Institution news
The various Cummins businesses in the UK employ over 4,000 people across sites in Peterborough, Kent, Daventry, Huddersfield and Darlington, with further plants and distributors in the Americas, Asia and Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The aim of the conference held 3-4 June was to give representatives an opportunity to meet and share their expertise, developments and best-practice experience.
It also aimed to demonstrate how working cross-functionally can impact design and to help engineers further develop fundamental knowledge relating to the analytical tools used to solve problems.
Phil Bend CEng MIMechE was on the organizing team (which included delegates from each of the five UK sites).
He explained the format of the conference: “Representatives from each of the Cummins sites made a number of short presentations on their current technology projects, so that the wider organization could share their developments.
"Potentially, this could enable other sites to apply the same best practice to their products and projects. Where some of these tools and techniques overlap with third parties, we invited some key suppliers – experts in structural analysis and experimental mechanics, measurement and testing – to present the latest technology.”
There were many opportunities to put faces to names, to network and enjoy some downtime. The delegates also visited Nene Valley Railway, which is now discussing with Cummins the possibility of linking work on a Cummins diesel engine, housed in one of its locomotives, to the company’s community work project.
Ansys and LMS, as sponsors of the event, held sessions to demonstrate structural analysis and experimental mechanics developments. Key suppliers HBM nCode and Polytec also demonstrated some of the tools and processes that they are using, allowing delegates to choose to focus on areas that suited their careers or interests.
Lara Mallett, Business Development Manager who has been working with Cummins in Peterborough to develop a Monitored Professional Development Scheme (MPDS), represented the Institution at the conference. It is hoped that the Peterborough site will receive Institution accreditation by the end of 2015.
Lara said: “I am delighted to attend events such as these and see Cummins’ commitment to developing their mechanical engineering community. It was great to meet engineers from various Cummins sites, including those who mentor and support others to become registered with the IMechE.”
Phil Bend said: “Across our UK sites in Peterborough and Stamford, Cummins Generator Technologies has a large number of graduate engineers and junior people, so this was an exciting opportunity for them to explore new technologies, and to help identify directions for future career aspirations. Their experiences from the conference can link to the MPDS scheme by way of a development plan.”
He added: “We are keen to promote the benefits of the Institution as I feel it is important that all mechanical engineers see the importance of their link with the IMechE. When we are recruiting, for example, this shows the rest of the world that we are a company of substance.”
The conference is traditionally held every two years, but according to Phil there are plans to make it annual, as it is seen to be important to the business. He said: “This way, we connect UK and European groups – and international arms.
We gain the corporate vision from the US, thanks to the attendance of US delegates, who bring a flavour of what is taking place in further locations, such as a similar conference held in India. Cummins has a fairly complex UK and international structure; but a face-to-face event mitigates the complexity and draws people, skills, best practice, developments, interests and ideas together.”