GE90 Customer Technical Programs Review

Taking photo documentation of the condition of engine hardware as it is disassembled to support long term data collection programs. These are focused on capturing how different configurations of engine hardware are performing on-wing. Additionally, helping with the resolution of technical queries of product support engineers and hardware owners not located at the Wales shop.

Throughout your placement, you are entrusted to complete your work independently. Project work is where you are given the most responsibility, which depending on your role can vary greatly in the amount of project work you will be tasked with compared to daily roles and responsibilities

Communication and presentation skills were greatly developed along with an increased understanding of commercial aspects of the business. Fundamental understanding of the inner workings of turbofan jet engines and the components within the engine. Increased understanding of Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T).

I was given a fair amount of support throughout the placement. However, each intern is given their own line manager and depending on who they are your experience will vary greatly. I had a biweekly personal development meeting which I scheduled. At the beginning this was a blend of wellbeing and my work, however, as the year went on this changed to only meetings about the progress of my work.

The atmosphere on site was one of the weakest aspects of the placement. I arrived in November 2020 after there had been several rounds of voluntary and involuntary redundancies. The general mood of the shop floor technicians was low and this was difficult to arrive to as a new employee. Throughout the year changes made by upper management internally and externally were not received well which soured the mood further.

Overall I am glad that I did the placement and I appreciate I was lucky to have still done it during Covid as many were cancelled. However, I did not really enjoy the work I had to do and found the general mood and atmosphere on-site extremely difficult. Often I would have to really try and motivate myself which I have never had to do before to complete my work. I do believe this was largely due to the Covid situation, however, I also think that the services engineering sector is not what I want to go into.

No