FES Student Review

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year working within the Interior Systems plant in Washington, UK. My role was as the Faurecia Excellence System (FES) Student. I enjoyed the variety of the projects I was given throughout the year as well as the responsibility and the challenge posed by the projects I faced.

Although I feel like it took me some time to settle into the role and ‘come out of my shell’, I feel that I was able to build relationships well with both other students and permanent staff on the site at all hierarchal levels and from various departments. This includes everyone from a machine Operator to the Plant Manager. Overall, with the responsibility I was given, I definitely felt a valued member of the team throughout.

At the start of my placement, I feel that I was given a lot of support from my supervisor with each stage of my projects. However, this was because I was new to the business and I really welcomed that support so soon in my time in the business. Towards the end of my placement, I was given more responsibility and was given projects to manage on my own with little or no support unless I requested it. This was enjoyable for me as it gave me a good idea of what a role would be like when I have graduated.

Generally, I was busy on a daily basis. However due to the nature of my role being based on project work, there were often times in between projects, and when the project is in a stage where I was waiting for another department to provide information, where was less busy. However, the plant was always busy so there was always tasks, whether relating to my role or not that I could get involved in and complete during these quiet periods.

I was given responsibility to oversee my projects from the outset of my placement. My first projects were lower level projects working on basic improvements within the plant. However, as my placement reached its close, I was given projects by the management team, these projects were major projects which would affect the way the plant runs for a number of years after my placement finished. Hence the responsibility for these projects was very high.

During my Placement I developed a number of my current skills as well as acquiring new skills and knowledge of new processes and techniques. These involved soft skills like Communication, and Building relationships. It also however allowed me to develop my fabrication skills, including undergoing training on MIG Welding. I was also involved in a number of workshops throughout the year including 5S and Pull System workshops, these will help make in my final year of uni as they are4 covered as part of the course material.

During my placement I was based in the ‘production office’. This housed the production manager, 2 supervisors, myself, my supervisor, a quality technician, the maintenance manager, supervisor, student and also the TPM coordinator. Hence the office was a busy environment. This helped the conversation flow well and there were a number of funny moments throughout the year.

Overall, the placement scheme was very well set up. The scheme has been running for a number of years now and this helped the set up massively. As students we were involved in a 2 day induction event at a hotel in Leamington Spa, as well as a 1 day event towards the end of the placement to support us with our next steps after the placement. The scheme was very well organized with all students being involved in good projects throughout the year.

During my placement, I was not involved in any external training courses or workshops. However, there were many workshops run in the plant either by the management team or by senior management for the business group. I was invited to a few of these, so while a lot of money was not invested in my training, I still feel that the training I received was of a very high level.

There are a number of graduate career programs within Faurecia; these are offered almost exclusively to people who have previously done a placement within the business. This includes UK positions from 2016, and also access to a scheme which allows a graduate to work in any of the 32 plants worldwide. These are very appealing and after working here for 1 year, it is definitely something I would consider upon graduation.

There was a very good social aspect to the role based both around the students and with other colleagues. The students working in the plant met up to eat lunch on a daily basis. I was also invited to go out at Christmas time with the production and maintenance teams. Although I was unable to attend, I feel that this showed the social aspect of the job was good. There was also an opportunity to socialise with students from other plants during the 2 student events during the year.

I was living at home in nearby Gateshead throughout my placement; therefore the cost of living for me was fairly low. Most of the students were living in accommodation in Newcastle. From them I gather that is was relatively cheap to live in. The location of the plant would require either a car or a significant public transport costs to get to on daily basis. On my 1.2L Hyundai i10, I found that I was spending about £15-£20 per week to get to and from work, as well as other journeys on an evening and weekend.

The plant is located in Washington, a short journey from both Newcastle and Sunderland. This meant that there was a lot of access to nightlife. Newcastle has a reputation as being somewhat of party city, and has a great student atmosphere on a night out. The drinks are normally Cheap too!!

There was no opportunity to get involved in activities relating to work when outside of work. However, I was invited to go out at Christmas time, and as a group of students we arranged a number of social events throughout the year. This included nights out and also attending a White collar boxing event which one of the operators was participating in for charity.