2009 has undoubtedly been a challenging year for the engineering and manufacturing sectors, and for the Institution itself. Despite the tough economic climate, there have been achievements for Institution to be quietly proud of, and here we share some of the highlights and thank members for their support in making them happen.
Events
The story of the year is that Q4 paying events did very well reversing a big deficit (-27%) trend into a much smaller one (-5%). Notable successes include:
Power Division events with 1385 delegates at their paying events:
- ICEM
- Fit for Purpose Safety Cases
- Steam Turbine User Group
- Nuclear Lifting
Each pulled in big numbers; ICEM, held in Liverpool, even had a Beatles-themed conference banquet.
Railway Division did very well in Quarter 4:
- NFRIP and Electrification were attended by almost 250 delegates, with Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis the keynote speaker at Electrification.
Process Division events were also excellent with Carbon Capture and Storage now an established annual event as well as the Offshore events also doing very well.
MX Awards
In 2009, the Manufacturing Excellence Awards (MX) proved once again how they are rewarding best practice and highlighting the best of the UK’s manufacturing across all sectors, with an extremely high standard of entry from a range of organisations including large multi-nationals and small SMEs. The Awards are run in partnership with a number of high profile organisations, and in 2009 these partners included BIS Manufacturing Advisory Service, WMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Autodesk, the National Skills Academy for Manufacturing and Professional Engineering.
The MX09 winners were:
- BIS Manufacturing Advisory Service Award for Manufacturing Excellence Overall - Leyland Trucks
- National Skills Academy for Manufacturing Award for Manufacturing Excellence - Best SME - Gripple Ltd
- PricewaterhouseCoopers Award for Customer Focus - Leyland Trucks
- Autodesk Award for Product Innovation - Joint Winners - Randox Laboratories Ltd and SELEX Galileo
- The InnovationXchange (IXC-UK) Ltd Award for Process Innovation - Converteam UK Ltd – Glasgow
- WMG Award for Logistics and Resource Efficiency - Hozelock Ltd
- Institution of Mechanical Engineers Award for Business Development and Change Management - Elster Metering Limited
- Professional Engineering Award for People Effectiveness - 3M Health Care Limited
- National B2B Centre for Integrated e-business - ZF Lemforder UK – Solihull
- ERIKS Award for Financial Management - ContiTech Beattie Limited
- Arup Award for Sustainable Manufacturing - Balcas Timber Limited
- BP Award for Best Partnership between Business and Education - Gripple Ltd
Formula Student
More than 2,000 students represented 110 teams and 21 countries at Formula Student at Silverstone in July. The overall winners were the University of Stuttgart for the second year running. The low carbon category, which encourages ‘green’ innovation, returned with 6 entries, and was won by the University of Hertfordshire with an extremely impressive, pure electric car, powered by two direct current permanent magnet Lynch motors operating with a Kelly controller. Other entries included a fuel cell car and hybrid vehicles. This class of entry will continue to grow in 2010 and will lead the way in expanding the sustainability element of the competition.
Formula Student continued to enjoy strong industry support, and in 2009 was privileged to partner with a wide range of high profile companies including Airbus, Autodesk, E.ON UK, National Instruments and Shell.
Former F1 World Champion, Damon Hill, OBE, made his first visit to FS and gave media interviews. Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills visited the event at Silverstone and later agreed to become an Ambassador for FS. Finally, FS Patron, Ross Brawn, visited the teams at Silverstone, where he gave a press briefing, and everyone at Formula Student was thrilled that later in the year Brawn GP became winners of the F1 constructors’ and drivers’ championships.
Theme Reports
During 2009, the Institution published a series of reports in support of the strategic key themes of energy, environment and transport, in a bid to establish the Institution as a thought-leader, a source for government of impartial, expert engineering advice, and for the wider public, a provider of engineering fact that they can trust. The reports proved to be highly successful and led to the Institution recommendations on climate change mitigation, adaptation and geo-engineering being taken up by the UK government, and expert evidence on marine energy being given to Scotland’s Energy Future.
It was the environment theme reports in particular that really caught the imaginations of the public, government and engineering community alike. Written by the Institution’s Head of Energy and Environment, Dr Tim Fox CEng MIMechE, Climate Change: Adapting to the Inevitable, Geo-engineering: Giving us time to act, and Climate Change: Have we lost the battle? have generated international media coverage in excess of £2million, and have received 63,500 downloads from the Institution’s website. On the strength of his role as lead author and media spokesman on these environment reports, and his meetings with the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, Dr Fox was invited to represent the UK’s engineering profession at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP15, in Copenhagen in December.
Developing engineers
This year, the Institution has accredited 81 Company Monitored Professional Development Schemes; engineering courses at 26 universities and held talks with universities from Malta, Egypt and the West Indies for accreditation visits. Thirty six EngTech schemes have been approved, making a grand total of 55 approved EngTech apprenticeship schemes.
President’s apprentice
The 2008 - 9 Presidents Apprentice Scheme has been a great success, allowing four apprentices to gain invaluable experience meeting influential engineers, gaining an insight into the profession and the institution. From the outset of the scheme in November 2008 each apprentice has aimed to:
- Contribute to the Institution & promote Young Members
- Gain exposure to different types of engineering
- Promote engineering
- Gain training opportunities
- Develop Personally
Each has achieved all of the above and much more through their experiences such as accompanying the President on regional visits, taking part in the MX awards and Formula Student and developing and delivering the themes throughout their year.
The Institution has gained from the overview the apprentices have been able to share and insights they have gained from this unique experience.
Membership growth and development
Overall membership numbers have grown steadily throughout 2009. As the year draws to a close the total increase in growth is approximately 8% in comparison to 2008 levels. A lot of this growth has been driven by a significant increase in the number of student Affiliate members.
In September this year we launched a campaign to recruit and engage students as Affiliate members of the Institution. The campaign is aimed at providing practical support for engineering students during their academic years. Support is provided through a mixture of online services, like our virtual library and a student forum, and through regional events like CV workshops and industry awareness days.
Central to the campaign is a focus on promoting engineering as a long term career direction and also promoting the value of professional registration as an essential aspect of their long term career development.
Ensuring that our brightest and best graduates aren’t lost to the profession and that industry has a pipeline of talented young engineering graduates to choose from are key drivers for the campaign, which underpins our vision to inspire the next generation.
Overseas membership has experienced strong growth. Between Q1 and Q3 (January to September 2009), 2,900 new international members were recruited, and this is thanks to the world-wide network of volunteers who support the membership in their part of the world. Volunteers have contributed significantly to the rise in membership figures, and have provided an extensive programme of events and activities designed for engineers in their particular country or territory. Keith Millard recently recognised the work of volunteers as part of his Presidential Visit to India (read the article on his visit). Indeed, on the Near You section of the Institution website, over 600 global activities for members have been advertised over the past year.
The Institution has met its target of signing up 100 Ambassador Golds, and through its Ambassador Scheme has supported and recognised the exceptional work of volunteers. In March, a Welcome Day was held for the Ambassadors at Birdcage Walk, and over the past 12 months over 100 volunteers have been recognised and thanked for their contribution to the Institution. The Institution simply could not operate without the continued support, time and effort so generously given by volunteers in the UK and overseas, and no review of 2009 would be complete without giving thanks to all volunteers for everything they have done for the Institution this year.
Business to Business
In a competitive global market, the Institution understands the importance of effective business relationships with the world’s biggest engineering companies. Throughout 2009, the Institution’s regional Business Development Managers have worked hard to nurture and sustain key relationships with significant engineering companies such as BAE Systems, E.ON and Rolls-Royce, and have sought to facilitate dynamic partnerships and networking opportunities between industry, academia and government.
The Institution is committed to working with industry to train engineers to the highest possible professional standards. This year, it established a training academy with E.ON, and the Professional Excellence Awards. With the aim of rewarding companies who encourage their engineers to become professionally registered and to undertake professional development, Awards were presented in 2009 to AWE at Aldermaston, Doosan Babcock in Renfrew (the first Scottish winner), and Jaguar Land Rover in Warwick. At least seven awards are expected to be presented to companies in 2010.
Professional Engineering Publishing Ltd
At an awards ceremony at the RAC Club Automotive Engineer’s Tristan Honeywill was named Technology Writer of the Year and Design Writer of the Year. In a separate competition, a panel of judges from industry and the media named Simon Bickerstaffe Business Writer of the Year, describing his work as "meaty" and "good reading even for those not well-versed in engineering". And James Scoltock was highly commended in the "Rising Star" categories of two journalism awards, describing his writing as "impressive" and "genuinely informative.”
In December, the publishing division of the Institution, PEP, launched a new recruitment website, www.topengineeringjobs.com which set out to be the jobsite for the engineering profession. With enhanced functionality that facilitates highly refined job searches, the site aims to provide a highly effective market-place that perfectly meets the needs of job seekers and employers alike.
Institution commercial operations
In August, Jacki Heppard was appointed as the new Managing Director of Professional Engineering Publishing Ltd and Commercial Director of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Already, she has helped to oversee the planning and implementation of a long term strategy to develop the Institution’s Training and Professional Development offering – with a full schedule of courses to be launched in January 2010. She has also overseen the creation of the One Birdcage Walk Venue and Room Hire team, which has a commercial focus on securing bookings from external companies for the venue.