Industrial Placement Engineer - Mechanical Review

One of the highlights of my time at 3M were the people I was working with. The company seems to do a good job of hiring genuinely friendly, professional and helpful people. I always felt as though I could go to my colleuges for help and advice, and that the work I was doing for others was appriciated.

I felt that the level of support I was given by my supervisors was well matched to my abilties and style of working. Generally, my supervisors made sure I was on track with the work I had to do, and gave me assistance if I needed it. They didn't micro-manage me or tell me what to do; I was usually given enough freedom to work independently. However, a change of supervisors around the middle of my placement did mean there was a short time where I had less work and guidance than I would have liked.

Most days, I had a couple of long-term projects to work on, alongside a number of routine tasks as well. However, as previously mentioned, there was a short period around the middle of my placement where I had little new work to do, while my supervisors changed over.

I feel I was given an acceptable level of responsibility, given the role I was working in.

While working at 3M, I was given the opportunity to join the Graduates for a number of training events. This meant I was able to learn a number of useful industry skills, such as Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, as well as generally useful skills such as statictical analysis and time management. While the nature of my placement was not 'pure' chemical engineering, I was still able to find project that allowed me to apply and develop some of the knowledge from my degree course.

I found my colleuges in the office a delight to work with, everybody was friendly, communicative and supportive. The atmosphere was always open and jovial - never too serious. However, there were a few times where I was alone in the office, while everyone else was out doing other tasks.

Initially, there was some confusion between the company and my university about some of the paperwork the univerity required. However, I was able to sort this out as the placment went along. I felt that I had a good deal of work lined up for me before I arrived, so was given things to do from day one.

As mentioned previously, the company allowed me to join up with the graduates and attend any of the training evens they went on. My supervisors were very supportive of me doing this, and I was able to discuss with them what sort of training would be most beneficial to me. Furthermore, given the nature of the facility I was working in (a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant), I was given mandatory training in areas such as Good Manufacturing Practice and Health & Hygene.

I wold consider applying to 3M in the future, potentially to join the company's graduate scheme.

During my placement, I frequently socialised with the other industrial placement students working at my location, and the company made sure we got in touch with each other before we joined. Furthermore, while attending training days, it was an opportunity to go out with placement students and graduates from all over the company. On some occasions, I was invited by me colleuges in the office to come along to meals / nights out in the town.

My placement was in Loughborough and, being a student town, the costs of living and socialising were not excessive at all.