Encouraging Youngsters – Schlegel’s Philosophy Featured On BBC

A company that makes sealing systems for windows and doors has been featured on BBC’s Look North for giving students the opportunity to gain real-life engineering insight.

Schlegel is a Quanex company and has been lauded for it philospy of encouraging engineering as a career and its continued support for UTC South Durham’s Industry Projects programme. The initiative is run by the technical college and sixth form in Newton Aycliffe. It gives STEM students the opportunity to work on real challenges set by regional employers such as Schlegel, while helping them develop the practical and transferable skills employers need.

This is entirely in line with, and way ahead, of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s call for such opportunities to be created as students are encouraged to take a technical career path if they don’t want to take the traditional academic route. 

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12 weeks of student research

This year, Schlegel provided a live project brief for a team of students based on a real manufacturing issue from within its operations. The team spent 12 weeks researching the issue, developing a proposed solution and presenting their findings at the programme’s finale event.

For students Mathew Causer and Liam Pattison, the programme has given them a focus for their future careers.

Mathew said: “This has been really beneficial as I’ve learned that I enjoy the hands-on work experience and now understand this is what I want to do in my engineering apprenticeship.” Liam said: “I have enjoyed this introduction to engineering at Quanex and doing design and prototyping work. This is where I would like to focus my career.”

Understanding of expectations

Continuous Improvement Manager Mark Sigsworth represented Schlegel throughout the programme and said: “This has been a great exercise for us as a company, some of the skills that the students have gained coming from a STEM school has been passed onto some of our engineers.

“The students first few weeks in the world of manufacturing and engineering has given them an insight into working life, how to conduct themselves in meetings and an understanding of our expectations.

“The next few months will be particularly good for the students as they have now been given real life improvement projects with timelines, gateway reviews and a full end of project presentation to the senior staff and the collage.”

For Schlegel, the benefits of the programme are already proven. Previous students developed a solution aimed at reducing downtime at the company’s Newton Aycliffe manufacturing facility. The proposal was subsequently implemented and is now being explored for patent protection and wider rollout.

Next generation

“The quality of ideas that come from these projects is always impressive and we have already seen a student-led solution deliver tangible benefits within our own operation, which demonstrates the value of bringing education and industry closer together,” added Sigsworth.

“As a manufacturer with deep roots in the North-East, we want to find and support the next generation of engineers. Programmes like this help build a strong local skills pipeline around the local area while giving students meaningful experience that can shape their future careers.”

Picture: For students Mathew Causer and Liam Pattison, Schlegel and UTC South Durham’s Industry Projects programme has given them a focus for their future careers.

www.schlegel.com