Manufacturing Engineer Review

I was working at Linx Printing Technologies which is a small firm that makes continuous inkjet printers (used for sell by dates etc); I was in the "ink plant" which manufactured the ink and solvent for the printers they made.The placement was enjoyable on the whole, mainly due to the people I was working with and the freedom to work on my own and take initiative. Because the team in the ink plant was quite small, everyone knew each other quite well and was always joking around. I also got to make changes to the manufacturing line directly which was good.

Because the main project I was given was to make a sensor system on the line that didn't actually interfere with the current operations, some people didn't see the immediate benefit of the work. However at the end of the placement when they saw it working they valued my contribution more. People's reaction to interns varied as they didn't have regular placement students. Some employees saw them as just other members of the team but some thought they just made things more difficult as everything had to be explained to them.

I had a supervisor who sat next to me but what was good was he didn't pressure me to deliver by specific dates just allowed me to get on with it and said it would take as long as needed. This laid back approach actually was better as it didn't feel as I was forced to do anything and could take my own approach to the work. When I needed guidance he was happy to help and support in an informal style which I liked; he treated you as a friend rather than an employee under him.

This varied quite drastically during my time there. At times, in particular the implementation stage when I was actually making the sensor system and integrating it on the the manufacturing line, I was working non stop. However, after the initial implementation, I had to monitor it to see if it was behaving as expected and make any adjustments. This period was more laid back and I filled the time with other things such as presentation preparation.

I was working on the main manufacturing line where the ink and solvent was made, and was given full access to do anything wanted as long as I followed HS&E. This meant making changes to a very high value operation which if a did something wrong would cost the company £1000s. Hence in this respect I had a lot of responsibility. As mentioned I was free to approach the work however I liked, use the workshop to prototype and make fixtures etc.

The benefit of the placement was more so in the skills gained rather than technical knowledge gained. Although I learned a bit about sensors, circuitry and pneumatics; the real value of the experience was learning about how to best approach situations by making mistakes. I feel that in the following projects at university and internships I had I performed better than I would have had I not completed the placement. Just experience in judging how long things will take more accurately, or foreseeing potential problems earlier are very valuable skills.

Because of the location, the office was only for the non-operational staff in the ink plant which was about 6 people. Usually a few were not in the office so this left very few people in the office on average. For this reason the atmosphere varied considerably depending on how busy people were. If they were busy it meant nobody could communicate as to not disturb the person, but if people were not busy there very fun conversations. The factory floor, as with most factories, was very busy and active and there wasn't much time for rest and socializing. However they did have music as times which boosted morale.

Because I was the only intern that round in the ink plant, most things were organised quite well. Also I didn't actually need many tools to be able to do my job, just an understanding of the current operation and locations of equipment. When I did lack tools, my supervisor was quite quick to respond and help organise a solution.

I didn't receive any training or development directly form the company during my placement; although I wouldn't have expected to receive much due to the nature of the work. The only non-work related thing I did was one day I attended a talk on lean manufacturing with my supervisor (who was going anyway) which was ok to see but I didn't learn much.

The company is quite small, and one of several inkjet printing companies in Cambridge (notable weaker than Domino the major player). They don't have a grad scheme and don't take on many new hires, so in regards I wouldn't consider working for them straight after university. In addition, the technology is very old and there certainly isn't any novel or cutting edge engineering to observe in the ink plant. In the main building where design and R&D takes place there are many more diverse jobs but again the industry is not one of innovation; they are simply trying to make incremental improvement sin performance.

Because the factory is in St Ives, I travel via a bus from Cambridge (my university) daily for about an hour. For this reason I could extend my university accommodation which was still quite expensive but saved the hassle of temporarily relocating. The company paid for the bus since I was only paid minimum wage; so after paying for living costs I actually didn't make much money for the work I did. Cambridge is the nearest city to the factory and socializing is above the average price.