Quality Placement Student Review

- Producing reports of previous days scrap, performing investigation and adding data to a tracker.
- Updating of work instructions.
- Investigation of component issues, providing investigation results to supplier and providing feedback on their actions to resolve the issue.
- Assisting the deployment of new policies, typically helping ensure we have the correct documentation and that it is up to date.
- Managing stock of quarantined parts and creating actions to repair or return the components to the supplier.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement. On nearly every task and job that are part of my role I am given a large amount of freedom to manage my own time and to ensure the work is completed correctly. I nearly never received step by step instructions where each stage was evaluated and verified, my manager trusted me and my abilities and as the placement progressed, I further showed my competencies and I was given more responsibilities.

-Enhanced communication and negotiation abilities through supplier collaboration.
-Developed attention to detail and data-driven decision-making by analyzing supplier processes.
-Sharpened problem-solving skills via root cause analysis and corrective action implementation.
-In-depth familiarity with quality management systems and compliance.
-Ability to foster productive relationships for upholding quality standards.
-Proficiency in Excel and SAP/Ariba.

In my opinion the level of support and guidance was not high enough, I think that I did not suffer too much because of it however there is a lot of ambiguity in many of the tasks and when support is needed it can be hard to find it. Everyone is very occupied with their own jobs but I believe in general that the students on placement should be given more time and attention and that their workload should be more closely monitored. I think that the company would benefit from implementation of time management/monitoring methods for all employees but adapting to this would not be easy and I understand why in the past attempts to implement some methods have failed.

I felt that the company culture is very poor. The overall feeling for many people is that the company does not care for employees, this is a results of a lack of investment in a site that is tied to a diminishing sector. It feels that the factory is coming to the end of the life and the only investments are to simply delay the inevitable. Shortage of staff leaves people with more work but they are not rewarded for it, more overtimes are asked for, more jobs to be completed outside the scope of your role. It is for these reasons that I have seen a lot of people leave to find work elsewhere and it is not a guarantee that they will be replaced by someone in that role which worsens the situation.
In addition a lot of the work asked for the employees feels redundant, often the upper management (people who are not working at the site) demand the implementation and maintenance of new processes, documents or standards without considering if they are relevant to the factory. In addition as everyone is already doing a lot of work to make up for smaller team sizes, by taking on new methods / requirements you eventually will have to neglect other ones. This cycle causes people to care a lot less as they feel that at the end of the day it wont matter, it will be abandoned in a few months time so what is the point of trying.

I enjoyed the team that I worked with and I appreciated the support the support that they gave. I grew and developed a lot and I am very pleased with this.
I did not have an awful placement but it will probably be the worst job of my career however from the perspective of a student I took the placement to gain experience and prepare me for the workplace and it has done exactly this.

No