Institution news
Dr Robyn Pritchard CEng FIMechE has moved to a new job with Ford at Halewood in Liverpool. He spent over 10 years working to further the professional development of his engineering colleagues as Industrial Liaison Officer (ILO) at Ford’s Dunton plant.
Lara Mallett, the Institution's Business Development Manager (Eastern Region), said: “It has been such a pleasure working with Robyn. He has been a tremendous support to his colleagues at Ford Dunton, helping so many become registered as professional engineers, as well as facilitating advice on CPD. His enthusiasm and commitment have been incredible.”
The ILO role, which Robyn undertook alongside his job as a manual transmission senior engineer, was formalised in 2011. He subsequently worked with his colleagues to develop and expand the Company’s Monitored Professional Development Scheme (MPDS). The MPDS received Institution accreditation in 2013 and has since gone from strength to strength.
Initially, the scheme had over 15 developing engineers and a similar number of mentors. Now, over 70 Ford chartered engineers have received mentor training from the Institution and 80-100 engineers within Ford are progressing through the MPDS on their route to professional registration.
Robyn said: “It’s been great working at Dunton, and in partnership with Lara Mallett, over the past few years. We’ve achieved so much for professional engineering here, it’s quite astounding, and we’ve strengthened a culture which really values coaching colleagues which, for me, makes it all worthwhile.
“I am particularly proud of our monthly lunchtime learning sessions, organised by our graduate engineers. They are extremely popular and have grown from members-only to site-wide attendance. Hundreds of employees (not just engineers) attended recent sessions, and this initiative not only capitalises on the professional engineering culture at Ford, but also flies the flag for the benefits of professional registration.”
The many strands to the professional development structure that Robyn and his colleagues initiated include:
- Monthly ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions. Held on site, these facilitate knowledge sharing and contribute to hundreds of engineers’ CPD
- Memorandum of Understanding between Ford and the Institution – championed at Director level
- Members’ board in the company foyer, which reflects the growing numbers of professionally registered engineers
- Ford Professional Engineering Network (PEN), with a committee that meets monthly, overseeing the MPDS and other training
- Regular Professional Engineering Institution (PEI) membership workshops
- At least one Company-Based Registration (CBR) session per year
Andrew Fraser CEng FIMechE, Chair of the Automobile Division Essex Centre (ADEC) and of the PEN, said: "As ILO, Robyn was incredibly active and passionate about all forms of interaction with the Institution and personal and professional development. As well as growing the MPDS, he also drove and successfully achieved a strategic Memorandum of Understanding between Ford and the Institution, and has roughly doubled the number of chartered engineers at Dunton through supporting membership applications, arranging surgery events with Lara, and conducting mock professional interviews.”
Andrew added: “Robyn also won a Ford diversity award for helping Spanish engineers become integrated into the Institution process. Robyn is very effective at interacting at all levels in the company from apprentices to directors, which has helped with all the innovations he has introduced.”
Find out more about MPDS with the Institution.