at The Castle School and Taunton Academy, all chose the placement at Rotec due to their interest in exploring possible careers within the engineering sector. During their week at Rotec’s Taunton Service Centre and Head Office, Joshua, Raynier, Max and Yaakoub spent time in key areas of the business including Warehouse, Technical Design, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

Max, of Taunton Academy, is drawn to a career in engineering because of his love of ‘hands-on’ subjects. The highlight of his work experience was supporting Rotec’s Mechanical Engineers install hydraulic winches onto the front of field vehicles for a national utility company. Max said,

“It was great to experience what it would be like to work as an engineer. My favourite part was working with Rotec’s Mechanical Engineering Team on the winches. My ambition is to be an engineer in the future.”

The most enjoyable part for fellow Taunton Academy student, Yaakoub was spending time with Rotec’s Electrical Engineering Department. He commented,

“I wanted to do my work experience at Rotec because I want to be an Electrical Engineer when I am older. Spending time with the Electricians here was really great.”

Castle School pupil, Raynier chose to carry out his work experience at an Engineering company after being inspired by his Electrical Engineer father. Raynier had a varied week and said,

“My favourite department in Rotec was definitely the Technical Team office. I liked working with the Design Engineers and learning about the different computer programmes they use.”

Joshua from The Castle School has ambitions to be a pilot. However, has always been fascinated by engineering and was keen to accept Rotec’s work experience placement for an insight into a real-world workshop. Joshua commented,

“Thank you to Rotec for allowing me to carry out my work experience here. I have thoroughly enjoyed this week. My best part was spending time with the Electrical Engineering Team and being shown how to build an electrical panel for the Marine industry.”

Providing work experience placements and opportunities to inspire a pipeline of future engineers is a key element of Rotec’s business ethos. With a national shortage of engineers within the UK, estimated to cost the economy around £1.5bn a year, Rotec hopes it can do its bit to inspire the next generation. Operations Manager, Mark Coniff said,

100% Achilles audit _Rotec Hydraulics Ltd
Raynier and Joshua of The Castle School

 “We were delighted to be able to welcome Joshua, Raynier, Max and Yaakoub to Rotec for their work experience placements. By providing these opportunities, along with welcoming a new cohort of engineering apprentices in September, we hope to be able to foster a new pipeline of engineers for the future.”

Supporting Young Talent

Rotec Hydraulics Ltd recently supported 18 year old Digital Media Student, Joseph Lang to film and create a documentary featuring Engineering Director, Richard Renfree.

Richard says,

“As a business, we relish supporting and inspiring the future generation to achieve their qualifications and goals. Providing work experience opportunities is a key part of our social responsibility.

It was a pleasure to take part in Joseph’s documentary. Joseph was professional, polite and has a bright future ahead of him. I wish him all the best with completing his qualification.”

Joseph, who is studying Level 3 Digital Media at Bridgwater & Taunton College, was required to create a short documentary to form part of his final major project. Interested in vehicles and engineering, the local student’s documentary focussed on the technology and capabilities of Land Rovers among other vehicles.

Katie Trevarthen-Land: Work Experience

Katie Trevarthen-Land: Work Experience

Katie, who studies Level 3 Engineering at Bridgwater & Taunton college joined us for a week of work experience on the 28th October. We asked Katie’s a few questions…

What attracted you to Rotec for work experience? I live quite close to Rotec and I have heard that it is a really good company so I tried my best to get a place.

Do you have a specific engineering job in mind for when you finish college?  Unfortunately I don’t have a clear idea of what I would like to do specifically, all I know is that I would like to become an engineer and I don’t think I would want to go into an electrical field.

What do you like to do in you free time? In my free time I read a lot of fiction, as well as watch crime shows on tv, I also enjoy learning new things about the shows I watch, so about crime and the police and the military, these sorts of things.

How are you finding the experience so far? I am really enjoying it, I am learning an abundance of new things and it is amazing to experience the work place of the type of job I would like to do that I would like to go into. All the people I have met have been very welcoming and kind and overall my impression is that this is a lovely place to work.

 

Katie is going to spend a week at our Taunton Headquarters, working in a variety of different departments. 

  • Monday

Introductions and H&S including YP risk assessment, then joining the warehouse team for a basic overview of stores.

  • Tuesday

With the Warehouse & Stores team, introducesinto more in depth process review. Katie will be involved in booking in/out, Packing and Picking.

  • Wednesday

Basic website design principles, structured around a subject of Katie’s choice. Introduction to Profile writing and Customer Feedback Surveys using SurveyMonkey.

  • Thursday

Shadowing electrical engineers in the electrical bay and performing a variety of tasks.

  • Friday

Overview of design to conception. Basic engineering tasks within the workshop – use of hand tools etc. 

 

Luke Hamilton – Work Experience

Luke Hamilton - Work Experience

Luke Hamilton of Kingsmead Secondary School joined us for a week of work experience on the 15th July.

Luke plays rugby for the North Petherton RC and hopes to take his tennis playing to a competitive level as well.

He spent a week at our Taunton Headquarters, working in a variety of different departments. This is what his schedule looked like:

  • Monday

Introductions and H&S including YP risk assessment. Basic overview of stores. Assisting in hydraulic hose manufacturing.

  • Tuesday

In depth process review of Stores. Luke was involved in booking in/out, Packing and Picking etc .

  • Wednesday

Hands on website building, following good marketing practices. (Focused on a topic of Luke’s choice)

  • Thursday

Shadowing electrical engineers in the electrical bay and performing a variety of tasks.

Working with the design team receiving a basic overview of design to conception on AutoCad/Solidworks.

  • Friday

Overview of design to conception. Basic engineering tasks within the workshop – use of hand tools etc. Visiting a customer and helping spec up a project.

Luke says:

“I enjoyed my time here. It helped me realise how many different opportunities there were for engineers. The variety surprised me. It made me realise I definitely want to get into engineering, even if I am not sure which specialisation to focus on.”

It was a pleasure to host this talented young man and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Joe Lang – Summer Work Experience

Joe Lang - summer work experience

When: 24th June – end of summer

The 16 year old Joe joined Rotec for the summer holidays to help us with continuous stock taking and assist Goods In/Out with packaging components and products, ready for transport.

Joe is starting his Digital Media Studies at Bridgwater College once the summer is out, which he eventually hopes to merge with his other interests in art and cars. Joe enjoys visiting car shows and car meets, and taking photographs. He was recently selected for a project with Studio Digital in Watchet, where he already spent some time developing his arts skills, to take part in a project in partnership with Somerset Waste. Joe is also a big fan of Manchester United.

Joe has already proven himself to be a diligent and steadfast worker and we hope to welcome him back in the future, when he is on a break from college.

Welcome to the team Joe!

Team Rotec

One week of work experience at Rotec

Last month, we were pleased to team up with the Kingsmead School in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, to provide a work experience for one of their pupils: Harry Alcock. Harry joined our Taunton Depot for a week, to experience first-hand how Rotec operates. Under the direction of Matt Turnbull, Rotec’s purchasing manager, Harry spent time working in the Stores, Warehouse, Electrical Bay and the office learning about Mechanical Design and Website build.

Harry was in for a Health and Safety briefing on Monday morning, before spending the afternoon with our Stores Manager, where he learned the general operational principles such as booking in/out, packing and picking. The next day, Harry was actively involved in the Stores day to day activities discussed the previous day and assisted with assembling a crate for one of Rotec’s marine customers.

On Wednesday, Harry joined the marketing department where he was introduced to website building using the popular online platform Wix. Harry chose to create a website focused on supercars and spent the day with Rotec’s marketing executive creating a working site using best marketing practices. The website Harry created is available on: https://harrysalcock03.wixsite.com/harryssupercars

Thursday morning was spent in the warehouse hose assembly with our team of engineers, wrapping hoses for our utilities customer.

Harry then joined our electrical engineering team, in the electrical bay, learning about safe working practises and some hands on electrical work.

On Friday morning, Harry was back in the office, working under the guidance of Rotec’s engineering director (pictured), who taught Harry about CAD design, before moving onto assisting the stores and the warehouse in the afternoon, with their usual Friday housekeeping tasks.

Matt, who supervised and supported Harry through-out his working experience, was impressed at Harry’s work ethic, at his ability to follow instructions and his positive attitude. We would gladly welcome Harry back anytime and we look forward to the next time we are able to support the local schools with their work placements.

 

Author: Sarka Humpolcova

Date: 2/08/2018