At the Institution’s recent event for new Members and Fellows from Greater London, Eastern and South East England, the three Chartered Engineers spoke of AVL's active encouragement of its employees to join the Institution.
AVL Powertrain UK Limited is the UK arm of the engineering division of AVL, which has its headquarters in Graz, Austria. AVL is the world's largest independent company for development, simulation and testing technology of powertrains (hybrid, combustion engines, transmission, electric drive, batteries and software) for passenger cars, trucks and large engines. AVL has approximately 150 employees in the UK, working on powertrain development from their offices in Basildon and in Coventry.
Within the company there are currently thirteen full Members of the IMechE, two of whom are Fellows. There are a further 23 engineers who are already Associate Members or who have applied to join the Institution. Associate Members and are either on AVL’s Monitored Professional Development Scheme (MPDS), or have applied to the Institution for membership through the various other routes available.
Managing Director Professor Matthias Wellers FIMechE recognises the Institution as one of the most important organisations for automotive engineers. He said: “We will keep encouraging not only our graduate trainees but all engineers at all levels within the company to play an active role in the Institution. For sure, achieving full membership is an important step in the career of an aspiring engineer and we do not stop there. We keep our active support concerning training, conferences and professional development.”
AVL Powertrain UK Ltd has been running their MPDS for more than five years and has recently been reaccredited for a further three years. There are currently twelve graduate engineers on MPDS with eight Chartered Engineers within the company acting as their mentors. Enrolment with the Institution is encouraged as soon as an engineer joins the company. There are regular Institution membership review meetings held between administrators, engineers and mentors, and the company keeps all its engineers up to date with news of upcoming lectures and events via internal email and the Institution notice board. You immediately see AVL’s commitment to the Institution on entering reception, where members’ certificates are on display.
Nick Chadwick was made aware of the Institution in a lecture during his first week of university. He was studying an accredited MEng course and was encouraged to sign up as an Affiliate Member and ever since then has been on the path towards becoming Chartered. He joined AVL from university, showed them he was interested in becoming Chartered and was assigned a mentor to guide him through the MPDS process. Nick says: “I am proud to now be able to call myself a Chartered Engineer, I feel it is something which demonstrates both my commitment to the profession and my competency as an engineer.”
Nick is committed to his Continuous Professional Development having gone through the MPDS process and CPD now allows him to plan and document his further progress in a structured way, putting him in a better position to achieve his goals: “I would encourage all engineers to do the same, and I am now mentoring someone through MPDS myself.”
When experienced engine designer Rik Alewijnse joined AVL Powertrain UK Ltd, he found that the company was a very enthusiastic supporter of the IMechE. As the design Technical Specialist for the UK office, he has been encouraged to support the Institution through giving lectures, reading papers and judging Formula Student. As Rik says: “Through these contacts I liked what I saw: opportunities for learning and development, events, networking and the wonderful library. The Institution was clearly an organisation of which I wanted to be part. Learning about the Career Learning Assessment (CLA) route confirmed that the competences I had developed over the years met the UK SPEC requirements to become a registered professional. The process itself was fairly straightforward and I am now proud to be a Chartered Engineer.”
Rik recognises the certification as a step forward, since AVL places high value on professional qualifications. He thinks that this encourages younger engineering professionals in the company and has now become a mentor on AVL’s Monitored Professional Development Scheme. He said: “One of the reasons I chose an engineering career is that there is always something new to learn, so Continuing Professional Development comes quite naturally to me. Now membership of the Institution provides a structure for my CPD.”
Paul Havelock heard about the Institution at university and was an Affiliate Member for many years. Paul wasn’t encouraged by his previous employers to become a Member, but at AVL Powertrain UK the opposite is true and he was encouraged to achieve Chartership, achieved by direct application and interview. Once he had achieved Chartership it helped his career progression and took on the role of being the representative for the Institution within AVL Powertrain UK, looking after MPDS, applications and all other related tasks.
As Paul says: “I have already found being a Member rewarding, and it has already helped my career. I work with many graduates and engineers to help them from initial application right up to interview.” Paul currently mentors two engineers on MPDS which he finds very rewarding. Both have now entered their final year so are not far from becoming Members. He attends many lectures which is made easy as there is an Automotive Division based in Essex. He said:“From my personal experience I would thoroughly recommend becoming Chartered with the Institution.”
If you want to find out more about membership of the Institution for yourself or for your employees, please visit:
http://www.imeche.org/engineeringexcellence