Institution news
Prompted by staff members within Amtek Engineering Group Ltd, who were looking for career development, Managing Director Paul Heath worked with Jill Dwyer, Business Development Executive at the Institution, to structure a programme of professional registration.
It’s a huge achievement, in a company of 25 people. On each individual level, and as a company, we have increased our competencies and our scope, and we feel galvanized as a team.
Paul Heath CEng FIMechE
Managing Director
Formerly, Paul was an Incorporated Engineer, the only professionally registered member of the company. Since the process began in 2014, five engineers have become Chartered (CEng). Paul became a Chartered Engineer and was also elected a Fellow of the Institution.
Amtek, a UKAS-accredited mechanical engineering design consultancy, grants employees a day off to work on their applications, and invites the Institution to deliver its professional review interviews at its Wimborne site. The company’s customer base is broad, including leading companies within nuclear, aerospace, subsea, marine, medical and metals industries.
Andy Cook CEng MIMechE said: “I achieved Chartered Engineer registration following the Career Learning Assessment (CLA) process, which recognises the experiences I have had as a mechanical design engineer over the last 20 years. Being a member of the Institution has opened the door to a host of resources and CPD is an important part of maintaining this level as well as growing my competencies further. My enthusiasm for what I do has been reinvigorated, and I'm now looking forward to future opportunities.”
Design engineer Ben Cunningham MEng IEng MIMechE, is one of four to register as an Incorporated Engineer. He confronted a personal challenge in order to achieve this career development:
He said: “When you have a stammer, convincing highly experienced engineers that you are a worthy engineer yourself, verbally, for an hour, is a daunting prospect. It was the biggest challenge of my career but my success has lifted my confidence and has allowed me to consider opening previously locked doors.
“The process made me appreciate the importance of keeping a CPD record. I can see the improvements I have made over time and it gives me more fire-power for my next goal, which is to achieve chartership.”
Paul said: “We’re far stronger and more flexible than we were in the past. We’re able to offer all our clients additional services which will expand our scope.”
The company has continual development on its mind. Paul has registered as a mentor on the Institution's website, and the company can offer its new Master's graduates the Supported Registration Scheme (SRS) route to becoming chartered.
Paul added: “We can take on more progressive roles, push our competencies upwards, and we can enter different markets which enhance the company’s capabilities. This has a qualitative effect on the engineers’ roles, as well as a quantitative effect on our business. We are now an office populated with professional engineers, whereas we were formerly an office full of CAD designers.
“Individuals involved have more scope in their jobs now, and that’s always a good thing. Our existing clients now ask us for a professional engineer, who will provide report-writing and sign-off and working to various different standards. This is new for us, but a challenge we are qualified to step into, and we’re very keen to expand in this way.”
Contact a Business Development Manager near you for more information about professional registration and schemes available through the Institution.