FES/Production Placement Student (Lean Manufacturing) Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at Faurecia. I worked in the FES role in the Interior Systems Plant in Washington, UK. I really enjoyed the variety and challenge of the project I was given throughout the year. My role also gave me a lot of responsibility which I found enjoyable.

I was a lacking in confidence a little when I first started my placement. However, I felt welcomed by the team and found that as I got towards the end of my placement, I was highly valued. This is reflected in the high levels of responsibility I was given.

At the start of my placement, I was given a lot of support to settle in by both my supervisor and the previous FES Student. I have found managers and supervisors were approachable if I needed to ask any questions, which was a great benefit. I required little to no support on my projects towards the end of my placement, simply asking my supervisor to cast an eye over it at each stage to make sure I hadn’t made any mistakes.

I was relatively busy on a day to day basis. With my placement being almost entirely project based, I was often busy for a number of weeks in succession working on the same project. However, I sometimes found that I would have time where I was not busy during these as I often needed information from other departments. Also towards the 2 shutdown periods it was difficult to get a new project started as everyone was very busy, so little support could be given.

I was given a large amount of responsibility towards the end of my placement, receiving projects which would directly affect the running of the plant over the coming years. I was also asked to complete presentations of some of my project work to plant management teams as well as Logistics Directors for the Acoustics and Soft Trim Group

I received a small amount of internal training on 5S and Pull System during my time at Faurecia. This was carried out in workshops ran by the Management team. These are topics which are covered in the final year of my university course so this training will be beneficial in this, if not in future job roles. I would however have liked to participate in further external training if it had been possible.

The production office I worked in was very busy. It housed 10 people including managers and supervisors. There was also access for GAP Leaders so the atmosphere was pretty busy. It allowed the opportunity to build good relationships with a variety of people. Overall, I enjoyed the atmosphere and have a number of funny memories.

The placement was fairly well organized. There was a good induction on site to the plant and we also had a 2 day company induction event at a hotel in Leamington Spa. This was really well organized and I felt that it helped me to integrate well within the business. there was also a well organized event at the end of the placement to help us with the next steps. I would however have liked the placement to be more organized as I was sometimes without a project to work on.

I was not really invested in during my time at Faurecia in a monetary sense. I did however receive valuable training on 5S and Pull System, as well as Standardized Work and other Faurecia Lean Manufacturing Methods. This I feel will be beneficial in my future career. I would however have liked to do more training courses throughout the year.

There are 2 different graduate programmes within Faurecia. one is open to EU students, and allows said student the opportunity to spend up to 2 years in almost any plant worldwide. There is also another based in the UK for British or EU Students. These are open primarily to previous placement students, and he experience gained is very good with a good chance of being kept on after the graduate programme.

There were several students working in the plant, so the social scene was overall pretty good. We tended to all congregate at lunch time and socialize while eating. There also 2 Student events, one at the start and one at the end of the year. These allowed you to socialize with students from other plants which was really good and I made some good contacts for the future.

The plant is a short car journey from both Sunderland and Newcastle, and not too far from Middlesbrough. This means the plant is relatively easy to get to. I lived at home in Gateshead throughout my placement and tended to spend £15-£20 per week on petrol for my 1.2 Hyundai i10 to get to work. this also includes any other journeys on evenings or weekends too.

It is very close to Newcastle, which has a reputation for being a Party city. Hence you can imagine the nightlife is pretty good. It also very close to Sunderland which can also be a good night out. The bars are generally decent and relatively inexpensive. Overall very good.

There were no organized activities relating to work to take place outside of the workplace. I was however invited to a number of nights out throughout the year by various teams of people within the workplace, and there is a good student social atmosphere so activities within that group could also take place. These would tend to be arranged by ourselves though rather than the business.