Engineering eye

News and rumours from within the world of engineering

The perfect gift

To a two-day conference at Birmingham NEC, where some of the great and good of the industry, including former PE cover star Bob Joyce, group engineering director at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), struggled to make themselves heard over the din of machine tools from the adjacent Subcon show. Joyce was on ebullient form: and why not, given the success that JLR has enjoyed since its acquisition by India’s Tata Motors. Eye can remember tongue-wagging, eyebrow raising and finger pointing when the deal was first mooted: how dare we sell a jewel of the British automotive industry to an Indian company? Eye thought this short-sighted – after all, JLR had a foreign parent at that time anyway, Ford, and it had had no qualms in putting the British carmaker on the forecourt to raise some cash. But few could have foreseen just how well JLR would do under Tata, to the extent that the Indian conglomerate is relying on it to keep profits up as its domestic market softens. Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Motors, was so grateful that he gave Joyce an unusual token of his appreciation, the Jaguar man revealed at the conference. “I was presented with a box of mangoes by Ratan Tata. Although retired now, he went out of his way to give them to a select group of people he had worked with over the last few years,” said Joyce. Eye supposes this beats a stationery set, embossed mug or corporate calendar. It is unknown whether Ratan Tata declared “how do you like them mangoes?” as he offered the gift to Joyce.

Women on Britain's banknotes

Eye has learned that the Women’s Engineering Society has written to the Bank of England urging it to keep a woman on one of Britain’s banknotes. A sound idea, surely, thinks the Eye – but could we do even better and have a technically gifted female adorning a fiver or tenner in the future? The society suggests that doing so would send a signal to schoolgirls about the kudos of doing jobs such as engineering. Its suggestions for who might go on the note, however, include the aviator Amy Johnson, Ada Lovelace, sometimes referred to as the first computer programmer, and Caroline Haslett, an electrical engineer. Eye ponders whether historically there are many other examples of renowned female engineers with the gravitas of a Brunel, Whittle or Stephenson. Do you think female engineers could be on banknotes? Please send in your suggestions.