Quality Engineering Placement Review

I enjoyed placement, working in a real world environment was insightful and interesting and the people I worked with were friendly and helpful throughout placement.

Everyone in my department gave me good feedback and got me invovled in group activities on the shop floor.

Support was always available if and when I needed it.

Due to the nature of the job some days were alot busier than others, but in general I had enough to do.

I had day to day responsibilties and was given interesting projects.

Working in a real environment gave me loads of information on manufacturing, the automotive industry, how a plant runs from the aspect of the quality department and gave me good work experience. Some aspects of placement directly related to my degree, at university I have studied abit of quality in engineering which is directly relevant, and working in manufacturing consolidated my understanding of manufacturing techniques.

The atmosphere in the office was generally good. All staff got along and were helpful and friendly. Due to the nature of the job sometimes the office was quite empty as there is work on the shop floor. The office was quite small as it was separate for the quality department.

The placement was organised very well. The application process was thorough, and communication between applicants and empoyers was good. After starting placement, I was given an induction and allocated a supervisor. There was also an couple of days induction introduction to the company and lean manufacturing with all of the other placement students in the company. I had set responsibilities that were clearly organised.

Throughout placement I was involved in numerous activities that helped me understand lean manufacturing activities and the role of the quality department. Additionally, I was given the opportunity to visit customers and suppliers which was useful to understand more manufacturing techniques and how the automotive industry works. There was also an initial training weekend.

There are no roles available for me at the plant I worked and the company do not do a UK graduate scheme. However, they do have an international experience programme which is of interest. It gives the opportunity to work in a plant abroad for up to 2 years and there may be job opportunities within the company after that.

There were 5 placement students at the plant. We all got along well and met occasionally out of work.

Cost of living was reasonably high but only because I lived in Newcastle city centre. There are cheaper areas in Newcastle available. Socialising in Newcastle is reasonably cheap, there are lots of areas to go out with competitive prices. The placement is based in Washington but theres not much there. The drive from Newcastle to placement in Washington was about half an hour.

Awesome in Newcastle one of the best nights in the UK. Not far from where the placement was based, in Washington.

There wasn't any activities outside of work.