Why unmanned submarines are making waves in

Transcription

First for technology & innovation|www.theengineer.co.uk APRIL 2014|£3.70
Deep thinking
Why unmanned
submarines are
making waves
in the offshore
energy sector
»22
Action station
Waste in space
Behind the scenes at
Farringdon station:
the “heart” of
Crossrail »27
Experts answer your
questions on the
growing problem of
space debris »32
For more news, jobs and products visit www.theengineer.co.uk
Careers
section
Graduate skills,
Women in
Engineering, and
top engineering
jobs »45
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inthisissue
inouropinion
Volume 296 Issue No.7850 | Established 1856
Down deep
News
05Technology Space furnace tests alloys
06Technology Magnets aid car safety
08Technology UAV monitors nuclear sites
10Design 3D-printed UAV flies high
12Business HS2 chairman looks north
54Digest Crossword and archive piece
Opinion
14Viewpoint The opportunities of reshoring
15Mailbox Your letters to the editor
16 Talking Point The dangers of ‘reshoring’
18 Iain Gray Reflecting on the TSB’s work
20 Paul Jackson Battle for hearts and minds
30Interview Paul Mackenzie from McLaren on the P1 supercar
Features
22Cover story AUVs become indispensable beneath the waves
27Feature Farringdon station has been one of Crossrail’s major challenges
32 Q&A feature Your questions answered on tackling space debris
37Feature Could virtual reality in design be making a comeback?
40 Show preview PD+I 2014
42Roundtable What’s really going on in graduate recruitment for engineering?
45Careers Attracting female candidates
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The Engineer is
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recycled paper
As this issue of The Engineer went to
press, hopes were growing that there may
finally be a breakthrough in the search for
missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
The hunt for the aircraft has been a
sobering reminder of the vastness and
uncharted mystery of our planet’s oceans.
But the race against the clock to find the
airliner’s black box has also provided something of a
showcase for the technologies that are enhancing our
ability to operate in an environment often considered to be
every bit as challenging as outer space.
In this issue’s cover feature we take a look at the
unmanned submarines — or Autonomous Underwater
Vehicles (AUVs) — at the cutting edge of this growing
industry. Able to operate at great depths, often for days at
a time, and using a host of advanced imaging systems to
analyse the seabed in unprecedented levels of detail, these
vessels are already relatively widely used by both
oceanographic researchers and the defence sector.
But as we report, recent advances in the technology,
coupled with our insatiable demand for
The hunt for energy, are driving an increasing use of
MH370 has been AUVs in the offshore sector.
Meanwhile, in this issue’s Q&A
a showcase for
feature, we turn our attention the role
that engineers can play in addressing
technologies
the growing problem of space debris.
Elsewhere in this issue we look the development of one of
the most challenging aspects of the Crossrail project:
Farringdon station; and talk to one of the engineers behind
the McLaren P1 supercar.
Finally, the programme for our annual conference is now
live and we’re really excited about a line-up that combines
presentations on some of the world’s most intriguing
engineering projects with keynote sessions from the
industry’s biggest hitters. To find our more and to book
your free place, go to www.subconshow.co.uk/
engineer-conference.
“
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APRIL 2014 | theEnGineeR | 3
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news:technology
MATERIALS
Space furnace is ready
for metal levitation
Researchers hope to learn more about alloy materials
readmore
online
theengineer.co.uk
Aerospace
Search for MH370
goes below sea
Automotive
All-British Speedback
GT makes its debut
Civil & Structural
Tidal lagoon touted
as Somerset flooding
solution
Electronics
Elastic antenna has
role in wearable
technologies
Medical
Phototherapy
technique uses IR
laser to release drugs
BY STEPHEN HARRIS
Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS)
will this summer get to play with a ‘space furnace’
that can levitate samples of metal.
German researchers hope to use the
electromagnetic levitator (EML) to learn more
about alloy materials by studying them in a
microgravity environment, where they won’t
separate into their constituent metals when
melted, as would happen on Earth.
The EML uses an electromagnetic field to heat
the metal samples but also to suspend them in
mid-air so they can be studied without any
interference from a container.
Dr Christoph Pütz, director of microgravity
payloads at Airbus Defence and Space, which
developed the EML, said the system would
help scientists study ‘the essential material
properties you cannot determine very precisely
on the ground’.
‘Thermoconductivity, viscosity, diffusion
coefficient and things like that,’ he said. ‘Those
parameters are important for predicting behaviour
in casting processes, for example.’
Scientists have actually been conducting similar
experiments for decades as access to microgravity
environments grew, from the 20 seconds of
weightlessness provided by parabolic flights
through the atmosphere to several weeks aboard
a space shuttle.
The Airbus team developed the EML as a way
for researchers at the German Aerospace Centre’s
User Control Centre in Cologne to control and
monitor experiments aboard the ISS over a much
greater period of time while themselves remaining
on the Earth.
The 360kg system comprises a vacuum
chamber with a magazine of up to 18 spherical
metal samples. When a sample is being studied it
is fed into a wire cage in the vacuum chamber
until the electromagnetic field is switched on,
which then levitates the sample so that it is freely
suspended but held precisely in position to avoid
interference by any external disturbances.
Another field then heats the sample (by
inducing electric currents in it) to close to 2,000°C
and a high-speed data camera captures up to
30,000 images a second as it melts and then
re-solidifies once the heating field is deactivated.
As well as shrinking the technology to make it
suitable for the ISS, the Airbus team had to build
a diagnostic system to allow the EML to be
controlled and monitored in real time by the
scientists on the Earth.
‘The most challenging thing we had to master
was the safety aspects,’ said Pütz. ‘The samples
are at very high temperatures and have to be
contained, and you have an evaporation effect
from the sample… that is toxic and a hazard to
the crew. So we have to implement a dedicated
container that shuts down electronically if
something happens.’
Another challenge was developing a sampleholding cage made of very thin wires so that it
wouldn’t obstruct the camera’s view of the
samples but also had to withstand very high
temperatures and so was made from rhenium.
The EML and the first batch of samples is due
to be sent to the ISS on the European resupply
spacecraft ATV-5. According to Airbus, the
scientists in charge of the experiments will then
be able to carry out real-time, direct tracking of
each melt cycle.
Click here to comment on this story
Rail & Marine
Fast-burrowing
RoboClam will help
anchor autonomous
submarines
Aerospace
Satellite launch
promises real-time
radar imaging of
northern hemisphere
Automotive
Vehicle registrations
continue to beat
records
Business
Manufacturing
marches on
Skills & Careers
Report highlights
challenges for women
in oil and gas
For news and jobs visit
us at theengineer.co.uk
news:technology
inbrief
More news daily at
theengineer.co.uk
Winds of change
Up to 1,000 jobs are to be
created in northeast England
following Siemens’ decision to
invest more than €190m
(£157m) in a new offshore
production plant in Hull. The
facility will produce rotor
blades for wind turbines rated
at 6MW, with a new logistics
and service centre also
planned for the area. Siemens
and Associated British Ports
(ABP) will be investing a total
of €371m at the project sites.
‘Makers, doers and savers’
The UK chancellor has set out
measures aimed at providing
the nation’s ‘makers, doers
and savers’ with the
mechanisms to sustain
Britain’s upward economic
trajectory. In his Spring
Budget, chancellor George
Osborne targeted energy,
finance, infrastructure and
skills as areas where
government intervention will
assist Britain’s manufacturers
in rebalancing the economy.
To help achieve this, the
government is introducing a
£7bn package to cut energy
bills for manufacturers.
Appliance of science
Three projects are to receive
£290m in UK government
funding in a drive for
innovation, growth and job
creation in the UK’s science
sector. Investment in the
projects — the European
Spallation Source (£165m),
the Square Kilometre Array
(£100m) and ESA’s PLATO
mission (£25m) — are
expected to generate £150m
annually for the economy.
Under control
Britons are not convinced of
the benefits of driverless
technology, according to a poll
of 2,038 members of the public
carried out for IMechE. It
found 56 per cent of
respondents reluctant to
relinquish the controls of their
car, compared to just 20 per
cent of those who would.
Women were more wary of
the new technology, with 61
per cent saying they wouldn’t
use a driverless car.
6 | theEnGineeR | APRIL 2014
AUTOMOTIVE
Magnets for miles
Low-cost ferrite magnets could augment car-safety systems
BY JASON FORD
Volvo Car Group is investigating the use of
low-cost ferrite magnets as a positioning aid
for vehicles.
The low-cost magnets could eventually be used
to augment safety systems such as GPS and
cameras in autonomous vehicles, Jonas Ekmark,
preventive safety leader at Volvo Car Group, told
The Engineer.
The idea to use permanent magnets as a
positional aid came from a US project in the 1990s.
He said: ‘What we’ve done… is another
implementation of it using less-expensive
magnets, less-expensive sensors and…
microcontrollers to see whether we can get it to a
reasonable cost level and still achieve reasonable
performance.
‘We think of the magnet system as [providing]
additional information that makes the positioning
system of the vehicle more reliable and
dependable, but not as a single source [for
positioning].
‘We’d use it together with GPS and [an] inertial
measurement system and wheel-rotation sensors
and possibly a detailed map that is correlated
with sensors such as radar and cameras in order
to have a really high-precision, dependable
positioning system.’
To test the idea, Volvo Cars’ research team
created a 100m-long test track at its facilities in
Hällered outside Gothenburg where a pattern of
round ferrite magnets (40x15mm) was located
200mm below the road surface. The car was then
equipped with several magnetic field sensors.
According to Volvo, the research programme
was designed to evaluate crucial issues, such as
detection range, reliability, durability, cost and the
impact on road maintenance. Ekmark said that
the system wasn’t connected to a steering
controller, although that is a long-term aim of
Volvo Motor Group.
He added: ‘The car isn’t trying to hit the line
of the magnets exactly, the magnets would be
positioned in a pattern that can be used for
positioning… then the car would use the map
and the features of the map like lane markers
and so on.’
The current system could be incorporated in
magnet-based positioning in preventive safety
systems that help prevent run-off road accidents.
Similarly, the magnets could also facilitate
accuracy of winter-road maintenance that, in turn,
could prevent damage to snow-covered objects,
such as barriers and signs, that are near the
road edge.
The technology does, however, have longerterm potential in autonomous vehicles.
MATERIALS
Coatings versus corrosion
Graphene has potential to protect buildings
BY STEPHEN HARRIS
Researchers at Tata Steel are
hoping graphene could be an
environmentally friendly way to
protect buildings from corrosion.
The company has partnered
with the Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research
Council (EPSRC) to study
whether graphene-based steel
coatings could become an
alternative to chrome and
other toxic chemicals.
Tata has established the
ability of graphene, the superstrong, flexible form of carbon
made from a single layer of
atoms, to protect steel from
corrosion but still doesn’t fully
understand how it works.
Hans van der Weijde,
breakthrough programmes
manager for Tata Steel R&D,
said he wanted to discover why
graphene prevented corrosion
beyond acting as a physical
barrier to reactants such
as oxygen.
‘In lab-scale trials we see a
tremendous effect,’ he said. ‘We
know graphene has very good
barrier properties. But even at
levels where it has been used
and doesn’t form a closed
barrier you see improvements
so there is more going on.’
The Tata team believes
understanding graphene’s
anti-corrosion properties will
allow it to create flexible
coatings that can protect steel
for at least the 40 years of
current premium products.
Part of the mystery around
graphene comes from the fact
that theoretically it should
encourage steel to corrode
faster but actually protects it,
said John Collingham, surface
engineering department
manager at Tata Steel R&D.
‘Corrosion is a progressive,
electro-chemical reaction and,
for whatever reason, by using
graphene we totally stabilise
the reaction,’ said Collingham.
Click here to comment
on this story
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news:technology
The AARM quadcopter has
been tested at Fukushima
PRODUCTION
Manufacturing’s
all a game
Project incorporates gaming technology
BY JASON FORD
AEROSPACE
Radioactive eye
Quadcopter could monitor nuclear sites
BY STEPHEN HARRIS
A quadcopter built to monitor
nuclear-disaster sites has won
funding to help its creator
commercialise the device.
Developed by Bristol
University’s Dr James
MacFarlane, the unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) is claimed
to provide a more accurate
picture of radiation at a
nuclear site than current
ground-based or helicoptermounted equipment and
even determine its precise
chemical source.
MacFarlane plans to use
the £15,000 ERA Foundation
Entrepreneurs Award from the
Royal Academy of Engineering
and ERA Foundation to prove
the reliability of the Advanced
Airborne Radiation Monitoring
(AARM) UAV by testing it
at Japan’s devastated
Fukushima nuclear plant, but
hopes it could also be used
for day-to-day monitoring
of operational plants to
complement static points.
‘Because you can only have
a limited number of static
monitoring points around a
site, the flexibility of being
mobile gives an advantage
to the operator,’ said
MacFarlane.
‘Fukushima had 24 of these
points around the site. It was
hit by the tsunami and 23 of
those were immediately
disabled so they had one
monitoring point for the entire
site and no idea what was
going on.’
He added that AARM could
have been beneficial if used
at the Sellafield nuclear
reprocessing centre in
Cumbria, which recently shut
down after detecting radiation
that later emerged to be
from a naturally occurring
radon source.
‘With our system you could
have flown across the site
and worked out where the
radiation was actually coming
from,’ he said. ‘So not only
would we have told them
it was from outside the
perimeter fence so there was
no need to worry, but also that
it was a from a natural source
from radon and not something
from the plant leaking out.’
The AARM quadcopter
carries a lightweight,
semiconductor-based gamma
ray spectrometer that analyses
the energy signature of
detected radiation to identify
what element it comes from,
as well as using a positioning
system to pinpoint the location
of the radiation source.
MacFarlane said the
engineering challenge in
developing the pre-commercial
prototype had been going
from a system built largely
with off-the-shelf components
to a device that could fly for
more than half an hour by
using lighter materials, better
battery technology and
improving the craft’s frame
and aerodynamic design.
on this story
Technology used by computer
games enthusiasts is being
employed in a project aimed
at digitising manufacturing
processes.
The three-year project aims
to develop a system to be sold
to SMEs at a competitive price
but, in the interim, elements
of gaming technology will be
used by Airbus to assist with
off-site field work.
Simon Astwood, research
leader of Airbus Group
Innovations’ Digital Factory,
said the overall objective is to
develop a system that
represents simulated design
for manufacturing that can be
applied to conceptual design
and eventually to products that
are focused on manufacturing
and production.
He said: ‘We’re taking the
[Microsoft] Kinect controller
— just the camera system
because it is USB operated
— and connecting it to a
standard Windows laptop and
running our own C-Sharp
programme on top of that lets
us use the... skilled worker as
an input device.’
The first demonstrator
developed by the project
focused on very-low-cost
composite-repair workflow.
‘If you’re doing repairs in
the field [then you’re] not
going to have access to
calibrated laser projectors,’ he
said. ‘We’re trying to see if we
can… create an augmented
reality for a worker. The idea
would be that they go up to an
in situ repair with a normal
PowerPoint projector…
mounted on a tripod with a
Kinect and we would project…
additional information into
their workspace… and use the
gestures of the workers to
control that system.
‘What you end with is a
system that costs around £300,
is completely portable and run
off a portable power supply,
and allows a worker to
navigate through a process
flow displaying extra
information and taking photos
of their work as they progress.’
The project, which has
received Technology Strategy
Board funding, includes
Cranfield University and
Aertec.
on this story
SECURITY
Covert coinage
Coins have ‘banknote-strength’ security
Technology employed to protect banknotes from counterfeiters
has been introduced into a prototype £1 coin by The Royal Mint.
Integrated Secure Identification Systems (iSIS) is the result of R&D
from engineers at The Royal Mint that has so far seen £2m of
investment into a coin that will have ‘covert’ security embedded
into it for the first time. Launched in May 2013, iSIS is said to give
coins three tiers of ‘banknote-strength security’ that can be
authenticated through high-speed automated detection. The Royal
Mint added that a new level of detection in vending machines is
also possible, thereby removing a method of introducing
counterfeit coins into circulation. It is hoped the new coin will
help reverse a trend that saw circulating £1 counterfeit coins rise
from 2.74 per cent to 3.04 per cent in 2013. Due for introduction in
2017, the new 12-sided coin will be constructed from two different
— but as yet unspecified — coloured metals. JF
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news:design
The UAV was built at
Sheffield’s AMRC
AUTOMOTIVE
Light relief for
angry drivers
In-car system could soothe irritated people
BY JASON FORD
AEROSPACE
Drone on in print
3D-printed UAV takes to the air
BY STEPHEN HARRIS
Researchers have 3D-printed
a drone as part of a research
project looking at 3D printing
of complex designs without the
need for removable support
structures.
The 1.5m-wide prototype
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV),
designed and built at the
Advanced Manufacturing
Research Centre (AMRC) in
Sheffield, has successfully
undergone glider test flights.
3D-printing techniques, such
as the fused deposition
modelling used to make the
drone, are now widely used to
rapidly prototype versions of
products without the need to
first create expensive tools for
traditional subtractive
manufacturing.
But more complex structures
that feature overhangs often
require additional support
structures to be built into the
design (and then later removed),
adding to design and build time.
‘The first time we… tried to
do this it took more than 120
hours to print,’ said Mark
Cocking, an AMRC researcher
who worked on the project. ‘If
you have a bracket with a
protrusion coming out more
than 100mm, you’re going to
have to build a support structure
up to that to hold it in position.
But every layer on this model is
supported by the one below.’
The UAV’s final geometry
was designed specifically to
be 3D printed although the
overall shape is still similar
to the original.
Cocking added: ‘We had to
run multiple test pieces to see
how we could push overhangs
and feed that back into the
CAD system to come up with
the geometries that ultimately
made this work.’
The craft comprises nine
parts — two wings, two
elevons, two spars, two wing
end fences and a central spine
— that can be snapped together
and the largest of which is
750mm in diameter.
It weighs less than 2kg
and is made from ABS-M30, a
thermoplastic designed to work
with the Stratasys Fortus
900mc FDM machine, but the
researchers, including project
lead Dr Garth Nicholson,
believe Nylon would make the
drone 60 per cent stronger
based on layer-on-layer
adhesion for the same weight.
The drone has been flown as
a glider but the researchers said
they plan to add an electric fan
propulsion system by replacing
the central spine and eventually
develop the craft for guidance
by GPS or cameras, controlled
by an operator wearing firstperson-view goggles.
on this story
Drivers who become distracted
due to anger or irritability may
soon have range of in-car
counter-measures designed
to restore their attention to
the road.
This is the aim of researchers
at PSA Peugeot Citroën, who
are working on development
of a system that would play
relaxing music or change
lighting within the car once
these negative emotions have
been detected.
Working with Switzerland’s
EPFL, the project aimed to
develop computer vision-based
technologies that are able to
detect anger and irritability in
real time with a standard
camera while accounting for
constraints specific to cars,
such as limited on-board
computational power.
In order to read a driver’s
emotional state EPFL’s Signal
Processing 5 Laboratory (LTS5)
adapted a facial-detection
device for use in a car, using an
infrared camera placed behind
the steering wheel.
Irritation is often expressed
differently so to simplify their
task, researchers from LTS5
chose to track anger and
disgust.
Two phases of tests were
carried out: the system learned
to identify the two emotions
using a series of photos of
subjects expressing them; and
the same exercise was then
carried out using videos.
‘The temporal aspects in the
evolution of the expression of
anger state are explicitly
accounted for as we analyse
video sequences from [the]
on-board camera on a real-time
basis,’ said Dr Michaël
Thémans, deputy director of the
TraCE — Transportation Center
at EPFL.
The system is said to have
worked well and irritation could
be accurately detected in the
majority of cases.
Dr Thémans added that
EPFL recently developed a
fatigue-detection system for
PSA and that it has started
another project aiming to
detect other emotions and
states exhibited by drivers,
including distraction.
on this story
AEROSPACE
Vertical speeds
Four companies set for VTOL programme
The US military is developing a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)
aircraft that can increase speed without hindering range and
efficiency. Boeing, Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, Karem
Aircraft and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation have been selected by
DARPA (the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) for
phase one of a development programme that aims to increase the
top speed of VTOL aircraft without sacrificing range or efficiency.
DARPA’s VTOL Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane) programme
requires an aircraft that can achieve a top sustained flight speed of
300kt to 400kt, raise aircraft hover efficiency from 60 per cent to at
least 75 per cent, present a more favourable cruise lift-to-drag ratio,
and carry a useful load of at least 40 per cent of the vehicle’s
projected gross weight of 10,000–12,000 pounds. According to
DARPA, all four winning companies proposed designs for
unmanned vehicles, but the technologies that VTOL X-Plane
intends to develop could apply to manned aircraft.
news:business
inbrief
More business
news daily at
theengineer.co.uk/
policy-and-business
RAIL
HS2 chairman looks north
Sir David Higgins looks for integration with east-west connections
Green gains
The UK Green Investment
Bank (GIB) has announced
investments into Britain’s
offshore wind sector. GIB is
investing alongside Marubeni
Corporation to jointly purchase
a 50 per cent stake in the
Westermost Rough project
from DONG Energy. GIB is
committing £241m to the
transaction, which is valued
at approximately £500m.
Hybrid acquisition
GKN is to acquire Williams
Hybrid Power from Williams
Grand Prix Engineering in a
multi-million pound deal.
Williams Hybrid Power will be
rebranded as GKN Hybrid
Power, and Williams Grand
Prix Engineering will receive
additional fees based on
future sales and licences of the
flywheel energy storage
technology transferred to
GKN. Williams Hybrid Power
is a technology SME
developing electric flywheel
energy-storage technology.
Good digestion
FLI Energy has begun
construction of the Euston
biogas plant, a biomethane-togrid anaerobic digestion
project located on the Euston
Estate in Suffolk, England.
Once operating to full
capacity, the AD plant will
generate 10 million cubic
metres of biogas. Under the
£9m contract, FLI Energy
will provide full engineering,
procurement and construction
(EPC) project delivery, as well
as a five-year maintenance
support contract.
Rail relocation
Japan’s Hitachi is relocating
its global rail business to
Britain, with London as its
business headquarters. It will
increase its UK staff from 200
to about 1,800 and bid for
contracts on HS2 and the
re-tendering of rail franchises.
Hitachi’s factory at Newton
Aycliffe, County Durham
opens in 2015 to build trains
for the Great Western line and
the East Coast main line.
Artist’s impression of one of
the proposed HS2 stations
BY STEPHEN HARRIS
Britain needs to rethink its plans
for the existing rail network if
HS2 is to deliver maximum
benefit for the country’s
northern cities, claims HS2
chairman Sir David Higgins.
Speaking at the launch of a
report recommending the UK
government bring the second,
northern phase of the proposed
high-speed rail network
forward by three years, Sir
David said the scheme had
to be better integrated with
efforts to improve east-west
connections in the north of
England.
His report — originally
commissioned to suggest cost
savings and published on 17
March 2014 — also
recommended building a new
regional transport hub at Crewe
that would bring high-speed
services to the north six years
earlier than originally planned.
It is estimated that HS2 could
boost the UK economy by as
much as £15bn a year, with the
regions, rather than London,
being the main beneficiaries.
Although the report, entitled
HS2 Plus, didn’t include a
reduction in the total estimated
budget of the project, Higgins
did recommend shelving the
planned £700m link with the
Channel Tunnel rail link (HS1)
in favour of examining other
proposals and reviving plans for
a complete redevelopment of
Euston station in London using
private investment.
Higgins said government,
rail authorities and the business
community must come together
to produce a more integrated
transport plan that will
maximise the benefits of HS2
by making it the spine of a
modern rail system.
‘High Speed 2 has the
potential to transform the north,
not just individual cities but the
region as a whole. But this will
only be the case if we can see
the bigger picture… properly
coordinating HS2 with not just
the existing network but also
plans for its improvement
during the time in which HS2
“
High Speed 2
has the potential
to transform the
northern region
as a whole
will be built. That would create
the real possibility of improving
journey times not just northsouth, but also east-west.’
High Speed 2 will link
London, Birmingham,
Manchester and Leeds in a
Y-shaped network with trains
travelling at up to 225mph but
also transferring to the existing
network to travel further north
at conventional speeds.
Higgins said this would
radically solve the issue of
overly long journeys between
London, the Midlands and the
north of England. ‘But there’s
still a gap, which is east-west,’
he said. ‘Money will be spent at
the same time as we build High
Speed 2. It’s not a case of
either-or. It’s about the same
amount of money to be spent on
the existing network, but where
is it going to be spent?’
This would include ‘an
ambitious plan’ for better
connecting Manchester and
Leeds but should also include
locations not directly served by
HS2, he added. ‘You look at
cities [such as] Bradford,
Wakefield, Barnsley or Stoke.
You have to be able to show
how those cities will benefit
from this investment by either
connecting into the new line or
upgrading the existing ones.’
Higgins’ specific proposals
included building a new rail
and road interchange station
south of Crewe, rather than
tunnelling under the city to link
to the existing station.
The new hub and the line
south to Birmingham would still
form part of the second phase of
construction but could then be
opened three years before the
whole scheme is complete.
Because Higgins believes
Phase Two could be completed
by 2030 rather than 2033, this
means the Crewe station would
bring some of the benefits of
faster journey times to the north
six years earlier than was
originally planned.
on this story
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viewpoint: Steven Barr
On these
shores
Reshoring is an opportunity
manufacturers — both small and large
— should seize with both hands
W
hen the results of the
Manufacturing Advisory Service’s
November Barometer on
manufacturing SME confidence were
released, little did we know we would be
playing a small, but important, part in
creating one of the business trends of 2014.
Figures from this survey, which covered
around 530 firms from across England,
gave the first clear indication that
reshoring is actually taking place in
our industrial base.
Our advisors working on the ground had
certainly seen evidence of it but what we
didn’t expect to witness was such a
paradigm shift from sending work
Production processes are coming back to
overseas to bringing it back home.
the UK in larger numbers
Eleven per cent of manufacturing SMEs
we questioned said they had or were
However, this perhaps misses the
planning to reshore parts of their
biggest factor of all; the price of the landed
production. Not a huge number by any
part is considerably more than the one you
means. However, when you compare
receive on your quotation.
What this means in layman’s terms is
this with just four per cent planning on
that time delays in transport, issues with
‘offshoring’ it was enough to suggest
having to send components back and
the tide was well and truly turning.
possible breakdowns in customer
What made for even more interesting
relationships all add up to a potentially
reading was the drivers behind this trend.
expensive option.
For so long, manufacturers felt that it was
I think we also have to praise our own
cheaper to produce certain products and
manufacturers for the
components in low-cost
they have bounced
countries and this saw a
What we didn’t way
back from the global
strong migration of activity
towards Eastern Europe
expect was such a economic downturn by
becoming smarter, leaner
and the Far East.
paradigm shift to
and faster. It hasn’t been
The supply chain
easy and there have been
wasn’t perfect, but a lot of
bringing
the
work
casualties along the way.
management teams were
The reality is that our
prepared to take the pain
back home
manufacturing base is
for the financial impact it
now more globally competitive and eager
made on the bottom line.
to explore new international markets than
This no longer appears to be the case.
it was pre-recession.
More than a quarter of respondents said
A lot has happened since the MAS
that concern over cost was the principal
Barometer was made public. Millions of
reason for reshoring, followed by
pounds of national press, trade coverage
improving quality (20 per cent) and
and TV appearances hurtled the topic of
reducing lead times (18 per cent).
reshoring into the public eye and this was
Should we be surprised by this? Not
soon to become even more prominent.
really, in my opinion. Wages are rising
The Prime Minister, while attending the
dramatically in low-cost manufacturing
Davos World Economic Forum, made his
bases and the price of logistics continues
intentions clear: ‘Britain can be the reshore
to escalate.
“
nation.’ Bold words and ones he quickly
backed up with the announcement of a
new initiative called ReshoreUK.
In a nutshell, this is a ‘one-stop-shop’
service run by UK Trade and Investment
(UKTI) and MAS set to help manufacturers
take advantage of the business
opportunities created by reshoring.
This takes two forms. UKTI is
responsible for drawing on the UK’s
position as the leading European
destination for foreign direct investment
by working with international firms to
establish a manufacturing or R&D base. Its
role is to convince these organisations of
the benefits of locating here and offer
support with supplier matching to help
create a robust supply chain.
Our role at MAS is to work with SME
manufacturers to ensure they are ready
to take advantage of reshoring and new
investment by providing them with
strategic and technical advice, visibility
of new supply opportunities and then
signposting them to potential funding
support to enhance capability to make
it happen.
Each company will have a dedicated
manufacturing advisor who will work with
them through the entire process to ensure
they have the processes and capacity in
place to meet future demand.
ReshoreUK is also there to meet the
desire of smaller firms to bring parts of
their own supply chain home; firms such
as RDM Group in Coventry which now
manufactures a re-chargeable torch for
Jaguar Land Rover at its new advanced
engineering centre in the city.
There is no doubt that reshoring appears
to be the business term of 2014, but how
long it will last in the industry glossary
will depend on how well we maximise an
opportunity many wouldn’t have believed
possible a decade or so ago.
Steven Barr is head of the Manufacturing
Advisory Service (MAS)
Join the debate at theengineer.co.uk
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For more news, views and information visit www.theengineer.co.uk
thehottopic
Storing up a debate
In our article ‘Storage could be the key to
UK’s energy future’ we argued for action
on the establishment of grid-connected
energy storage and highlighted a few
promising technologies
Stored energy usually means energy that
is stored in order to generate power on
demand. Pumped storage as mentioned by
the author is a well-proven method with an
efficiency of around 60 per cent. The only
other proven methods that I am aware of
are: batteries storage; compressed air
storage; and fuel storage for gas turbine
generation. There is some potential for
flywheel storage but this seems to be a
long way off.
If the wind farms drove water pumps to
storage, the efficiency would be much
higher than converting it to electricity then
having the problem of load matching.
Jack Broughton
Perhaps one of the reasons we hear so little
about storage is that it provides a pathway
for distributed energy solutions to further
penetrate into the consumer market.
Our large-scale domestic energy
providers have a lot to lose if homes can be
powered 24/7 by home-generated solar/
wind ‘micro’ systems at competitive prices.
I have been watching the vanadium
redox battery developments. Australia has
a lot of vanadium and the vanadium
resource companies are ‘dirt’ cheap.
Sparty
Having worked at both Dinorwig (pictured
above) and Blaneau Ffestiniog power
stations, the power-generation company
would operate any storage system as that
is how that system works.
It would make sense if the wind power
generation (or wave power) could be
utilised overnight, at a time when pumped
storage sites would be purchasing ‘cheap’
power from thermal stations to refill the
upper reservoirs. The problem would be
whether the ‘green’ power generators
could supply enough power overnight or
would thermal supplies still be required.
I am surprised that new pumped storage
systems have not been investigated,
instead of the economically and technically
uncertain wind and tidal-power generation
systems that are subsidised by government
and ultimately, by us, the public.
Malc
Don’t forget that in the fullness of time
electric vehicles will provide a massive
energy-storage capacity when the 30
million cars in the UK and the billion
or so worldwide are all electric powered.
Mike Brooks
inyouropinion
Apprenticeships
A recent poll on apprenticeships
generated some readers’ views
on training
• I am 60 and have worked in
manufacturing industry since a
holiday job at 15.
The UK used to have a
wonderful apprentice training
scheme with the Engineering
Industry Training Board (EITB),
which comprised a series of
modules every apprentice in
the UK followed.
Over the years, I have seen
the EITB scheme fall by the
wayside and replaced by NVQs,
which, in my view, are no
bloody good because there is no
The ‘could be’ in your headline is wide of
the mark. The headline should read:
‘Storage is the key to UK’s energy future’.
We just need the industry to understand
the urgency, but there’s no sign of that
happening any time soon. As a previous
piece in The Engineer noted, it’s a
‘carousel’, where everyone’s passing the
buck. There’s no incentive to build storage
and the government hasn’t created a
‘market’ in the Energy Act.
The Conservative MP for Bracknell
admitted, in the House of Commons
recently, that the ‘market’ was not a good
way to run an electricity supply. How many
of his colleagues would agree?
It would help if we made a distinction
between energy storage and electricity
storage. The former would be a huge,
efficient asset, as long as it’s located
before-generator. The latter will always be
second best, more costly and less efficient.
Because it occasionally stops, I’d simply
point out that wind is part of a renewables
mix and, as such, it works fine, up to a
point. But that point is reached when there
is too much wind, not too little. When that
happens you have market failures.
Energy efficiency is a no-brainer,
demand-side management can be very
useful, but it’s totally inadequate. Using
energy storage to take control of your
supply is truly transformative, in cutting
both total installed capacity and grid
operation costs.
David Smart
Have your say at theengineer.co.uk
Join the debate at www.theengineer.co.uk
systematic study beyond a
day-release course at a technical
college and four days of cheap
shop-floor labour.
Engineering apprentices are
our skilled workforce of the
future and, with the exception
of a few good companies, they
are not receiving the training
they deserve and the country
needs. I know apprentices
ashamed to tell their parents
of their lack of training.
Anonymous
• It is unfair to go back 10
years as most schemes take at
least three to four years to
establish themselves. We
started six years ago and are
if we don’t have some more
apprentices then who is going
to wield the spanners? I can’t
see a degree boy wanting to get
his hands dirty.
• When Mrs Thatcher came to
power one of the first things her
government did was to rid us of
one those quangos called the
Engineering Industry Training
Board. This EITB used to pay
towards the first-year training of
apprentices — it paid for some
of mine. Once the EITB was got
rid of, most local engineering
works stopped taking on
apprentices and the local tech
colleges closed the workshops
that used to train apprentices.
Please do not dilute the word
apprentice by calling all trainees
‘apprentices’. Starbucks has
‘trainees’ but engineering
should have true apprentices.
R Edge
Dave Tuffley
now starting to see in-house
skills/training being successful
on the shop floor and support
areas. In the next two years I
will have two fully qualified
mechanical and electrical
apprentices, and will be looking
to recruit two a year. The two
who have already qualified are
performing very well so it has
been a success for me.
Mick Jones
• As far as engineering goes,
talking point
For more news, views and information visit www.theengineer.co.uk
inouropinion
Dangers of the reshoring ‘trend’
UK industry mustn’t let tales of reshoring distract from efforts to make this
country a better place to manufacture
Manufacturing is coming back
to the UK. Or so we are led to
believe by interpretations of new
research released last month.
The manufacturers’ organisation
EEF has conducted a survey that
found one in six UK-based
manufacturers have brought
production back in house in the
past three years — up from one in seven five years
ago — and a similar proportion have switched to a
UK supplier from a low-cost country.
Keen to regain control over their supply chains, UK
companies — we are told — are eschewing low-cost
countries such as China and helping to rebuild the
UK as a manufacturing centre based on quality and
delivery times. Certainly there are plenty of
anecdotes to support this idea, from firms that have
realised the difficulties of manufacturing in the Far
East and moved some of their
production lines back to the UK.
There’s a
Interestingly, the manufacturers at
an
EEF conference panel discussion
real danger of
last month on reshoring make
getting carried
chocolate and cushions, two
away with talk relatively low-value products
that don’t require the kind of
of reshoring
high-technology and precision
engineering that are among the UK’s
manufacturing strengths and that help keep sectors
such as aerospace based here.
But there’s a real danger of getting carried away
by these kind of stories. As EEF’s chief economist,
Lee Hopley, admitted, the survey isn’t clear evidence
that reshoring is leading to net growth in the UK’s
manufacturing base: it doesn’t show that
“
manufacturers are moving production back to Britain
faster than others are moving it away.
A change from one in seven to one in six sounds
less impressive when represented as an increase
from 14 per cent to 17 per cent. And the survey also
found the number of UK companies with some
production overseas and the proportion of
manufacturing they do there have both risen slightly
since 2004. On top of this, it’s worth noting that the
increase in jobs that reshoring activity has created is
minor — typically between one and five per cent of a
company’s workforce.
It is true that Chinese wages aren’t what they
used to be — they’re much higher. Between 2006 and
2010 the average minimum wage in China grew by
12.5 per cent a year. And probably of equal
importance is the exchange rate: £1 bought you 15
Renminbi before the financial crash; last year it was
at a low of nine. But as the UK economy continues to
pick up, it appears likely that currency advantage is
only likely to shrink, as it has already begun to do
over the last year.
The most compelling talk at EEF’s conference
came from Nigel Stein, CEO of the aerospace and
automotive components manufacturer GKN. He
warned that British businesses would only succeed if
they weren’t complacent about global competition.
This applies as much to any nascent trend in
reshoring as it does to sectors where we currently
occupy a world-leading spot (such as aerospace).
GKN wants to do more manufacturing in the UK, he
said, but this will only be possible if we make the
best products in the best way.
How do we achieve this? Lower energy costs, less
government red tape and greater focus on quality
have all been mentioned. Surprisingly little was said
at the conference about innovation. But an audience
survey showed that the biggest concern for
manufacturers was access to the right workforce,
finding employees with the right skills but also,
crucially, who want to work in manufacturing.
In the long term, the UK can’t compete on cost and
we can’t rely on manufacturers deciding they don’t
want to fly to China every week to check up on their
factories to grow the industry. But fluctuations in the
global economy give us an opportunity to show off
our other strengths. Let’s seize it.
Stephen Harris Senior reporter
[email protected]
yourcomments
Did anyone notice how many German
companies were going to be affected by the
instability in the Ukraine — lots. How many in
the UK — hardly any. We still have no serious
industrial base. The whole system is skewed
against industry, from inadequately educated
children to dominant incompetent banks,
ignorant senior government, inexperienced
civil servants, poorly rewarded management
and most damning of all, no ambition to put it
right. Give us the same amount that the
bankers were bailed out with and see us fly.
Anonymous
Last week, two more of my old university
friends have left to do engineering abroad.
They are both Brits and have left for Germany
and Norway. They are the latest two of many
(possibly most) that I graduated with that
have now left engineering or have moved
abroad. Manufacturing in the UK needs to
compete for the skills it needs by keeping the
home-grown talent in the UK and getting
them into engineering.
Engineer
One thing I haven’t yet noticed in any of the
articles on reshoring is the socio-economic
element and the tax question. It seems
obvious to me that taking work abroad
because it is ‘cheaper’ for the company is
damaging to the home-based economy and
the government coffers. Tax rises because
more people are driven onto social security
benefits and depression grows along with
other social elements such as crime and so on.
Okay, companies want to maximise profits
and repute, but knock-on effects in tax could
be detrimental. I’ve always been proreshoring, let us hope it applies to industries
such as merchant shipbuilding where vast
amounts of skilled labour is required.
Billy Howard
Jaguar has more than demonstrated the
weakness of the UK business culture.
Following a takeover by Tata, it is taking the
brand aggressively forward with introduction
of 40 new models. It has no access to finance
to make the investment. Try raising
investment capital in the UK — it is soul
destroying. The banks should provide
investment funds for SMEs for product
development marketing and growth. Instead
they continue to be driven by greed at
the expense of industry. This culture has
to change.
theengineerpoll
Considering the damage done to companies
confidence and ability by trammelled
business theories it might be good if the
government started to support SMEs for
manufacturing; bolstering their confidence
and starting to support research for them. A
change to a proactive approach to governing.
I believe that the current policy is oriented
towards high price goods and expensive
machinery. It is illustrative that the Japanese
got its manufacturing sorted out first; if one
cannot ‘make it’ then no amount of design will
help. However, there are still some oldfashioned scientists and engineers around to
help. Skilled labour shortages might be an
issue but so too is a desire to be innovative
and successful.
Julian Spence
We helped make China a larger economy than
our own, by filling chainstores with cheap
Chinese goods at high prices. Retail bosses
did this in pursuit of exaggerated profits at
any price to the public. Other high-wage
economies such as Australia and Switzerland
did exactly the same. High-street names that
were once renowned for protecting British
quality and British suppliers are full of
expensive and shoddy goods, some of it even
having been stitched together by political
prisoners. Bring prosperity back to the textile
workers of northern England and of Scotland
while there are still some traces of their
industries and skills to revive them.
Tim Cox
‘Reshoring’ will affect all of us one way or
another. It will bring much-needed cash but
we also need to look back at the various
debates regarding skilled labour shortages.
We need to manage this change very carefully
or we will be soon shipping work abroad
again due to insufficient capacity in the UK.
Or are we simply going to use minimumwage staff to operate expensive equipment
in order to compete within the world market.
We cannot continue to rely on British
manufacturing producing quality goods at
high prices. Maybe we should try and learn
to walk again.
We should be reshoring to ensure British
manufacturing can compete in the global
market especially with high-end quality
products. We also need to ensure that
opportunities are made to train young people
to fill the jobs produced by reshoring.
Don Faulkener
Marcus Gibson
The poll implies that the government should
only support ‘reshoring’ if it is a trend.
Of the 475 readers who responded to
last week’s poll on reshoring, the
largest group, 30 per cent, thought that
government assistance was the most
important factor of this trend, saying it
should be made available to companies
wanting to bring their manufacturing
back to the UK. According to 26 per
cent, reshoring is a definite trend,
although 24 per cent thought it wasn’t
happening often enough to deserve
that term. Meanwhile, 15 per cent
thought that it would always be a
marginal phenomenon, as the UK is
simply no longer competitive in some
sectors. Just five per cent felt our
options did not reflect their opinion.
What’s your opinion on this subject?
Let us know below.
Click here to join the debate
The UK can simply no longer compete in
some sectors, so reshoring will always be
marginal
Reshoring is a definite trend, and
companies wishing to reshore should
receive government assistance
None of the above
Reshoring is an aspiration, but it isn’t
happening often enough to be a trend
Reshoring is definitely beginning to
happen. Lower wages are no guarantee
of profitability.
Mick Jones
We, at Gibson Index, did a report on
reshoring and could find only 28 UK firms
doing it. Some production went to eastern
Europe, not to the UK. Until interest rates
rise to seven per cent it makes little sense
to restart manufacturing here, save for a
few big-hitter exceptions such as JLR, or
makers of £350 handbags. Meanwhile
investment into property takes nearly all
the funding, offering vastly better returns.
The property mafia still rules the UK. And
will hang on to near-zero interest rates as
long as possible.
Anonymous
Last week’s poll: The phenomenon of
reshoring — bringing back industrial
sectors to the UK that had previously
been outsourced to lower-wage
economies — is beginning to attract
attention. How important do you
think this is?
Click here to join the debate
15%
26%
30%
24%
5%
the Iain Gray column
Taking stock of support
It’s important to reflect upon the feedback that companies offer
to the Technology Strategy Board on its work
It’s ‘that time of year’. The
move into April is typically
characterised by budget
reconciliations, target-setting,
planning for the coming year
and certainly for many larger
organisations, the Technology
Strategy Board included,
launching a new annual
delivery plan.
The process of developing
I look to speak
our delivery plan for the coming
to as many of the
year involves a meticulous
assessment of our achievements
companies that
against our commitments and, in
the TSB supports
terms of setting targets and
objectives for the coming year, a
as I can
careful analysis of emerging
technologies, opportunities for innovation, their
growth potential and how well placed the
UK is to exploit those opportunities.
While that annual assessment
and refocusing give us an
important opportunity to review
how we’ve supported the UK’s
innovation ecosystem over the
previous year, the sheer pace and
volume of work we undertake
generally prevents us from taking a
further step back and appreciating the
volume of support we’ve provided, over
several years, to innovators keen to realise the
commercial potential of their innovations.
A limited roll-call includes: several thousand
projects funded; around 20 overseas trade
missions completed, helping growth-stage
companies to gain a toehold in overseas markets;
supporting and helping to develop new technology
clusters across the UK; the role we’ve played in
helping to open up access to government
procurement market through the Small Business
Research Initiative; and establishing seven
catapult centres, with a cell therapy manufacturing
centre and a graphene applications innovation
centre due to come on stream soon.
But that look back doesn’t capture the practical,
day-to-day reality of what that support has meant
for companies up and down the country. I’ve
“
always understood the importance of submitting
myself to the ‘warts-and-all’ candour of companies
busy developing their innovations. So, in addition
to speaking to dozens of company representatives
at our events, such as the incredibly successful
‘Collaboration Nation’ and our annual ‘Innovate’
conference, I’ve also prioritised speaking to as
many of the companies we support as I can, in
order to hear a more comprehensive, candid
assessment of the difference our support
programmes have made.
The consistent message I’ve heard is that our
support — often, but not exclusively, financial
— has acted as the lever SMEs have needed to
exploit the commercial potential of their
innovations. Companies such as Versarien (which
has developed a revolutionary foamed metal with
impressive thermal management properties)
described Technology Strategy Board funding, in
particular, our Growth Accelerator programme, as
the ‘lucky break’ they needed.
Encouragingly, we now feature
heavily in Vesarien’s business plan,
given the innovation-rich phase of
this company’s commercial journey,
something I hope to see become
the norm among UK companies
striving to commercialise their
innovations.
I was pleased to hear from TWI (lead
partners in a Technology Strategy Board-funded
consortium exploiting a revolutionary additive
layer manufacturing, selective laser melting), that
although our financial support was important, it
was our role as a catalyst for a consortium of
companies spanning manufacturing, materials and
software, along with academic expertise (in this
case from the University of Exeter), that made the
biggest difference.
It’s feedback such as this that reinforces my
view that our strong focus on sponsoring
collaboration between companies and between
companies and the UK’s academic research base
is right.
Iain Gray is chief executive of the Technology Strategy Board
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the Paul Jackson column
Winning the battle for
hearts and minds
The attitude of the public, politicians and media toward
engineering is beginning to shift for the better
The improvement in public
attitude towards engineering
demonstrates a wave of cultural
change. The Public Attitudes
report in March, funded by the
Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills, found
that people hold scientists and
engineers in high regard. Nine
out of 10 think that scientists
and
engineers make a valuable
Support for
contribution to society and both
the importance
are viewed as creative, interesting
of engineering to and open-minded people. This is
borne out by EngineeringUK’s
the UK is more
annual Engineers and Engineering
Brand Monitor, which found that
established
for all age groups ‘interesting’ has
triumphed over previous descriptions for
engineering, such as ‘dirty’ or ‘messy’ and even
the more ambiguous term ‘challenging’.
This increasing interest is backed up by early
evaluations of The Big Bang Fair 2014. It was a
record-breaking year for attendees. More than
75,000 visitors, including more than 70,000 young
people, teachers and parents, attended this year’s
fair at the NEC in Birmingham. Over half the key
age group of 11 to 14 year olds told us they learnt a
lot about engineering; two-thirds of young
attendees took the opportunity to speak to someone
about careers; and more than seven out of 10 knew
“
where to go next for more information. The number
of young people saying a career in engineering is
desirable increased by more than 50 per cent
compared to the national average.
Understanding and support for the importance of
engineering to the UK economy is becoming more
established and visible among public influencers,
government and media. Business minister Vince
Cable MP, education minister Elizabeth Truss
MP, and shadow minister for higher education
Liam Byrne MP were among a number of
parliamentarians who attended the fair. It attracted
more media attention than ever before.
Inspiring future engineers is more of a marathon
in relay than a sprint, however. It needs many
participants and continued collaboration. With that
in mind, it was very fitting that SET for Britain
carried on the momentum of STEM inspiration on
Monday following the fair. This initiative is another
great example of collaboration between
professional bodies and, through its support and
recognition, shows that parliament is getting it.
A recent All Parliamentary Engineering Group
meeting about preventing data leaks that I attended
earlier in March certainly helped to bring home the
consequences of getting it wrong but also helped to
define what success could look like, if we do get it
right. Through analysis of ‘big data’, we could solve
science and engineering challenges, increase
business productivity and make organisations less
vulnerable and more efficient. This area is an
example of the opportunities that are on the horizon
for UK engineering, and the new career
opportunities that are opening up for young people
with the right skills and qualifications.
There has never before been a time when
engineering skills, industrial strategy and
infrastructure have been so firmly on the agenda for
all mainstream political parties. By working
together to sustain positive change in public
perceptions and win the hearts and minds of media
and ministers, we can ensure that young people see
their future in engineering — and that the UK will
have a future as an engineering world leader.
Paul Jackson is chief executive of EngineeringUK
feature:oil & gas
Subsea
seekers
The changing demands of the offshore sector are driving
the uptake of unmanned submarines. Jon Excell reports
A
t the time of writing, somewhere in the depths of the
southern Indian Ocean, the Bluefin-21, an advanced
unmanned submarine operated by the US Navy, is probing
the seabed for signs of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Bristling with some of the most advanced underwater imaging
and navigation systems available, the Torpedo-shaped vessel
represents perhaps one of the best chances of finding out what
happened to the missing airliner.
While its operators hope it will emulate the similar vessel that
famously located the Air France flight lost off the Brazilian coast in
2009, experts admit that the odds of success are slim: the search
corridor is dauntingly huge and the water is around 4,500m deep. It
could, one specialist told The Engineer, take decades to map the
area currently being looked at.
But whether or not the high-tech submersible helps solve the
mystery of what happened to Flight MH370, its headline-grabbing
cameo has thrown the spotlight on a rarely glimpsed
area of technology that’s fast becoming indispensable
for anyone with a stake
in the marine
environment:
the autonomous
underwater vehicle
(AUV).
AUVs are now
relatively widely used by
both the oceanographic research
community and the defence sector,
where their ability to quietly operate for long
periods deep beneath the surface and to return detailed
data from the seabed, makes them ideal for a range of applications.
But now, dramatic improvements in capability, coupled with our
insatiable demand for energy, are driving a growing use of the
technology in the offshore energy industry. The trend was one of
the key talking points at London’s recent Oceanology International
conference (March 2014), where manufacturers, survey companies
and energy firms all pointed to the growing use of AUVs for a range
of subsea survey and inspection tasks. Indeed, Tom Hiller, a senior
engineer from Teledyne Gavia — one of the leading AUV
manufacturers — told The Engineer that operators are now
even beginning to specify AUV solutions in contracts.
The technology certainly has some compelling advantages:
AUVs are faster than the remotely operated tethered vehicles
(ROVs) that are widely used in the offshore sector. And, because
they’re able to operate autonomously under their own power, are
less of a drain on resources: operators can put them in the water,
leave them, and go off and do something else. But it’s the quality of
the data they can gather that’s really driving their use. Able to fly
metres above the seabed — or close to subsea installations —
AUVs enable operators to rapidly deploy a range of high-frequency
sonar systems and cameras to gather detailed subsea data.
What’s more, the technology also enables operators to access
areas that are off-limits to other equipment, an attractive capability
for an industry that’s moving into ever-more remote environments.
In one particularly striking example, a team of academics from
Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) recently
sent a long-endurance AUV known as Autosub 3 into completely
unchartered territory 60km beneath the Pine Island glacier in the
western Antarctic. ‘The technology gives you capabilities you just
couldn’t get any other way,’ commented Dr Maaten Furlong, who
leads the centre’s Marine Autonomous and Robotics Systems
group (MARS).
Furlong believes the growing use of the technology has been
driven in part by the popularity of other types of robotic system,
such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). But he stressed that
the ocean is a uniquely difficult environment in
which to operate: ‘The real challenge
of underwater is that
electromagnetic radiation
doesn’t really penetrate.
All your radio goes
down. You go 1cm
under water and
you’ve lost GPS. You
can’t see very far. You
can’t use radar systems:
Yellow
as soon as you submerge,
sub: “lownavigation becomes an issue.’
logistics” AUVs like
Despite these challenges, the technology
Teledyne’s Gavia are
is, he said, now reaching a tipping point
quite widely used
where recent advances are helping to drive
down the cost and make it more appealing. ‘We’ve suddenly got to
the point where it doesn’t cost vast amounts of money to build
these systems and because going to sea is phenomenally
expensive, these kinds of systems offer the opportunity for a
significant reduction in cost.’ The emergence of MEMs sensors
is, Furlong said, one area that has made this possible. ‘A
single chip now will give you a three-axis magnetometer and
a three-axis accelerometer, so you can do the navigation side
of things very easily.’
feature:oil & gas
Industry shares the view that the technology is
marching on. Richard Mills, product sales manager
for AUVs at Norwegian firm Kongsberg Maritime, a
manufacturer of deep-water long-endurance AUVs,
pointed to improvements in battery technology as a
major area of improvement in recent years. ‘Energy
density has improved,’ he said, ‘you can get much
better payload draw and much better endurance
than you used to be able to get.’
Mills also singled out the growing use of forwardlooking sonar as a major step forward. As well as
improving collision avoidance, he says that such
systems have made it easier for AUVs to fly at a
consistent attitude over the seabed and smooth out the
contours, enabling significant improvements in
the quality of the data gathered by the vessel.
As well as ongoing improvements in performance,
one of the key trends driving the uptake of AUVs is the
oil and gas sector’s desire to exploit the untapped
reserves in some of the more remote and deeper areas
of the ocean.
According to a recent report on the AUV market by
industry analyst Douglas-Westwood, deep-water
operations have been responsible for 67 per cent of
growth in oil production over the past year.
The report argues that — with the cost per barrel of
oil rising by an average of 11 per cent a year — the use
of AUVs for survey and inspection represents one of the
key ways in which operators will be able to reduce their
costs. It predicts that oil and gas will account for nine
per cent of the total AUV market by 2018 and claims
that 2014 will be a pivotal year for AUV operation in the
commercial sector.
There are a number of systems available for deepwater operation. The key manufacturers, though, are
Saab, Bluefin and Kongsberg Maritime, which produces
the Hugin AUV.
The most commercially successful system of its kind,
the Hugin is widely used by the defence industry.
Leviathon: Kongsberg’s Hugin is the
market-leading deep water AUV
“
You can get much better payload
draw and much better endurance from
AUV batteries than you used to
Richard Mills, Kongsberg Maritime
Depending on configuration, it is able to operate at depths of
4,500m, has a maximum endurance of 74 hours and a top speed
of six knots.
Fugro Survey, which operates one of the largest fleet of
commercial Hugins, has used the system for some of the most
ambitious deep-water surveys to be carried out. The firm recently
carried out the world’s largest AUV survey for ENI off the coast of
Mozambique, where it used the technology to examine around
1,440km2 at depths of up to 2,700m.
Eric Robertson, a commercial manager with Fugro Survey, said
that the company was also recently involved in the first UK deepwater AUV survey, when it used its Echo Survey IV vessel (a
specially adapted Hugin 1000) to provide seabed data for Chevron’s
Rosebank project: a discovery in the West of Shetland.
Another leading survey company, C&C Technologies, has also
been involved in a number of recent deep-water projects,
including the first AUV survey work in the Caspian Sea for BP.
Talking at the Oceanology International conference, the firm’s
vice-president of systems development, Jamie Cheramies, said
that its fleet of four deep-water AUVs, all based on Kongsberg’s
Hugin line, have surveyed more than 325,000km of seabed. He
added that AUVs have now completely
replaced the towed sled technology
All hands on deck:
that the company once used to image
The Hugin has been
the seabed.
used in some of the
However, while most agree that the ->
biggest deep-water
surveys conducted
feature:oil & gas
push for deep water is a big driver for uptake of the technology, it’s
not the only factor at play.
Indeed, Kongsberg’s Mills said that the rise in so-called lowlogistics AUVs (less-expensive systems that can be rapidly
reconfigured for different applications) are also making the
technology compelling for shallower water.
It’s an area that he believes, in the immediate future, potentially
represents a bigger market. ‘Ninety-five per cent of the North Sea is
shallower than 1,000m and in the Gulf of Mexico 80 per cent of
existing fields are shallower than 1,000m,’ he said. ‘The new blocks
released by the US government earlier this year are now going to
3,000–3,500m but that’s five years away for exploitation — it’s a
slow incremental change.’ Last year, in an effort to capture a share
of this market, Kongsberg launched the Munin – a low-logistics
AUV available in 600m and 1,500m rating versions.
Mills said that the technology has a number of advantages
over traditional survey techniques, which, in shallower water,
have tended to be based on surface vessels. ‘What AUVs can do
that traditional survey techniques can’t is get really up close to
where the data is collected from, so the quality, even in shallow
water, is always going to be significantly better. If you’ve got
50m of water and you’ve got a good multibeam on a surfacemounted vessel, you’re not going to get such a good resolution.’
He added that subsurface techniques also allow engineers to
move a lot of the instability form wave conditions. ‘Small survey
launches are not necessarily the most stable ships in the world. If
you get rid of the wave action by putting the sensor package
underneath the water then it increases the data smoothness,
quality and consistency.’
One of the most widely used low-logistics vessels is Teledyne
Gavia’s Gavia Surveyor, a modular system, able to operate at
depths of up to 1,000m, that can be
“
Another
capability that
could consolidate the
role of AUVs will be
the ability to hover
rapidly reconfigured to carry a range of different sensors.
Outlining one potential application of the technology,
Teledeyne’s Hiller said that the Gavia can be
equipped with a sub bottom profiler — a system
that creates a 2D image of the geology
beneath the seabed — and used to analyse
the stability of slopes where an operator
might want to install a pipeline. ‘That’s very
hard to do from a surface vessel,’ he said, ‘especially where you
have layers of sediment for the first 4–5m and it’s on a shallow
slope and you want to know whether those layers are going to fail
at some point and slide down into the deep. You don’t want to put
a pipeline across that.’
Fugro’s Eric Robertson added that lower-logistics systems are
also proving to be useful in the offshore wind sector where they are
being deployed to hunt for unexploded mines. He explained that
unexploded ordnance is a major problem for wind farms — which
have a far wider seabed footprint than oil and gas platforms.
But despite a growing realisation among operators that AUVs
offer some distinct advantages, there is still some reticence in
industry about investing in autonomous technology. An ROV tether
is a reassuring link with an expensive piece of equipment and
companies are nervous about severing this link, and placing their
trust in a highly expensive fully unmanned system. ‘One of the big
problems with the AUV is it is autonomous,’ said Hiller. ‘It goes off
and does a survey and comes back, and people are scared of that:
they don’t want to look at some data 10 hours later and realise
they’ve sent the AUV in at the wrong height.’ An even greater
concern is the fear that the system could be lost. And although
manufacturers deny that this is much of an issue, one source told
The Engineer that losses of commercial AUVs do occur.
Mills believes that if the AUV sector is to continue to grow and
Making waves: subsea gliders
Another class of unmanned vehicle that’s
beginning to attract interest from the offshore
energy sector is the subsea glider
Originally developed for
oceanographic research,
gliders use a highly efficient
form of propulsion based on
wings and small changes
in buoyancy.
On the surface, the vehicles
suck in a small amount of
water, which alters their
buoyancy and causes them to
sink. As they do so their
wings convert the sinking
energy into forward motion.
When they get to a certain
depth they pump out the
water and rise up and are
driven forward again.
Zigzagging slowly through
the water — they travel at
around 35cm per second
— and able to stay afloat for
weeks, gliders are typically
used by the
research
community to
study water
structures and
phenomena
such as ocean gyres: huge
rotating currents formed by
wind patterns and the
rotation of the earth.
But the technology is now
also being looked at seriously
by the oil and gas sector. ‘It’s
just coming through to oil and
gas,’ said Teledyne’s Tom
Hiller, ‘for example, they’re
being used in the Gulf of
Mexico where they’re looking
for gyres: there are different
kinds of work you have to
stop doing around the oil-rig
installations when those
gyres come in.’
The technology can also be
used to monitor the water for
toxic spills and leaks. A fleet
of gliders was deployed
by the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute
(WHOI) in the wake of the
Deepwater Horizon disaster.
And Hiller says that his team
is also looking at the potential
of using the vessels during
decommissioning work in the
North Sea.
win the trust of the industry, it
needs to be mindful of these concerns. And
he said that Kongsberg is already some way along the line of
endowing AUVs with ROV-type communication ability. He
explained that the firm’s cNODE transponder system (which is used
on both the Hugin- and Munin-class vessels) enables bursts of data
to be sent between an AUV and a surface vessel, and does allow a
degree of real-time communication and even control. ‘The industry
we’re working with has a background in ROV operation you have
to give it the safety blankets it asks for. This allows the operator to
see they’re collecting meaningful data, that the settings are right,
that you haven’t got any gaps in the data and you’ve got real-time
supervised control of the vehicle.’
Another capability that could further consolidate the role of
AUVs will be vessels that are able to hover. ‘A cruising AUV can do
a scan survey around the base of a wind turbine quite nicely’ said
Mills, ‘but if you want to inspect the turbine structure itself
underwater that’s a different task: you’ll want to get up close and
maintain position while you take some hi-res video or photos.’
Mills said the ‘holy grail’ for AUV developers is ‘autonomous
intervention’, the ability for a vessel to carry out the kind of seabed
work that can only currently be performed by ROVs or divers.
‘Ultimately’, he said, ‘I just want to see an all-singing, all-dancing
underwater robot.’
For more on this story visit www.theengineer.co.uk
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feature:crossrail
Action
station
Just the ticket: aerial view of the
western ticket hall at Farringdon
Awkward geology and an ambitious scope make Farringdon
station one of Crossrail’s major challenges. Jon Excell reports
C
rossrail, London’s nascent rail network, officially hit the
halfway mark this January: on time and on budget.
While such a claim would be a welcome distinction for
any large infrastructure project — where delays and timelines so
frequently slip in the face of the unexpected — Crossrail’s scope
makes it doubly impressive.
The project is vast, the largest of its kind in Europe and with a
huge range of challenges across its length: from excavating 42km of
tunnels through London’s complex and crowded subterranean world,
to the construction of entirely new stations and infrastructure in
some of the capital’s most densely packed areas.
But arguably one of the most challenging and ambitious parts
of the whole undertaking is Farringdon station which, when the
network opens for passengers in 2018, will become one of the city’s
busiest transport hubs.
Like much of the rest of Crossrail, the scale of the work at
Farringdon is obscured by the ubiquitous blue hoarding that enables
most Londoners to tune out the project. But The Engineer was
recently granted a rare opportunity to step backstage and take a
detailed look at what Farringdon’s project manager, civil engineer
Nisrine Chartouny, proudly calls ‘the heart of the network’.
‘Geographically, we’re more or less at the centre of the
underground section,’ says Chartouny, who manages the project for
Bechtel, Crossrail’s prime contractor. ‘Four tunnel-boring machines
[TBMs] out of a total of eight will finish their journey here and it’s the
only station on the network that will have a direct connection with
Thameslink and London Underground lines. It’s also the only station
with a direct connection to three out of five of the airports in London:
Luton, Gatwick and Heathrow. If that doesn’t make it the heart of the
network I don’t know what does.’
Now approaching the final stages of its civil and tunnelling work,
the station consists of two ticket halls at either end of two parallel
platform tunnels. One of these, at 370m long, is the longest platform
on the network. These parallel tunnels are linked by a series of
cross shafts and a larger circulation tunnel that sits between the
two platforms.
The excavations run deep. The western ticket hall (WTH) shafts
go down to about 33m below street level and the eastern ticket hall
(ETH) is a few metres deeper. The running tunnels and platforms are
at a similar depth; way beneath the existing tube line, which is just
8m beneath the road.
One of the first steps in the construction process was digging the
shafts. Indeed, the WTH shafts were actually excavated before the
running tunnels arrived. This enabled Chartouny’s team to carry out
preparatory work such as the removal of pre-existing piled
foundations that could hinder the TBMs’ progress.
Ahead of the arrival of the arrival of the boring machines, foam
concrete was injected into the excavated space in order to create a
suitable cutting medium. The process was slightly different at the
ETH shaft where one of the TBMs stops short of the shaft, while the
other runs to the north.
The western tunnelling drive — from Royal Oak to Farringdon
— was completed earlier this year, when the TBMs Phyliss and Ada
(named after Phylliss Pearsall, creator of the London A to Z and
computing pioneer Ada Lovelace) arrived at Farringdon from Royal
Oak in the west.
->
feature:crossrail
Above: the plague pit at
Charterhouse Square
Below: artist’s impression of a
future platform at Farringdon
station
Down under: Nisrine Chartouny
(centre), project manager
Station to station: the
new Farringdon station
Resting place: A TBM
embedded in the ground
the African tectonic plate, faults of this kind are not unusual in
Intriguingly, despite their high cost, it was considered more
London. However, Aldiss says their presence in the Farringdon area
economical to leave the critical components of these machines (the
adds to the unpredictability of the Lambeth group layer.
giant cutting heads and 10m long shields) embedded in the ground.
In the presence of such complex conditions, the movement of
Only the 150m-long trailer sections were retrieved.
ground following excavations (or settlement as it’s known) is clearly
Elizabeth and Victoria, the TBMs that are digging the 8.3km
a major concern.
Limmo to Farringdon drive, are due to reach their destination early
And, as in many other areas of the new network, the team has
next year and, unlike their entombed forerunners, the current plan
excavated a series of grouting shafts: 10–20m deep, 5m diameter
is to retrieve them.
holes from which engineers can inject high-pressure grout into the
Chartouny’s team is now busy enlarging the station tunnels
ground around the excavations.
around the running tunnels. This is achieved by removing sacrificial
Four of these shafts have been sunk along the length of a
concrete rings in the running tunnel, excavating the space behind
conveniently located disused Thameslink tunnel known as the
and then spraying the new tunnel wall with concrete.
Moorgate spur. Meanwhile, the recent discovery of a mass grave
The cross tunnels joining the running tunnels and the circulation
containing the skeletons of plague victims at a fifth shaft in nearby
tunnel that lies between the two platforms have been built in a
Charterhouse Square was, says Chartouny, a grisly reminder that as
slightly different way, using a combination of traditional mining
well as being Europe’s largest engineering
processes and sprayed-concrete lining
project, Crossrail is also one its biggest
techniques. This involves rapidly spraying
The discovery of a
archaeological digs.
excavated ground with concrete to stabilise
The grout is injected into the ground
it and form a permanent tunnel lining.
mass
grave
was
a
grisly
via a series of small-diameter horizontal
One of the biggest challenges throughout
all of this, says Chartouny, has been
reminder that this is also underground pipes known as Tubes-aManchette (TAM) that radiate from the base
predicting, monitoring and dealing with the
one of Europe’s biggest
of the shaft and can be as long as 80m. ‘In
implications of one of the Crossrail route’s
total, 19km of TAMs were drilled at
most complex geological environments.
archaelogical digs
Farringdon,’ says Chartouny.
Most of Crossrail’s sub-surface route and,
This compensation grouting process is
for that matter, the London Underground, has
expected to continue until around three months after all excavation
been built in London clay; a perfect medium for tunnelling, that’s
work is complete. After that, assuming there are no problems, the
conveniently widespread in London to depths of more than 40m.
grout shafts will be backfilled and the ground considered stable.
However, at Farringdon, the ground conditions are more complex.
It’s very difficult, in the dusty noisy netherworld beneath
Here, the base of the London clay formation is less than 30m below
Farringdon’s streets, to imagine what it will look like in only a few
the surface and much of the station is therefore being built in the
years’ time. Just as it will no doubt be hard to recall its current state
Lambeth group soil beneath the London clay.
when it opens for business.
This layer, which is around 15–20m thick, is more varied in
Nevertheless, the station is taking recognisable shape and
composition and can include water-saturated sand lenses which, if
Chartouny is now looking ahead to its next phase of development.
encountered during excavation and not properly de-pressurised, can
‘By the end of 2014 we’re expected to be done with the bulk of the
cause instability in the tunnel.
tunnelling and civil work,’ she said, ‘and will start transitioning to all
What’s more, according to geologist Dr Don Aldiss, who carried
the railway systems and station work.’
out some of the early geological modelling work for Crossrail, the
Despite site-wide excitement that there’s now light at the end of
situation in Farringdon is further complicated by the presence of at
the tunnel, Chartouny admits that completion will be a bitter-sweet
least five geological faults that cross the line of the platform tunnels.
moment for all involved: the pride of a job well done tempered by the
Thought to have been caused between 10–20 million years ago by
knowledge that a closely-knit team will soon be moving on.
the opening of the North Sea Basin and the northwards movement of
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interview:paul mackenzie
Hyper hybrid
paul
mackenzie
Executive director of
McLaren Special
Operations
Education
1993: Graduated Plymouth
University with a BEng Hons
in composites engineering
Career
1993–1999: GEC Marconi
Materials Technology Ltd. Engineer/project manager.
Stealth projects for the
defence industry
1999–2003: McLaren
Composites. Project
manager responsible for
the development of the
Mercedes McLaren SLR
carbon-fibre chassis and
body system
2003—2014: McLaren
Automotive. Programme
director responsible for the
delivery of the SLR-coupe,
roadster, 722, 722S, Stirling
Moss and McLaren P1
2014 (current): McLaren
Automotive. Executive
director of McLaren Special
Operations. Responsible for
McLaren Automotive’s
bespoke division
McLaren’s executive director of Special Operations
unveils the thinking behind the company’s hybrid
P1 supercar. Stuart Nathan reports
I
t’s still quite a novelty to
write about a world-beating
British sports car in the
present tense. Until the last
couple of years, the glory days of
the ‘Made in Britain’ sports car
was firmly in the past, and the
super- and hypercars gathering
droll-encrusted reviews on Top
Gear all had pronounced
German or Italian accents.
The turnaround has been
thanks to motorsport (a sector
where Britain has been leading
the world for some time, mostly
under the general public’s radar)
and, in particular, to one of the
industry’s most charismatic, if
not downright intimidating
individuals: Ron Dennis of
McLaren. For a company that
only retails four car models,
McLaren Automotive is
clearly punching above its
weight, with its two
main products — the
MP4-12C and, this
year’s addition, the P1
— gaining favourable
comparisons with
Ferraris and Porsches.
The man charged
with making Ron
Dennis’s dreams of sports
car domination a reality is Paul
Mackenzie, executive director of
McLaren Special Operations,
whose most recent role was
overseeing the design,
development and launch of the
McLaren P1, the company’s first
tilt at the very top end of the
performance road-car market.
Only 375 P1s will ever be
produced and, at £865,000 each,
the vast majority of us will
probably never even see one, let
alone get to ride in one or even
drive it. But in this strange,
elitist market, that’s the point,
Mackenzie explains after
addressing this year’s Niche
Vehicle Network symposium.
‘Exclusivity is a very important
purchasing factor in for this type
of car,’ he said, adding that
working out the right number
to produce and how much it
should cost were difficult
decisions for the McLaren
Automotive team.
Fortunately for The Engineer,
Mackenzie brought a P1 along to
the symposium, so we can at
least say we saw one in the
bodywork (although we didn’t
get a ride). It’s certainly a
striking vehicle and very
McLaren P1 petrol engine,
which can be fully disengaged
different from the MP4-12C;
lower, curvier looking more
‘fast’, even when standing still
in a car park.
In engineering terms, it’s
one of a new breed of sports
cars in that it’s a hybrid, with
an electric motor
supplementing its petrol
engine. This, Mackenzie says,
was not part of the original
brief for the vehicle. ‘We didn’t
set out specifically to design a
hybrid, absolutely not,’ he said.
‘Our original brief was to make
the best sports car on the
planet — not necessarily the
fastest in a straight line, or
even the fastest on the track,
but for best for drivers who like
the sheer experience, the
sensation and the activity of
driving performance vehicles.’
So how did McLaren come to
design not just a plug-in hybrid,
but one where the petrol engine
can be disengaged, leaving the
car able to operate as a pure
electric vehicle? The original
impetus, Mackenzie says, came
from again looking at what
buyers considered important.
He was surprised, he admitted,
that even in the 150mph+ world
of the hypercar, fuel economy
was rated quite highly on
prospective customers’ list
of priorities.
‘We looked at all
the ways that we
could achieve that
while staying
within the
performance
envelope we wanted
the car to occupy,’ he
says, ‘and our team came
to the conclusion that
adding an electric motor
would not only improve fuel
economy, but it could also be
performance-enhancing.’
They key to this is in the
engine. Like most performance
cars, the P1’s engine is
turbocharged and this means
that it inherently suffers from
turbo lag — put your foot on the
accelerator and it’ll take a little
while for the turbocharger to
kick in — the exhaust gases
that drive the turbos have to
come up to pressure and the
turbos themselves have to ‘spin
up’. The result is that the extra
torque the turbochargers
interview
thedata
McLaren P1
provide is only available after a
short delay.
But electric motors provide
instant torque. ‘Our powertrain
engineers said: “You know that
thing with the turbo-lag? We can
eliminate that”,’ Mackenzie
says. ‘You can rewrite what the
car’s demand and power curve
look like. And from that, we
decided that a combination of
electric and petrol was the way
to go, but we hadn’t decided on
the architecture, whether we’d
use multiple motors, in-line
motors, front axle, rear axle.’
Mackenzie remembers driving
an early mule version of the
car — a trial version of the
mechanical components — with
a 15kg weight bolted onto the
front uprights to give an idea of
how the mass distribution on
the front axle would affect the
car’s handling.
‘What we actually found was
that we didn’t want to mess
around with the front axle too
much,’ he says. ‘One of our key
deliverables was the purity of
the feel of driving and, from the
point of view of steering and
driving, keeping the front axle
clean was very important.’ The
team came up with an
arrangement where the electric
motor hangs off the side of the
engine block, connected to it via
a 50mm-thick intermediate
clutch and gear that allows the
engine to be disengaged. This
allows the car to be driven in
E-mode in town and in traffic
jams, making for a smoother
ride and much less petrol
consumption, Mackenzie says
— he’d used E-mode himself on
the way to the seminar. ‘The
engine also charges the motor’s
batteries, of course, making it a
range-extender. But the electric
motor alone provides 176bhp
— much more than the petrol
engine on even quite powerful
normal family cars.’ With the
petrol engine — a 3.8-litre
twin-turbo V8, built like the
MP4-12C’s engine by Ricardo
— that power output leaps to
903bhp, which will take the car
from 0 to 300km/hr in less than
17 seconds.
McLaren presented the P1
in public ahead of its main
competitors, Porsche and
Ferrari, and Mackenzie says the
team was pleasantly surprised
to find that both marques had
hit on similar hybrid powertrain
solutions for the 918 and
LaFerrari models respectively,
‘although the architectures are
different; the 918 uses multiple
motors, and the Ferrari has the
motor hanging off the back of
the gearbox. It’s convergent
evolution; we’ve all come to the
conclusion that electric plus
petrol equals efficiency and
performance’.
Other engineering
innovations in the
car include active
aerodynamics on
the rear wing
and underbody,
which adjust the
downforce on the
rear of the car
depending on the
road speed, and an
enhanced version of the
carbon-fibre monocoque tub
from the 12C with
the roof structure
and ‘snorkel’ air
intake integral to the
structure. The
aerodynamics are designed so
McLaren P1 vital
statistics
Powertrain
3.8L twin-turbo V8 plus single electric motor
lPower
lTotal 903bhp
lElectric mode
lRange on full charge 10km
lAcceleration
0–100km/hr 3sec
0–200km/hr 7sec
0–300km/hr 17sec
lTop speed (limited) 350km/hr
lCarbon emissions below 200g/km
lInstant power-assist
system derived from Formula 1 KERS
lDrag-reduction system derived from F1
lBrake steer
l
l
that the intakes for the engine
and the brakes receive ‘clean’
non-turbulent air, which
enhances the performance of
both. ‘The fact is, this is an
expensive car, and that gives us
an ability to play around with
some technologies that we can’t
use on our more mainstream
cars.’ We can certainly expect to
see fewer bells and whistles on
the next car from the Woking
stable, which will be an ‘entrylevel’ sports car much cheaper
than the 12C — although,
unsurprisingly, Mackenzie
refuses to give any information
on what features that car, the
P13, might have, or when it
might appear.
Unlike other hypercars
— notably the loss-making
Bugatti Veyron — the P1 has to
fit into a strict business plan.
‘We’re a small company and
we’re still developing. We’ve
always had this three-platform
approach with the 12C first, then
the P1, then P13 — but we can’t
afford loss-leaders. The P1 is a
profit-making project.’
The rationale behind
performance vehicles such as
the P1 is generally that they
form a platform to launch
technologies and materials that
filter down to more
conventional vehicles, but
Mackenzie admits that McLaren
does not have any agreements
in place with volume producers
to adapt its innovations. ‘We’re
certainly open to anyone
coming in to discuss that with
us,’ he says.
For more news, comment
& features visit
theengineer.co.uk
Illustration shows the internal
architecture of the McLaren P1
Q&A:space debris
Bits and
pieces
Our panel of experts
considers the extent and
impact of space debris.
Stephen Harris reports
T
he growing problem of space debris — the millions of
pieces of old satellites, used rocket launchers and other
man-made junk currently orbiting the Earth — has become
increasingly well known in recent years. The danger it poses to
our satellite and manned space infrastructure is a hot topic for
scientists and engineers. And it’s now come to the attention
of the wider public thanks to the Oscar-winning film Gravity,
in which the destruction of a satellite starts a seemingly
unstoppable cascade of debris collisions known as the
Kessler effect.
Numerous ways of removing old space debris have been put
forward in recent years but none have so far been tested in
space. For the latest of our reader Q&As, we put your questions
on the extent of the problem and the viability of the proposed
solutions to a panel of experts, including:
n Robin Biesbroek, leading the current e.Deorbit study for ESA
on how to remove space debris;
n Nicholas Johnson, NASA chief scientist for orbital debris
(recently retired); and
n Dr Jaime Reed, head of R&D for earth observation,
navigation and science at Airbus Defence and Space.
n How much of a threat does space debris pose to our
satellite infrastructure and manned space missions?
Robin Biesbroek: It poses a threat in the sense that by now we
get weekly collision warnings for very large satellites at ESA.
We then have to analyse the threat and take actions if the
probability of collision is high. Ten years ago we would need
only one collision-avoidance manoeuvre (CAM) every two
years; now we need three per year for the large satellites. In
the future the number of CAMs per year will increase and it
costs time and money, and may even interrupt the services that
the satellite needs to provide. Furthermore, it may become
hazardous for astronauts. We have already seen cases where
astronauts on board the International Space Station needed to
shelter against possible debris impact and, in the future, this
will happen more often.
32 | theEnGineeR | APRIL
NOVEMBER
2014 2013
Jaime Reed: The main worry is that large objects that are not
controlled (e.g. dead satellites) collide, releasing a huge cloud
of small objects that cannot be tracked but have enough energy
to easily destroy operational satellites. Although the problem
beyond Earth’s orbit is much lower — the volume is greater and
there have been fewer missions — these missions must usually
pass through the polluted region, which still poses a risk.
Nicholas Johnson: Even large, dedicated shields typically can
only protect against debris 1cm and smaller. The largest single
threat to the operation of the International Space Station is
orbital debris. However, space is still a big place and only a
very few operational spacecraft have been seriously affected by
orbital debris. Orbital debris is not an operational issue beyond
Earth orbit, but we are already seeking to limit its presence in
orbits about the Moon and Mars.
n How is the issue of space debris affecting the design of
new satellites, both in terms of de-orbiting them but also in
terms of greater protection from debris damage?
RB: All ESA satellites must have a propulsion system that still
works at the satellite’s end of life and has enough propellant to
lower the orbit in such a way that re-entry occurs within 25
years. For very large satellites we will need to do a controlled
re-entry, which requires a highly reliable propulsion system with
more propellant, an accurate pointing system and adequate
ground coverage. At the moment, not many platforms have this
capability so we need to develop new platforms. The second
Q&A:space debris
“
For large objects the challenge is to
catch the object without damaging it
and control it while applying a force to
push or pull it into the atmosphere
Dr Jaime Reed
Left: Robot arms on dedictaed satellites could be used to deorbit
defunct spacecraft
Orbital junkyard: Collisions with the cloud of space debris that
orbits the earth are a growing concern for satellite operators
issue is the protection from space debris. This means again more
propellant to account for collision-avoidance manoeuvres but, for
example, also larger solar panels to take into account that over
the years some cells of the panels won’t provide power anymore
due to holes caused by space debris impacts.
JR: Future satellites will be designed to be more robust to
being hit by small pieces of debris. Because the relative speed
can be around 14km/s, even tiny particles can cause damage to
sensitive items such as solar arrays. Therefore, by adding
shielding to some of these items, to absorb the impact energy,
the problem can be mitigated.
difficult due to their great numbers and widely disperse orbits.
JR: For large objects the challenge is to catch the object
without damaging it (i.e. causing new debris) and then control
it while applying a force to push or pull it into the atmosphere.
The objects might also start off spinning and therefore they
need to be stabilised first. Since these objects can be several
tonnes the effect is like standing on ice and trying to capture
and control a large family car or truck spinning on the ice. This
all requires a very versatile propulsion and guidance system.
NJ: Complex, dedicated orbital debris shields are normally not
required for robotic satellites, although spacecraft design features
and additional sheets of multi-layer insulation can increase
mission survivability. On the other hand, tailor-made orbital debris
shields can be necessary for some piloted spacecraft.
n What do you think is the best solution proposed so far for
removing old debris that doesn’t have built-in de-orbiting
capability?
RB: At the moment it looks like catching very large debris with
either a net system, harpoon or robot arm, and then de-orbit it
into the atmosphere, is the preferred solution. At ESA we hope
to select the preferred solution by summer this year.
n What are the key challenges that make pulling old debris
out of orbit so difficult?
NJ: Great expense and energy were expended to place
spacecraft and launch vehicle stages into orbit. Removing
them requires the same. The challenge is to devise a concept
of operations that is technically feasible, affordable and
practical. Derelict spacecraft and rocket bodies are often
tumbling and might contain hazardous materials or have
become fragile. Discrete capture of small debris would be
JR: We have proposed a method involving rendezvousing with
the debris — a bit like the shuttle rendezvousing with the
international space station — capturing the target with a
harpoon and tether, and then dragging the object back into the
atmosphere to burn up. The advantage of this approach is that
this can be tested on the ground and be largely based on
existing technologies. Also the harpoon can be launched from a
large distance away, which avoids the possibility of a collision
between the chaser spacecraft and the target.
->
Q&A:space debris
“
Without a debrisremoval programme, the
so-called Kessler effect
will lead to increasing
amounts of debris
Nicholas Johnson
Watch out:Today’s satellite could be
tomorrow’s space debris
n How feasible would it be to somehow sweep up large
amounts of debris? One reader suggested creating a foam
blanket that could be manufactured in orbit and then act like a
debris sponge. Is it more likely that we will have to target
individual objects?
NJ: The average relative velocity in low Earth orbit (LEO) is about
10km/s. Only the smallest and least hazardous debris could be
captured with a blanket or similar retarding device.
JR: The issue with collecting small targets is that they are difficult
to track with radar and relatively spaced apart. The risk of
collision is currently small, which means that most satellites do
not get significantly damaged over their lifetime at present, but
this does mean that a sweeper would have to be huge to collect a
significant mass of small debris.
n Would it be possible and/or useful to push larger pieces of
debris into deep-space orbit rather than rather than trying to
de-orbit them so they burn up in the atmosphere? How might
we go about doing this?
JR: Yes and, in fact, this is planned for some future missions. It is
also common practice for telecoms satellites in geosynchronous
orbit. For older debris this might be possible but, in general, the
objects need to be taken from 800km altitude to 2,000km altitude,
above all the operational satellites, and this takes more fuel than
coming back into the atmosphere — about 100km.
RB: This option requires more propellant than to de-orbit the
debris, but may have other advantages such as using smaller
rocket engines with lower loads on the structure. For non-LEO
satellites, for example, for satellites that are located far away from
Earth, but still bound to its gravity such as ESA’s GAIA or
Herschel-Planck missions, we don’t need much propellant to leave
Earth, so for those kind of missions it is certainly an option.
n What plans are in place other than good housekeeping to
prevent the Kessler effect?
34 | theEnGineeR | APRIL
NOVEMBER
2014 2013
Trash hunt: Harpoons
could be used to
capture orbiting debris
Q&A: space debris
“
Even if we stop
launching new
satellites, the
Kessler effect does
not stop: space
debris will
increase due
to collisions
Robin Biesbroek
Deep impact: Collisions can cause
a cloud of uncontrollable debris
NJ: Without an effective debris-removal programme, the so-called
Kessler effect will lead to increasing amounts of debris in Earth
orbit. However, the rate of increase is very slow, even over the next
century. [Unlike in the film Gravity, where the effect becomes
catastrophic within minutes.] Hence, we still have time to continue
our research and development efforts to identify a practical debrisremoval process. For impacts by small debris, new debris shield
technologies are being developed with emphasis on greater
effectiveness with lower mass shielding.
RB: Even if we stop launching new satellites, the Kessler effect
does not stop: space debris will increase due to collisions. Several
independent studies at ESA, NASA and institutes have indicated
that only by removing at least several large space-debris objects
from densely populated orbits per year, can we stop the Kessler
syndrome.
n All of the current debris has been inserted into orbit during
the current polarity of the magnosphere. As its polarity is
known to reverse occasionally, what will be the reversing
effect upon this debris?
NJ: Most debris, whether small or large, does not acquire a charge
that is significant enough to alter its orbital motion in a
meaningful manner.
RB: This is difficult to predict. I don’t see a big effect on the orbit,
however, it may have an effect on the attitude of space debris. In
the worst case it could spin up the debris, making it more difficult
to capture.
n What international agreements are there for dealing with this
problem and how effective do you think they are? What else
could the international community do to tackle the issue?
NJ: For large, intact objects, the United Nations Outer Space
Treaty is rather clear: the member state responsible for the
vehicle is the only one who can remove or authorise the removal
of the vehicle. However, the international community recognises
Heading home: Satellites could be
equipped with deorbiting devices
that orbital debris is a global issue that requires a global response.
Once an effective debris-removal capability is developed,
operations are likely to be financed and conducted under an
international agreement.
RB: Agencies such as NASA and ESA have their own codes of
conduct, for example, the requirement to remove a satellite from
the LEO-protected zone within 25 years. International treaties
deal more with ownership of space debris, but ISO standards can
actually mandate you to perform a controlled de-orbit. None of
these are binding though. International space law will need to
find a solution at some point, when more and more satellites start
colliding and commercial services fall out because of it, or when
there are fatalities.
n What is the current status of programmes or missions aiming
to deal with this issue of old debris and what needs to happen to
ensure action is taken?
RB: We started the Clean Space initiative over three years ago and
are now developing several technologies dealing with space debris
mitigation and remediation. In 2013 we looked with different
European companies at possible business plans for space-debris
removal, and this year we started the design of the e.Deorbit
mission. After we have selected the capture technique this
summer, we will do a detailed design that we will then propose to
European ministers at the end of next year. It is then up to Europe
to decide if e.Deorbit will be funded to be developed and built.
JR: Airbus DS and the University of Surrey are working on a small
demonstrator mission called REMOVEDEBRIS, which aims to
demonstrate key technologies such as net- and harpoon-capture
techniques. This mission should fly in 2016. Switzerland is working
on a small demonstrator mission called CLEANSPACE, which aims
to demonstrate capture using a small claw mechanism.
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overspeed on sudden loss of the grid.
100 years of experience mean that if anyone
can help, Cressall can.
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feature:software
Designing
a new reality
With the falling cost of
electronics, could the
dream of virtual reality
in design be making
a comeback?
Ellie Zolfagharifard reports
Above: Engineers hope that 3D design in virtual environments
like JLR’s cave could be linked to 3D printing
I
nspired by the Iron Man films, Elon Musk last year revealed a
system that allows engineers to design complex rocket parts
using simple hand gestures.
The technology is relatively straightforward — it combines Leap
Motion hands-free controllers, Oculus Rift virtual-reality headsets
and 3D printing — but it was the vision behind it that really got the
SpaceX founder excited.
‘I believe we’re on the verge of a major breakthrough in design
and manufacturing in being able to take the concept of something
from your mind, translate that into a 3D object really intuitively on
the computer and then take that virtual 3D object and make it real
just by printing it,’ Musk said in a recent video.
The promise is a familiar one. Developers in the 1990s were
hailing virtual reality as the next major breakthrough. But it wasn’t
long before technologies such as Nintendo’s Virtual Boy began
gathering dust in second-hand game shops. Back then the problem
was the prohibitive cost of technology with a decent headset priced
at more than £50,000.
This could be about to change with the falling cost of electronics.
The Oculus Rift development kit is currently slightly more than £200.
Oculus VR, the Californian company behind the headset, was
->
feature:software
Mind-goggling: The Oculus Rift VR
recently acquired by Facebook
headset could be a key enabling
for £1.2bn ($2bn). Like Musk,
technology
Mark Zuckerberg believes
virtual reality (VR) may be about
content is overlaid on top of the
to hit the mainstream — and it’s
engineer’s vision in real time.
not just gaming that will benefit.
Chris Grieve, global virtual reality
An increasing number of
director at French VR firm Optis,
engineering firms are now turning to VR as a
believes the real breakthrough in the
vital design tool. Car manufacturer Skoda, for
technology is allowing designers to
instance, is using something known as the
make more accurate assessments
‘IGS Glove’ to research how engineers on the
based on measurable data. ‘To
production line manipulate mechanical parts
interrogate the model and to make real
during assembly. The glove, developed by Synertial,
engineering decisions on things such as reach, line of sight,
allows a virtual hand to flex exactly like a real hand.
ergonomics, lighting and behaviour means that it’s far more than a
Cranfield University is using the same glove to collect data on
visual tool but a real engineering tool,’ he says.
postures and physical activities of engineers in UK manufacturing
While virtual reality technologies look set to be making a
companies. Dr Sarah Flether, a senior research fellow at the
comeback, there remain a number of challenges in their application.
university, says: ‘We may use the system in combination with
‘I think the two areas where we need to advance are in tactile and
eye tracking to analyse both physical activities and attentional
haptic feedback to really engage the engineers in how to perform
responses.
tasks and interact with the objects,’ adds Grieve.
‘For example, a strong theme of our work concerns developing
‘This technology is already advanced in some markets, such as
closer human-robot interaction for industrial collaborative working
medical, but it needs to be translated and
so if we collect data for bodily and eye
scaled into automotive and aerospace
movements we will be able to analyse not
While virtual reality
applications… The technology is there
only how the human operator moves but
or emerging. But the application and
where they are looking, and the relationship
technologies look set to
exploitation to bring it to a level that can be
between responses.’
used as a serious design tool will take a lot
Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover is using
be
making
a
comeback
of development and collaborative effort.’
immersive visualisation by installing a
The main limiting factor observed by
‘cave’ that allows engineers to see full-size
there remain challenges
Optis is the vision and desire of the end user
3D models of entire vehicles long before
in their application
to drive development of technology. Grieve
physical parts are available. In aerospace,
claims the 20 per cent that is needed to
virtual reality technologies are helping
make the technology work for engineers will not come from
manufacturers predict potential problems in costly structures such
software or hardware vendors, but from the creation of consortia
as large titanium components during the design stage.
from industry, technology and academic collaboration.
Outside of manufacturing, architects are using VR software
‘My belief is that it’s like a box of parts that still need to be
alongside augmented reality apps to demonstrate what their
assembled,’ says Grieve. ‘Yes of course there are technology gaps
designs would look in the built environment. The Gravity
especially in hardware technologies and man-machine interfaces,
sketchpad, developed by students at the Royal College of Arts,
but these can be resolved. The real improvements have to be
is one technology currently under development that could help
in our ability to create something useful, accurate, validated
engineers, architects and artists bring their visions to life.
and repeatable, so that engineers can use these tools with
It works by using a glass ‘landing pad’ above which an engineer’s
absolute confidence.
design appears, allowing them to rotate it, add details and slice into
it, in much the same way as a real object. It integrates several
tracking technologies that link up to an infrared pen, augmented
reality glasses and specially designed software. The 3D-generated
“
indepth
Elon Musk’s Iron Man lab
Real draw: The Gravity sketchpad allows designers to
manipulate sketches in virtual 3D space
Using a suite of virtual reality
and gesture-sensing tools,
billionaire Elon Musk has set
up a laboratory that allows his
engineers to design and
manipulate models of rocket
parts using their hands.
His company SpaceX has
combined a Leap Motion
gesture reader with Siemens
NX computer-aided design
software and added 3D glasses,
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allowing an engineer to shape
the part in a 3D environment.
Once the design is complete,
the 3D model is sent to a 3D
laser metal printer that builds
the engine prototype layer by
layer with titanium powder.
Musk claims virtual reality
technologies are ‘going to
revolutionise design and
manufacturing in the 21st
century’.
VERIFY AND OPTIMIZE YOUR DESIGNS WITH
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© Copyright 2014 COMSOL
show preview:PD+I
Dive into design
With more than 200 delegates set to attend, PD+I will explore the
hottest new trends in the sphere of industrial design
P
D+I, which will be held at London’s
Guoman Tower hotel on 22–23 May,
has become one of the key events for
anyone involved in industrial design.
According to the organiser, PD+I 2014
will allow delegates to get under the skin
of the hottest new trends, technologies,
materials and processes as well as
discover new opportunities and how to
apply them to future commercial growth.
With more than 200 delegates expected
to attend, the event also promises to be
an excellent opportunity to network and
build contacts.
Confirmed speakers so far include,
Richard Seymour, founder, SeymourPowell;
Sir John Hegarty, worldwide creative
director and founder, Bartle Bogle Hegarty;
Robert Brunner, founder and partner,
Ammunition Design; and Iain Aitchison,
director, Plan.
Underpinned by the key theme, ‘Making
stuff happen’, the conference line-up has
now been announced and includes the
following.
Management: making stuff happen
(Inside Corporations)
This session will see Pierre-Yves Panis,
Gavin Procter and Dee Cooper reflect on
how best to get design work through the
corporate machine. They will pinpoint
barriers and share tactics that have
worked for them.
CMF: materials Innovation
This seminar will focus on new materials
and processes that enable new solutions.
Monica Dalla Riva, Peter Booth and Marcel
Dartee will share stories that will show
how recent materials innovations are
paving the way to produce stuff in faster,
better or cheaper ways.
Automotive: new models
A panel of experts, including Gregory
Votolato, Dave Hilton and Carole Favart,
will examine issues associated with
automotive design, sharing their visions
such as integrated transport networks of
Boris bikes and car clubs, as well as
impossible-to-crash driverless cars.
Business models: different ways to make
devices pay
The panel, which includes Gavin Procter
and Bill Sermon, will reflect on emerging
revenue models to make products pay,
looking at working examples from
Amazon, BMW and Xiaomi.
Entrepreneurship: making stuff happen
(outside corporations)
Richard Seymour and Sir John Hegarty
will weigh up the prospects of hardware
start-ups, looking at young companies
such as Nest, Pebble and Fitbit, which
have shown that success needn’t be
the preserve of software and biotech.
roundtable:graduate skills
Skill factors
What’s really going on in graduate recruitment in engineering? Our
roundtable panel surveyed the scene. Stephen Harris reports
B
ritain is being held back by a major
shortage of science and engineering
students, or so we are told on what
seems like an increasingly frequent basis.
Yet ask most recent graduates whether
they’ve found it easy to get a job in
engineering and they’ll probably tell you
that competition is fierce. To explore
what’s really going on in graduate
recruitment and to try to identify some
possible solutions, The Engineer convened
a roundtable panel from across the
engineering community. The discussion
covered the reasons behind the skills
mismatch what can be done to address it,
but began with an examination of how
widespread the problem actually is.
The picture that quickly emerged was
of an uneven jobs market, in which large,
well-known firms have both the natural
pull and the marketing budgets to attract
huge numbers of applications, leading
many graduates to end up fighting over
the same few jobs. The smaller companies,
meanwhile, especially those in more rural
locations and less well-understood product
areas, struggle to get enough applicants
just to fill their roles, let alone compete for
the best engineers. ‘It’s a huge problem,’
said Bob Gregory, training manager for
medium-sized precision manufacturer
HepcoMotion. ‘We are in a fairly rural and
remote part of Devon and there’s a lot of
reluctance among graduates to relocate
to where we are.’
The problem is even more severe when
it comes to more specialised skills such as
nuclear engineering, where the problem
also starts to affect the larger firms. Geoff
McFarland, group engineering director of
Renishaw, explained how the company
was forced to divest its acquired MRI
equipment division after failing to find
people with the right expertise to take it
forward. ‘The only ones available were
from overseas,’ he said.
However, despite a few comments
about graduates missing certain technical
skills and the difficulty SMEs have in
offering additional training, there was a
general consensus that the skills issue
was more about quantity than quality of
candidates and an acceptance that young
people at the start of their careers would
inevitably be inexperienced. ‘The ones
that we do get are of high quality and
they learn quickly,’ said Gregory. ‘We
don’t expect them to come to us with a
“
We are in a fairly
remote part of Devon
and there’s a reluctance
to relocate here
good working knowledge of SolidWorks
or any other 3D modelling software. It’s
merely a supply problem.’
In fact, the number of science and
engineering graduates is low enough to
worry even the biggest firms, which are
currently able to fill their vacancies
without trouble but are acutely aware of
the competition from other sectors. ‘We
do anticipate that with the economy
strengthening we will have more
challenges,’ said Richard Hamer, education
director for BAE Systems. ‘When the City
is demanding more numbers we’ll find
more competition for graduates.’
So why aren’t more people entering
the engineering profession? One key
suggestion was that students don’t really
understand the full range of opportunities
available in the sector. ‘Engineering’s
competing with so many other pulls from
sectors that are a lot more vocal,’ said
Keith Lewis, managing director of
engineering recruitment agency
Matchtech. ‘People within engineering are
very poor at promoting it and making lots
of noise about it.’ It’s a particular problem
for SMEs, he added, which tend to operate
in niche areas but also have smaller
marketing and recruitment budgets.
‘Companies that can afford to are looking
at where those people might be coming
from and setting up small offices to capture
them. SMEs can’t afford to do that.’
Rhys Morgan, director of engineering
and education at the Royal Academy of
Engineering, agreed that engineering
firms weren’t selling themselves well
enough compared to other employers that
target engineering graduates, such as
financial and professional service firms.
‘The major [engineering] employers only
go to the top 10-to-15 universities,’ he
said. ‘All the banks and all the
accountancy firms are very visible on all
the campuses and they make it very
attractive for engineering graduates to
think “I’ll go there”.’
roundtable:graduate skills
However, there is also a lack of
understanding of what even the betterknown companies actually do, which
doesn’t just put people off from applying
but also disadvantages those who do
wish to stay in the sector. ‘If people don’t
know which area of engineering they
want to go into, they won’t know which
companies to apply to and what to put in
their applications,’ said Rosie Tomlinson,
a graduate mission systems engineer for
Airbus Defence and Space (formerly
Astrium). ‘Some people apply for the top
10 companies, they don’t get a job so they
give up.’
The wider perception of engineering
may also have an impact. The panel had
little support for the idea that people
were put off by ‘low’ pay, given that
engineering graduate jobs tended to offer
considerably more than the average
starting salary of £20,000, but agreed this
fact wasn’t always well conveyed.
‘There’s a lot more we could do to sell
that,’ said Hamer. ‘Sometimes in the press
they exaggerate the small number of
graduates who get jobs at Goldman Sachs
earning £60,000 but the number who do
that are minute. Whereas in our sector
there are schemes where you can earn
£30,000 or more as a starting graduate.’
There was also a recognition that more
could be done to promote the possibilities
for career development. ‘As careers
progress the number of senior engineers
with that title starts to diminish and they
go into other roles: the fact that they’re
engineers starts being lost,’ said John
Mitchell, director of the integrated
engineering programme at University
College London.
Aside from increased marketing, one
way to increase graduates’ awareness of
engineering career options may be to
widen the availability and take-up of
industrial placements, which only a
minority of students undertake. Mitchell
said universities also had a role in helping
promote careers at SMEs. ‘We’ve got very
good relationships with the sorts of
people who already have very welldeveloped schemes for attracting
theparticipants
lBob Gregory, training manager, HepcoMotion
lRichard Hamer, education director, BAE Systems
lKeith Lewis, managing director, Matchtech
lGeoff McFarland, group engineering director, Renishaw
lJohn Mitchell, director of the integrated engineering programme, University College London
lRhys Morgan, director of engineering and education, Royal Academy of Engineering
lRosie Tomlinson, graduate mission systems engineer, Airbus Defence and Space
“
Even if we get more
students through to study
STEM subjects, there’s a
real timebomb coming
graduates but how we can help the
smaller companies? A lot of the onus has
been on supporting students if they make
the first move but actually I’m not sure
we’ve stepped up to the mark to put in
enough real support.’
Another possibility would be for the
larger firms to work more closely with
their SME suppliers. Hamer said the
aerospace industry was already looking at
how big companies could pass on surplus
job applicants. ‘We’ve got an oversupply
of candidates: why not train more of them
— with government money — and then
provide them to small companies?’ Bob
Gregory of HepcoMotion agreed it was an
idea he would like to explore. ‘A lot of our
customers are actually universities and it
would supply an ideal network for that,’
he said.
However, even if all these issues were
addressed and 100 per cent of
engineering graduates went into industry
(a questionable aim in itself), we still
wouldn’t have addressed the skills
shortage we’re told companies are facing.
In short, we need more engineering
students. And this can’t be addressed just
by engaging more with young people,
said Morgan. ‘Universities are almost at
capacity,’ he said. ‘So even if we did get
more students coming through to study
STEM [science, technology, engineering
and maths] subjects, we’re not going to
have the capacity. There’s a real
timebomb coming up.’
Given the current state of public
finances, one solution may be a greater
roll-out of higher apprenticeships, which
all the employers on the panel already
use. These offer a work-based route to a
degree through part-time, employersupported study and could be particularly
useful to those employers not located near
big university cities or that have very
specific skill requirements. ‘If we’ve taken
on someone who’s been through that
programme they’re actually more likely
to stay with us than jump ship,’ said
Renishaw’s Geoff McFarland. ‘Whereas
engineers who’ve studied in, say,
Newcastle and join us in Gloucestershire
have already moved once and there’s
nothing to stop them moving again.’
However, the panel concluded that if
the government was serious about
addressing the skills issue, it needed to
help universities invest the necessary
money to expand. ‘We need more
students to recognise that if they’re doing
an engineering degree there’s a really
interesting, exciting, creative, designfocused valuable lifelong career in
engineering for them that they’ll be so
stimulated by, much more so than
working in the financial sector,’ said
Morgan. ‘But we also need to be very
clear to government that we need it to
invest in engineering higher education
to increase capacity.’
careers
Find the latest jobs at www.theengineerjobs.co.uk
To advertise, contact Mauro Marenghi t:020 7970 4187 e: [email protected]
Careers at MBDA
Innovation - Integration - Excellence
MBDA, a world leader in missiles and missile systems, is a multinational group with 10,000
employees and industrial facilities in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and
the United States.
We are currently looking to broaden our existing talent base with a large range of opportunities
for suitably qualified individuals at Bristol, Stevenage or Lostock. We are recruiting within
the following disciplines (though not limited to):
• Mechanical Engineers
(inc. Servo Design)
• Missile Architects
(Mechanical/Electronic/Test)
• Principal Engineer
- Lethality & Warheads
• Manufacturing
(inc. RF & MW Technologies)
• C2/UML/SysML Engineer
• Integration and System
Validation Engineers.
• Principal & Senior Electronic
Engineers
• System Design Engineers
• Safety & Reliability Engineers
• Simulation & Experimentation
• INS/GPS Engineer
• Procurement Manager
• Senior Technical Author
• Quality System Analyst
• Quality Assurance Engineer
(Manufacturing)
• Export Control Officer
• Infosec Engineer
• Environmental Engineers
MBDA offers excellent benefits
including flexible working, paid overtime*,
bonus*, a comprehensive pension scheme,
discounted private healthcare, flexible benefits
scheme, sporting activities, superb learning and
development opportunities, and more…
Please note that in order to apply for MBDA UK
opportunities you will need to be eligible for SC
(Secret Level) UK Security Clearance.
* Subject to level of role.
44 | theEnGineeR |APRIL 2014
To view and apply for these or other
opportunities, please visit our website:
www.mbdacareers.co.uk
Join our
Group
‘Engineering UK (Defence) - SC and DV‘ to follow
future MBDA UK news & career opportunities.
careers:women
Think female
Some sectors are better than others at addressing the industry
priority of attracting more women engineers. George Coupe reports
E
ngineering companies across Britain
are working hard to tap a potentially
huge and under-used resource of
skills, which could prove vital to their
success and survival. That resource is
women. The gender imbalance in
engineering is acute; and even a little
redress could go a long way to solving
the greater problem of the general
engineering skills shortage looming
over every sector.
The problem, of course, begins at
school. Girls are not encouraged as much
as they should be to consider a career in
engineering. The option is not presented
in a way that appeals to their problemsolving and leadership skills. According to
the latest survey of women in engineering,
if more girls are to share the benefits of
working in the sector, much more needs
to be done to raise awareness of the vast
range of career possibilities and activities
that it encompasses.
‘Engineering students are second only
to medics in securing full-time jobs and
earning good salaries. Yet the proportion
of women in engineering courses is
extremely low — just one in seven. The
lowest for all university courses,’ said the
report, entitled Britain’s Got Talented
Female Engineers. The survey of women
in engineering was carried out by Atkins,
the engineering consultancy, in
partnership with the Royal Academy of
Engineering, BP and Rolls-Royce. The aim
was to raise the profile of engineering as
a career choice among young women.
Statistics show there is a long way to
go in that regard. According to UCAS, the
university admissions body, the proportion
of female applicants across most
engineering disciplines is very low.
Traditionally, chemical, process and
energy engineering courses at university
have attracted the highest proportion of
female applicants: that is 26 per cent. The
next most popular area by this measure is
production and manufacturing
engineering: around 25 per cent of
applicants for these courses are women.
The least popular course among female
applicants is mechanical engineering: only
seven per cent of applicants to these
courses were women on 2011–12. But also
electronic and electrical engineering (nine
per cent), and high-growth areas such as
aerospace (12 per cent), fail to appeal.
Clare Donovan, who works in the
diversity team at the Royal Academy of
Engineering, says the relative popularity ->
Companies are seeking to
engage female recruits
“
The proportion of women in engineering courses
is extremely low — just one in seven
Britain’s Got Talented Female Engineers report
careers:women
There have been few female
role models in oil and gas
of chemical, process and energy
engineering may be attributed to the
desire of women to contribute to
environmental sustainability.
‘Meanwhile, mechanical engineering is
still associated with ‘heavy’ engineering
and perhaps with areas of engineering
that are perceived to be in decline. There
is also a chance that girls are receiving
careers advice that highlights the
opportunities in certain disciplines, rather
than others,’ she says.
The implication is that there could be a
large pool of potential engineering talent,
which remains out of reach to the UK’s
skills-strapped companies. But to get more
women flowing into the sector, the Atkins
report said better career advice for girls
would be necessary, as well as more
placements for girls to work alongside
women engineers and better provision
for women speakers in schools.
But apart from the general need for
more engineers, what would a better
gender balance do for the sector? And
why should women consider it as a career
beyond the salary and job security?
Many of the respondents to the survey
said in their experience women often
brought an alternative approach to
problem solving; women also made good
leaders, and mentors for the next
generation of engineers. Others said
women had an advantage in the industry
because they were in a minority: it helped
when applying for jobs, especially with
those companies keen to reach parity with
male staff; others said that in meetings
or at conferences women were listened
to and remembered, which was good for
their careers.
BRE, a construction research, testing
and training consultancy, has had great
success in recruiting female engineers.
Amaia Harries, an engineer who is
involved in BRE’s graduate training
attracting women engineers because the
work was varied, there were opportunities
to work on large projects and influence
change in the construction industry.
Similarly, the oil and gas sector also
offers the opportunity to work on major
development projects, and is driving
technological change in the interests of
greater global sustainability.
At BP, Suzy Style, head of graduate
recruitment, says that a third of the
company’s graduate appointments were
now female, up from a quarter a year ago.
‘Specifically with regards to engineering
roles, we’ve seen a steady increase in the
number of female applicants for graduate
positions and internships. For example, I
can tell you that we received 237
applications from females in this area in
2010, whereas this year, we had 459.
We’ve also seen an increase of almost five
per cent between this year and last in the
proportion of women applying for more
senior engineering positions.’
The historical lack of senior female role
models in the oil and gas industry has
made it difficult to recruit more women
engineers into the sector. But BP set
internal goals for gender representation,
and Style says that things were beginning
to change.
‘Right now, more than 17 per cent of
BP’s top 500 leaders and almost 19 per
cent of the top 5,000 leaders are female,
“
The oil and gas sector
offers the opportunity
to work on some major
development projects
programme agrees there is a possible
trend among female engineers towards
working in sustainability, across a range
of fields.
‘In general BRE is very gender-balanced,
with areas focused on sustainability
successfully attracting female scientists
and engineers. We have 11 female
engineers, two of whom lead key areas
of our business.’
She adds that a balance of skills and
approaches was invaluable in any
business. ‘A balance of genders and
cultures in engineering provides more
dynamic and well-rounded teams. Women
engineers bring different approaches to
the same issues.’
Harries adds that BRE was successful in
and both of these ratios have increased
within the last two years. These figures
are really encouraging and point to
positive changes in the way that
women perceive engineering careers.’
She adds that BP ran a number of events
aimed specifically at women. ‘We run
female-only Discovery Days, where
first- and second-year university students
can spend a day visiting BP’s offices, get a
feel for what it’s like to work at the
company, and meet female engineers and
scientists who we hope will inspire them
to pursue careers in our industry.’
But why should BP put so much effort
into this? The reasons, says Style, go to the
heart of what BP is as a business. ‘With
demand for energy increasing globally,
we’re facing a need for a greater variety of
skill sets and diversity of thought within
our workforce, in order to meet these
demands. Part of widening the skills set
and increasing diversity is attracting more
women to the workforce.
‘Then there is the anticipated skills gap.
The oil and gas industry needs to be seen
as an attractive choice for women, as well
as men, if we are going to be able to
bridge this gap. At BP, we believe that a
workforce representative of the society
where it operates is vital to success.’
Follow us on
Connect with us on
: @TheEngineerJobs
: The EngineerJobs
careers
Less glass ceiling.
More engineering breakthroughs.
Engineering opportunities | Nationwide
You don’t create some of the world’s
most advanced cyber security, aerospace,
transportation and defence technology by
limiting your people. That’s why, at Thales,
we support all our engineers to develop
their careers and capabilities as they deliver
revolutionary solutions for our customers.
We are currently looking for talented
Software Engineers, Hardware
Engineers and Rail Signal Design &
Systems Engineers who are ready to
grow in an environment that’s less about
glass ceilings and more about rising to
extraordinary challenges.
Learn more and apply at jobs.thalesgroup.co.uk
Join the discussion at facebook.com/ThalesUK
Small company, big presence!
Employing just 50 people, FMB Oxford is a recognised leader in the design, manufacture and commissioning
of high value scienti¿c instrumentation. The challenge of staying ahead of the game within this demanding
scienti¿c community means that the company is reliant on engineers who aspire to be the best.
What FMB Oxford offers is a unique and highly rewarding environment where responsibility is expanded to match
the capabilities of individuals. If you are enthusiastic and self-motivated you will ¿nd there are few barriers to your
personal and professional development.
In addition to competitive packages FMB Oxford also offers the bene¿t of working for a company where every
person matters and is valued.
Current vacancies include:
• Principal Engineer
• Mechanical Design Engineer
• Graduate Engineer
If you are interested in joining our team please send a CV and covering letter to [email protected]
careers
Arla Foods Engineering Opportunities
Home to some of the UK¹s leading dairy brands, including Cravendale, Anchor, Lurpak and Tickler, Arla Foods is the UK¹s
number one dairy company. Also supplying a full range of fresh dairy products to the major retailers and food service customers, Arla has an annual turnover of £2 billion. Not only that, but Arla is also the UK¹s number one cheese manufacturer
and the largest supplier of butter and spreads.
Behind this leading global business, is a UK team of 4000 colleagues located across our dairies, distribution centres and
head offices, ensuring that more than 4000 daily deliveries are made to stores and regional distribution centres.
So if you’ve poured some of the nice cold white stuff over your bowl of breakfast cereal today or had cheese on toast for
your evening snack, chances are you’ve already experienced Arla!
At Arla we are proud to invest in the very latest, state of the art machinery required to manufacture,
store and despatch our products. We look for people who will take a proactive approach towards
the maintenance and repair of our equipment, professionals who will take the lead and take an
imaginative approach towards their work. You will work closely with our production team to establish
their needs and deliver the right solution. Therefore the ability to communicate well and listen
carefully with an open mind will be essential.
As a business committed to fulfilling potential, we will provide all the training and development you
need and support you in progressing your career.
Typically we recruit qualified, experienced and multi-skilled engineers in to roles at all levels
including:
Engineering Technicians
Automation Engineers and Team Leaders
Process Engineers
Engineering Team Leaders
Engineering Managers
It¹s a 24/7 operation so your flexibility and ability to work shifts covering these hours is key.
Please visit www.arlafoodsjobs.co.uk to find out more and apply.
TE_0414_Arla_FP_rec 1
10/04/2014 10:22
Follow us on
Connect with us on
: @TheEngineerJobs
: The EngineerJobs
careers
CAN YOU CRACK A
CHALLENGE?
Expertise. Passion.
Agility. Attention to
detail. These are just some of the reasons why clients in pharmaceuticals
and other industries choose to work with our process engineering team.
They know that we can run a complete project from master planning
to delivery and always exceed expectations. That’s why our books
are full and we’re looking to recruit. If you think you can crack a
challenge, we’d like to hear from you.
PROCESS ENGINEERS, Principal and Senior
INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERS, Principal and Senior
MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, Principal and Senior
BUILDING SERVICES ENGINEERS, Principal and Senior
PROJECT MANAGERS
PROJECT CONTROLLERS AND PLANNERS
Visit www.wspgroup.co.uk/careers
#brainstopick
Technologist
(North West England)
Salary – Up to £35,000 p.a. (dependent on
qualifications & skills) plus benefits
The Flat Glass business of NSG Group, trading under the Pilkington brand, is one of the
world’s largest manufacturers of glass and glazing products for the building and
automotive markets. Over its history, Pilkington has frequently been a leader in
innovation in the glass industry, with the invention of the float process being
particularly notable. Recent developments range from coated glasses to panoramic
windscreens, and include switchable glazings as well as self-cleaning glasses and novel
glass compositions.
An opportunity has arisen for an Advanced Technologist to work as part of the Melting
Technology team with responsibility for furnace design, thermal performance, pollution
and furnace related improvement projects. Project work is focussed on identifying
methods of improving furnace performance through improving glass quality, reducing
the thermal energy costs and minimizing environmental impact. Areas of activity include
new technology development projects, thermal efficiency surveys and site based
development trials and technical support.
Candidates must be educated to degree level or equivalent (2:1 or above) in a physical
science and willing to travel overseas to various countries for trips of typically 2 to 3
weeks in duration on project or technical support related work. Knowledge of glass
science/combustion technology would be advantageous.
The job holder will be expected to work as part of multi-disciplinary project teams and
will need excellent communication skills, a high level of motivation and an ability to
react quickly to changing situations.
We are looking for someone who is a self motivated team player who would enjoy an
active involvement in development and problem solving activities. This is an opportunity
to work in a challenging environment and requires an enthusiastic and flexible attitude
and the ability to deliver quality work to tight deadlines.
Application is by CV and covering letter to Mrs Carole Riley by e-mail [email protected]
or by post to ASK HR, Pilkington Group Limited, Prescot Road, St Helens, WA10 3TT
Closing date: 30th April 2014
FO R A S M A RT A PPROAC H TO C A R E E R S
EVERYTHING EMMA DOES
IS GEARED TOWARDS
OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE.
And that goes for
the big projects too.
Darron Tool & Engineering (Sheffield) Ltd was founded in 1969 in the heartland of Britain’s heavy
industry, specialising in the manufacture of high quality engineering products.
Darron’s commitment to providing modern machine tools and state-of-the-art manufacturing
capabilities has been strengthened through becoming part of the Schoeller Bleckmann Group in
2000. The company has taken significant strides forward in recent years, and is looking to
continue to develop strategically through innovation, service and quality standards into the
future.
MANUFACTURING MANAGER
Location: South Yorkshire
Salary: up to £55k + package
Are you looking to make the next significant step in your engineering career?
If the opportunity for significant career progression within an ambitious group is of
interest, then this opportunity could be career defining for you.
The manufacturing manager will assume responsibility for the manufacturing facility, providing class
leading service to all customers and stakeholders with regard to the manufacture of all product in the
Darron SBO range, in order to support the growth and development of the organisation.
At SSE we are committed to investing
in the UK’s Energy Infrastructure.
The success of our projects relies on
first class engineering and project
management skills like yours. Find out
more about our projects and career
opportunities at www.sse.com/careers
Bring your energy
www.sse.com/careers
What are the demands?
• Full responsibility for the management of the manufacturing facility, covering the full range of
product manufactured by the company.
• Management a sizeable engineering team, incorporating various functions relating to
manufacturing.
• Establishing shop-floor routines, and ensuring that the function operates in a structured manner.
• Management of machine tools, ensuring manufacturing processes are optimised.
• Leading change management within the manufacturing function.
What are the requirements?
The ideal candidate will have:
• A bachelors degree or beyond in an engineering or business discipline.
• Experience of implementing modern manufacturing techniques.
• Experienced leading a team within a batch/low volume precision engineering/manufacturing
environment
• At least 2 years’ experience of management responsibility for a sizeable team.
• A working knowledge of Material Requirements Planning / Enterprise Resource Planning
scheduling.
• Involvement in the broader business context.
• A genuine desire to grow with the business and progress as part of the company’s succession
plans.
NB – the client is open to considering candidates taking an upward career step, so if you are
considering making taking that step, apply in writing to:
Email: [email protected] or Mercuri Urval, 5 New York Street, Manchester, M1 4JB.
careers
ENGINEERS SOUGHT – GAS TURBINE
FTT (UK) LTD with offices in Derby has exciting openings for experienced Gas Turbine
Mechanical, Stress Analysis and Manufacturing Operations Engineers, and
Modelers and Drafters.
We offer a challenging and rewarding career with excellent opportunities for personal and
career development, and the opportunity to work with an experienced team of world class
experts in their fields.
Florida Turbine Technologies, Inc. (FTT) is a growing world class turbomachinery company in
Jupiter, Florida USA and Wildau, Germany which employs 200 engineers and technicians with
over 4,000 combined years of aero engine (military and commercial), industrial and space
turbomachinery experience. We are expanding in the Midlands, UK area, with our newly
opened office in Derby.
Positions Available
Mechanical Design Engineers
Perform tasks required for hardware design phase for mechanical design, concept
studies, stress analysis, detailed solid modeling, final drawing/documentation for
prototype hardware.
Manufacturing Operations Engineers
Support new and redesign turbomachinery hardware. Experience in machining
processes of gas turbine materials and hardware is required.
Stress Analysis
Perform stress, vibration and life analysis. Experience with ANSYS and SC03
preferred.
Contact via E-mail is preferred. Please e-mail resume/CV.
Please do not embed html, pictures or executables.
To apply please contact: [email protected]
For employment consideration, the candidate’s response must include the following
information: name, address, telephone number, e-mail address.
TE_0314_Florida_Turbine_FP_rec 1
06/03/2014 10:32
Follow us on
Connect with us on
: @TheEngineerJobs
: The EngineerJobs
careers
Project Management Consultancy
(PMC) Opportunities
(Assignments ranging from 2 to 4 years)
Netherlands • Japan • UAE • Kuwait
Foster Wheeler is engaged in a major PMC for the Kuwait
National Petroleum Company (KNPC) and is recruiting
internationally for professional engineers and designers for
various disciplines in Kuwait, Japan, the Netherlands and the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), including:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
CIVILS
COMMERCIAL
COMMISSIONING
CONSTRUCTION
MANAGEMENT
CONTRACTS
CRAFT SUPERVISORS
DOCUMENT CONTROL
ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING MANAGERS
ENGINEERING SYSTEMS
FIELD ENGINEERING
HSES
INSTRUMENTS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
MECHANICAL
PIPING
PROCESS
PLANNING
PROCUREMENT
PROJECT CONTROL
PROJECT ENGINEERING
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
QA
SITE COMMISSIONING
& OPERATORS
• TELECOMMS
• THSE
The majority of these assignments will involve approximately
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- Japan, Haarlem - Netherlands, or Sharjah - UAE) with the
opportunity to follow the project onto the site in Kuwait for the
construction and commissioning phase. The hand-over of the
plant is scheduled for the end of 2017.
Foster Wheeler is proud to
be part of this major project.
Don’t miss this opportunity
to join us.
To learn more about these
PMC team opportunities
in Kuwait, Japan, the
Netherlands and UAE, visit
http://bit.ly/KNPCOC
To learn more about all
careers at Foster
Wheeler, visit
ZZZ¿QGIZFFRP
Don’t miss this opportunity to join us!
KNPC PMC Opportunity Information: http://bit.ly/KNPCOC
All Other Foster Wheeler Careers: ZZZ¿QGIZFFRP
careers
SU
PE
RIO R
ITY
A I
R
D
TI
A N C E
IN
RI
M
T
EN
EM
R
AG
AI
DE
FE
NC
E
BA T T L E F I
EL D
EN
G
Principal Engineer - Servo Control System Designer
Up to £50,000 with benefits
This role presents the successful candidate with an excellent opportunity to work
within a multi-disciplined international team developing advanced actuation systems
for missile guidance and control. This will include the specification, design and
modelling of control systems. The use of tools such as Matlab will be an integral
part of the role both within the R&D and full development contract environments.
Most importantly you will bring with you knowledge of electro-mechanical systems
but ideally also hydraulic and pneumatic systems, with demonstrable experience
working within these fields, though not necessarily within the defence industry. This
is the perfect role for someone with a real interest in Control Theory, highly
developed communication skills and the ability to influence and build strong
relationships at all levels.
Benefits include flexible working, paid overtime, a comprehensive pension scheme,
discounted private healthcare, sporting activities, superb learning and development
opportunities, and more...
Please note that in order to apply for MBDA UK opportunities you will need to be
eligible for SC (Secret Level) UK security clearance.
For more details and to apply please visit our website (Job Code P5434)
www.mbdacareers.co.uk
careers
O
E
E
AS
G ROU N D B
MBDA is a world leading,
global missile systems company,
delivering cutting-edge technologies to
our multinational customer base. We are
the only group capable of designing and
producing missile systems that
correspond to the full range of current
and future operational needs of
the three armed forces.
M
: @TheEngineerJobs
: The EngineerJobs
MA
Follow us on
Connect with us on
We are specialists in engineering and operations leadership
recruitment, working with dynamic leading companies across
the UK and internationally to identify and attract the brightest
engineers and future leaders. We are proud to promote equality
and work with clients on building gender diversity in their
management functions.
We want to hear from ambitious professionals with a background in
delivering change, driving performance improvement and developing
high performing teams. We are particularly interested in chartered
status and MBA qualifications.
We are currently working with clients in Automotive, Aerospace,
Defence and Food & Drink sectors on the following opportunities:
•
•
•
•
•
Head of Group Engineering (FMCG), Scotland , £65-80k
Project Engineer (Aerospace), North West, £50-60k
Head of Product Line (Automotive), Scotland, £70-80k
Project Engineering Leader, South East or Scotland, £60-70k
Engineering Resource Manager, Scotland, £50-60k
Apply online at www.drummondbridge.com/jobs/
Enquiries to Jonathan Howie, Research Lead on 0131 220 2209 or
by email to: [email protected]
Due to an unprecedented demand from a number of our major customers, Edison Technical Recruitment
are urgently looking for a number of experienced Automotive Engineers to work on prestigious vehicle
development projects throughout the UK.
We would be particularly interested to hear from anyone with any of the following experience:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
2 years+ of automotive systems/software integration in an OEM or tier one environment
Experience of vehicle communications & associated development toolsets such as CANalyzer/CANoe
CAN architecture tools such as DaVinci/Volcano
Control Systems Engineering, Matlab & Simulink
Infotainment/Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)/AUTOSAR software & systems experience
Experience in Hybrid Vehicle development
Automotive diagnostics experience
EDS Engineering, circuit creation using VeSys, CAP-H
Powertrain Control / Calibration
Power Electronics design for HV automotive applications
We have positions in all these areas available on both a long-term contract or permanent basis.
To Apply
If you feel you have the necessary attributes to work in fast-moving environments with excellent career
prospects, please send your CV to [email protected] or call 0121 629 7740 quoting
reference TE and we will contact you immediately for an initial, confidential discussion.
www.edisontechnical.co.uk
show preview:CITE 2014
Earls Court to host new
infrastructure show
This year sees the
launch of a new
UK exhibition for
the transport,
construction, utilities
and communications
infrastructure sectors.
T
he Civil Infrastructure &
Technology Exhibition – CITE 2014
– takes place at Earls Court,
London, from 20 to 22 May, providing a
unique showcase for suppliers of an
extensive range of equipment, products
and services.
Organised by St Albans-based Mack
Brooks Exhibitions, CITE 2014 will be
staged alongside the company’s well
established Infrarail show, which focus
on the fixed assets of railway systems
such as civils, track, signalling,
electrification and stations.
There is much synergy between that
market and general civil infrastructure,
explained exhibition manager Heidi
Cotsworth: ‘The response from the
industry as a whole to this first CITE
exhibition has been very enthusiastic. A
number of companies that were already
loyal supporters of our rail shows have
said they are pleased that we will be
widening the audience at Earls Court by
launching this new event. We have also
gained new exhibitors at CITE that are
very active in the rail market.”
Together, the two shows will bring
together more than 220 exhibitors,
making this the largest infrastructure
show held in the UK this year. Companies
taking part in CITE range from leading
communications specialists like
Openreach and Siemens Industry to firms
providing a response to construction
challenges, such as formwork and
scaffolding systems supplier PERI and
Pontoonworks, which provides support
services for working on water. Alongside
them will be suppliers of construction
equipment and materials, consumables
distributors, site security specialists and
firms providing essential expertise and
support services.
“
The response from
industry as a whole to this
first CITE exhibition has
been very enthusiastic
CITE 2014 has received a warm
welcome from organisations shaping the
future of civil infrastructure. The
Association for Consultancy and
Engineering (ACE) said: “ACE
welcomes the Civil Infrastructure &
Technology Exhibition (CITE) 2014 and
its important role in supporting business
generation, innovation and networking
throughout the supply chain. As the
trade association for companies that
design and deliver infrastructure, ACE
show preview:CITE 2014
Above and left: CITE and Infrarail, which
runs alongside the new show, will bring
together more than 220 exhibitors
understands the importance to its
member firms of large scale
opportunities to improve their
competitive edge and develop business.
CITE 2014 does just this and ACE is
therefore delighted to support this
excellent event.”
Also endorsing CITE 2014 are
government export support agency UK
Trade & Investment, the Institution of
Engineering and Technology and the
Chartered Institute of Logistics and
Transport, plus CEEQUAL. The lastmentioned, which runs a sustainability
assessment, rating and awards scheme
applicable to civil engineering projects
and contracts worldwide, is a major
contributor to a programme of free
drop-in seminars during the exhibition.
These run throughout the show at a
Seminar Theatre set up in the centre of
the main hall at Earls Court.
A lively programme of keynote
speeches, industry seminars and project
updates also forms a key part of Infrarail
2014, with full details available at www.
infrarail.com. The show will be formally
opened by Minister of State for
Transport Baroness Kramer.
Among other features of CITE 2014
will be the Recruitment Wall, powered
by this journal via its websites www.
theengineer.co.uk and www.
theengineerjobs.co.uk. This will form a
display in the exhibition publicising
details of exhibitors’ job opportunities,
aiming to match those with the skills of
visitors seeking career development. A
“
A networking
reception will provide
an opportunity for
exhibitors and visitors
to get together
Networking Reception towards the end
of the opening day of the show will
provide a welcome opportunity for
exhibitors and visitors to get together
over complimentary drinks and canapés.
And the Infrarail & CITE Awards will
recognise excellence within
organisations exhibiting at the
combined event, and will be presented
at a prestigious dinner on 21 May at a
nearby Kensington hotel.
Entry to CITE 2014 is free of charge
for pre-registered visitors now. To
register go to www.cite-uk.com and
follow the on-screen links. For nonregistered visitors there will be a £20
entry charge payable on arrival at Earls
Court. Registration for CITE also
provides free access to Infrarail 2014
and all its associated activities taking
place in the exhibition hall.
news:digest
march1917
prizecrossword
With public anxiety over lost shipping at its
height during the First World War, The Engineer
reported on some British naval successes against
the much-feared German U-boats
When completed rearrange the highlighted squares to spell out a metal
bar used as a lever. The first correct answer received will win a £20
Amazon voucher. Email your answer to [email protected]
As the First World War raged and following a shock attack
on neutral merchant ships, the British government was
anxious to quell public concern about the threat to shipping
posed by German U-boats
With the First World War starting its third full year of
hostilities and — as a letter elsewhere in the issue points out
— mobilisation of British troops still underway, the threat of
German submarines was preying heavily on the public mind.
U-boats seemed to be an invisible, intangible weapon that
could strike with impunity at absolutely no risk to
themselves, and the public was becoming increasingly
nervous that British military and merchant shipping would
be unable to reach their targets, and that shops would run
out of stocks. To allay these fears, the First Lord of the
Admiralty, Sir Edward Carson, used a regular speech on
naval estimates of enemy damage to point out that the Royal
Navy was in fact very effective at countering U-boats, as The
Engineer reported.
The speech was particularly in response to reports in the
launch of a German policy of unlimited U-boat warfare, with
the hope that for every vessel sunk, another dozen would be
scared away; in early March, an entire fleet of Dutch
merchant ships were sunk in the Channel (especially
alarming as the Dutch were neutral in that conflict).
However, according to Carson, over an 18-day period the
Royal Navy had detected and attacked U-boats on ‘no fewer
than 40 occasions’. The Engineer commented that ‘if the
figure for these 18 days are to be taken as an average, the
mortality among the marauders must indeed be formidable.
Our wonder increases at the folly of the German rulers in
risking the active hostility of powerful neutrals for the sake
of ruthlessly employing an arm whose limitations grow more
obvious every day’.
Meanwhile, British merchant ships were being armed
with stern-mounted machine guns, at a rate which increased
by 47.5 per cent in the first two months of 1917. According to
Carson, of every four armed merchant ships that came under
U-boat attack, three escaped. ‘Nothing could illustrate more
forcibly the inherent weakness of the submarine as a
commerce raider,’ The Engineer commented. ‘If a single gun
mounted at the stern is sufficient to baffle its attack three
times out of four, the problem of defence is already in sight
of solution.’
U-boats were to prove fateful in the conflict later that
month. On 17 March, three US merchant ships were sunk
by German submarines. The US entered the war in April.
For more on this story visit www.theengineer.co.uk
ACROSS
DOWN
1 Established as genuine (8)
2 Rotating control gate (9)
6 Fill to satisfaction (4)
3 Be superior to a standard (6)
8 Flavoured with sour orange peel (7)
9 U-shaped bar used for attachment (7)
11 Degree achieved by many engineers (6,2,7)
12 Single undivided whole (4)
13 Device that requires skill for proper use (10)
17 Gauge for recording the speed and direction of wind (10)
18 Panel forming the lower part of an interior wall (4)
4 Unit of apothecary weight equal to 480 grains (4,5)
5 Fine powdery materials (5)
6 Having ample room (8)
7 Insignificantly small (5)
8 Problem solving that involves numbers (11)
10 Solution that conducts charge (11)
14 Pleasure ground containing amusements (5,4)
15 Questioning closely (9)
20 Written contract to protect you against accidents (9,6)
16 Sill at an entrance (8)
23 Flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture (7)
21 Rich brown pigment used in old photography (5)
24 Favourable omen (7)
22 Navy, army and air force institutes (5)
25 Fastener for a door or lid (4)
26 Vague understandings (8)
19 Dwarfed ornamental tree (6)
E E END NT!
FRATT EVE
TO AY
D
3
3 - 5 JUNE
4 NEC BIRMINGHAM
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Why unmanned submarines are making waves in

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