Institution news
Lotus F1 Team and the Institution have partnered in a Company Based Registration (CBR) scheme to support Enstone employees to become Chartered Engineers.
Two young engineers at Lotus F1 Team are the first to become Chartered Engineers through a company-based registration (CBR) scheme at Enstone; a sign that the motor racing sector is placing increasing value on professional registration for its engineers.
Facilitated by Alan King, a Business Development Manager at the Institution, the programme guided Neil Ashton and Brian Tang, both working in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), through the application and interview process.
Alan said: “At Lotus F1 Team, we now have a second and third round of employees who have been inspired by Neil and Brian’s achievements, and who are now on the road to becoming chartered with the Institution.”
Neil and Brian both studied engineering and completed doctorates before joining Lotus F1 Team. Neil explained how he progressed towards chartership: “After a Masters and PhD, which are more academically recognised achievements, it was important to me to attain a professional, industry-recognised standard. Large aerospace companies, for example, are very strong on encouraging their employees through continued professional development, and I was keen to achieve professional status along the same lines. Brian and I independently contacted Louise Madden, Learning and Development Officer at the team, to ask about the options for becoming chartered. Louise contacted the Institution and the ball started rolling to get the scheme set up at Enstone.”
Alan King elaborated on the benefits for companies working in partnership with the Institution: “The Institution’s representative facilitates application and interview preparation and hold interviews at the company’s site for employees taking part in CBR. What someone in my role does is to make the process easier to understand and follow. Candidates are able to question the process and obtain feedback and support and we hope it helps them to put forward an application which represents their capabilities and skill-set to the best of their abilities. Though there is a minimum requirement of three individuals per company-based scheme, overall CBR is very adaptable to individual companies and employees’ needs.”
Neil felt there were tangible benefits to having a facilitator on board: “The face-to-face contact we had during our applications really motivated us, and Alan’s guidance kept us on track. It can only be good for the company, and for the Institution, to have Formula 1 engineers engaging in this scheme.”
Neil hopes that his and Brian’s impetus to become Chartered Engineers will have an impact across the sport. Brian says:
“It’s nice to be able to feel that we’ve kicked something off at Enstone. There are 11 Formula 1 teams, eight of which are UK-based and there’s hopefully a chance that the push for chartership will spread across this competitive industry.”
Neil added: “There’s a good level of communication here in the team, and that helps to spread the word about colleagues’ achievements, such as attaining chartered status.”
Brian placed high value on his professional registration: “I think the independent verification gained from professional registration is very important. Chartership is a combined appraisal of your learning and experience; it says that you can make the right judgements in your profession. It’s already well recognised in other industries, often in larger organisations. I’m really pleased that a framework to become chartered is now in place here at Enstone, and I think it could be a natural progression for other Formula 1 teams to incorporate support for professional registration in their company training.”
As a CFD engineer, Neil feels achieving chartered status is very important in his work. He summarised: “Working to the best of your ability and achieving independent recognition for it drives people in all lines of work. Similarly, professional registration helps with motivation and productivity and has many positive effects. The process of working through this application helps to identify areas to build on, and teaches you how to become a better engineer.”
Eric Boullier, Team Principal at Lotus F1 Team, commended his engineers and the standards they have achieved with the following words:“We have a strong culture of staff training and enablement at Enstone, and being able to support our engineers with the opportunity to become Chartered Engineers with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers is of tremendous benefit to us as an organization as well as for the individuals involved. We support them through the entire process and fund their upgrade. Becoming a Chartered Engineer gives the individual a great validation of the quality and calibre of their work, which is recognized within our organization as well as externally.”
Find out how professional registration can benefit your business:
http://www.imeche.org/membership/employers-and-accreditation/employer-benefits