Placement Student Metallurgist Review

Every day can be different working in the metallurgical laboratory at Cummins Daventry plant. A typical day consists of working on projects and work orders designated to us by different departments who are communicating with customers regarding their engines. We analyse failed and new parts which allows us to find potential improvements in engine builds but also aids the sourcing of better quality components.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement. During ongoing projects and daily tasks throughout the placement I was assigned the task of producing reliable and accurate results to project leaders who would then pass on my findings to the customers, which shows how much weight and reliability was given to me during the placement.

Yes absolutely, this year has allowed me to experience what it is like working in the automotive industry and I have gained experience and familiarised myself with different machinery and processes regarding the production, maintenance and metallurgical work of big gas and diesel engines. Additionally, I have developed my communcation skills with varying departments internationally at Cummins by being involved in projects and liaised with external suppliers and customers who provide essential laboratory equipment.

I received a lot of support, training and guidance from the laboratory team I worked with and a lot from the previous students that also did the placement year. If I was ever stuck with anything there was a plethora of people with knowledge that could provide an answer.

Although I found myself working at a large engine plant with nearly 1100 workers, I found the general atmosphere to be very calm and relaxed. From time to time there were moments when results were required from you in a short time, however I find that to be normal. Good and reliable metallurgical works comes with time, good decision making and planning of your work and that is the general atmosphere at the metallurgical laboratory.

I gained a lot of experience of what it is like to work in the industry and made a lot of good relationships and contacts. I would say that this year has really allowed me to gauge what direction I would like to go in after university which is one that I do not know of yet. The flexibility of work hours provided by the company has allowed me to pursue my hobbies and extracurricular activities outside of work which I am very appreciative of. I have enjoyed working with the people at my department here at Cummins, however personally I struggled to find purpose in my work here since the company is so big and a lot of the work done here goes very far across different companies. I did really enjoy the logical problem solving aspect of the job and it felt great once you got to the bottom of the problem!

No