Four students studying with the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) at the University of Cambridge recently spent a fortnight at the Leeds factory of Siemens Mechanical Drives as part of their Manufacturing Engineering Tripos (MET) course.

Ed West, James Evans, Helen Hoogewerf-McComb and Helen Dean worked in two teams looking at capacity planning and service elements, and were able to suggest improvements that will have a significant and positive impact on the business.

The visit is part of Siemens’ continuous improvement programme; the company recognises that it can benefit from the fresh ideas of young graduate engineers who will play a major role in the way future engineering and manufacturing is carried out in the UK. This is the second year the IfM has collaborated with Siemens.

Matt Byrom, process transformation manager in Siemens’ Business Excellence team, arranged the visits, and commented: “There are some very bright students with innovative ideas coming into the industry, and they will certainly help transform it in the future. We are delighted to welcome them into our engineering culture, to give them a chance to see real engineering and manufacturing in operation and to help improve it. It has great benefits for all parties.”

MET is an option for the final two years of the Cambridge Engineering degree that develops and applies engineering knowledge in a business context. The course prepares students to be leaders of business and technology firms, providing a thorough grounding in management and manufacturing technologies as well as an understanding of the full range of industrial activities.