Manufacturing Technology Engineer Review

Massively! I have undertaken and participated on a vast spectrum of engineering projects, cost reduction, productivity improvements (waste & downtime/cycle time improvements) and capital expenditure to mention a few. All of these projects have enabled me to work with and alongside many different people from varying backgrounds, all of whom, possessed in-depth and diverse skill-sets.

Throughout my placement I never felt like a student on a ‘tick-box’ exercise as part of their degree, my feelings were quite the opposite. I felt like a fully-fledged and well respected team member, not only from a technical point of view, but also from a personal aspect. My colleagues from the start took the time to learn about my family, loved ones, hobbies and interests.

I was always provided with more the adequate support within my role from my line manager from all aspects. Guidance, advice and assistance were always delivered in the correct manner to ensure potential was fully achieved. Personal life was also well valued, doctors’ appointments, private appointments and any issues were always held and dealt with the upmost regard and respect and the necessary support/allowanced were always put in place.

I was always busy with something to do however I was never ‘snowed-under’ with work. Within my group, work was always shared out fairly, pragmatically and appropriately to the correct people with the correct skills. 3M recognised that flooding people with projects and over-working them was not the way to go. 3M understood that this would have a negative impact on the quality of peoples work and in turn, the successful delivery of projects would be compromised.

Dependant on plant resource at any given time, I was given varying ranges of responsibility. For example on a typical day I would work on my projects, to do so I was given ample freedom to further them and the chance to really own the project and take full responsibility for it. Furthermore, when certain people in the department were off or busy with other things, their responsibilities would be delegated, meaning, at times I was the ‘go-to-guy’.

Throughout my placement with 3M I have massively improved and honed my technical skills and knowledge through various different means. This will help me with my continued university studies but also beyond that, taking them with me into my future career. Engaging with different people from varying backgrounds, positions within 3M and skill-sets, my personal skills have also been thoroughly refined. Additionally the various different training courses that I participated on have proved me with some extra skills and tools to prepare me for my final year of study and also my future career.

It was a very warm, friendly and welcoming atmosphere, one which fostered a culture of productivity success. Colleagues in the office, as previously mentioned, were very quick to get to know me on a personal level, taking an interest in my family, loved ones, hobbies, interests and opinions. There was also a lot of fun in the office, it was a laugh a day which made it a very pleasant place in which to work. I quickly felt like an integral part of the office dynamic.

3M have a rich history of Industrial Placement (IP) students who have since attained their degree, returned to 3M and have gone on to become very successful within 3M. Because of this 3M are all geared up for IP students with, thorough inductions, appropriate work set aside for them and 3M as a whole have a fantastic infrastructure to deal and manager IP’s.

As previously discussed, I participated in various training courses and events some of which included travel and overnight accommodation, all of which was funded by 3M. I took a lot away from all of the training courses I underwent, Productivity Ninja training, Insights, Personal resilience and wellbeing, Personal Branding & Networking to mention just a few.

3M offer a graduate scheme for technical staff which leads into the process engineering group or Manufacturing Technology (MT) group. The scheme is known as the ‘O2’ scheme, O2 standing for Optimised Operations. The O2 scheme offers a huge training schedule will role specific training along with more generic blanket training.

YES! I played 5-a-side football weekly with various different members of staff and MT as a group, had regular nights out for some food and a little drink. There are also various different clubs at the Aycliffe site such as a golf club. Furthermore I participated in the annual cricket fun-day in which 3M provided a BBQ, ice-cream and entertainment.

Reasonable. I am from the North-East though so the prices were normal to me.

Excellent. Again, with me coming from the local area relatively close to 3M Aycliffe, the nightlife there is nothing new but to experience it with different people and new friends was excellent.

Yes, in addition to the weekly 5-a-side football at the local leisure centre, there were shopping and horse racing days with tickets/admission and transport provided/heavily subsidised for 3M employees, friends and family. Furthermore colleagues who shared the same hobby such as mountain biking regularly took advantage of the areas mountain biking hot-spots, Hamsterly Forest.