Plant Engineer Review

The average day consists of assisting a dedicated pharmaceutical manufacturing area from a professional engineering standpoint, providing support for equipment breakdowns, process changes, and continuous improvements to plant, including route cause analysis, managed change control and impact assessment. Outside of my responsibility to a dedicated area, I have longer term projects for the continuous improvement of site systems, such as maintenance schedules, equipment storage, and utilities.

While I have not developed much technical knowledge from university, I have greatly developed my teamworking skills, as well as my confidence in a professional setting. I have been able to develop my ability to convey technical information to a group with a varied background. I have also greatly improved upon my time management and prioritisation skills.

I was given as much responsibility as I asked for during my placement. As the plant engineering team is small, there was plenty of work to take ownership of. The team was not opposed to me taking on more important and challenging tasks to help further my development, and my input was valued.

I was assigned a mentor during my placement, who is an experienced member of the plant engineering team with no direct reports. While I had less interaction with my manager and the central industrial placement team, my development was still closely monitored by my mentor to ensure I was coping with the workload and satisfied with my placement overall. The majority of the learning happened on the job, with my mentor available for support if I encountered issues.

The culture at the Montrose site was incredibly friendly. Everyone was willing to help and explain things to me, even outside of my team. I was able to get the support and also responsibility I needed to get the most out of my placement year. The atmosphere from the central team was slightly isolating. There was little to no official communication from the central team after the first few months. There were attempts to allow the placement students from other sits to interact, however this was made difficult by the geographic distance between the Montrose sites and the other sites closer to London.

I have found the placement to be incredibly enjoyable. I have found a lot of value in being able to experience the theoretical systems taught at university firsthand, and have decided to remain with the company for the duration of my degree to continue this exposure. I found the reactive nature to an production environment energising and I enjoy the constantly changing atmosphere.

Yes

You should aim to get involved in as many opportunities as possible. The more that you put into the placement, the more that you will get out of it. Everyone is willing to help if you need it, so don't be afraid to ask if you don't know. It will be completely different to what you have learnt about at university, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The most important thing is for you to figure out what you like doing, and try to get experience in that area if possible.