Industry benefits from student gap year innovation

Kate Earnshaw, a 19-year-old gap year engineering student from Sheffield, has won the EEF/Year in Industry award

Kate (pictured with EEF director general Martin Temple) spent her gap year before university with Firth Rixson Group, an engineering company in Sheffield which produces components for the aerospace, railway and oil and gas industries. She led an investigation into the failure rates on several product lines following a heat treatment process, not only solving the problem relating to the failure of parts but calculating a significant potential for greater capacity.

Her recommended new software system and furnace will increase capacity by an extra 12,000 per furnace per day and has also triggered changes at other Firth Rixson sites.

Year in Industry is a national programme providing high calibre, pre-university students with experience of real project work in industry which significantly enhances their degree and employment prospects. Twentysix per cent of Year in Industry students go on to gain first class honours compared to the national average of 10%.

The scheme also provides companies with cost-effective access to highly talented potential graduate recruits, who often bring fresh ideas and initiative. In addition, in many instances the students can solve problems that have baffled companies for many years and save significant sums of money. Feedback shows 86% of company managers say the scheme has had an immediate impact on their company and 98% of managers would recommend the scheme.

EEF director general Martin Temple says: "Kate's achievement highlights the fresh, innovative thinking that these students can bring to companies and shows the potential for engineering to offer a rewarding career to our brightest and best graduates.

"The projects undertaken by Year in Industry students put them streets ahead of their contemporaries in terms of experience within the workplace, whilst the companies that offer high quality business placements can reap the rewards with real bottom line benefits."

Steve Savage of Kate's host firm Firth Rixson adds: "Kate has shown a maturity and responsibility which normally comes with years of experience. Her ability is without question, and she has made a great impression with all those she has worked with."

In addition to the main award, there were three other specialist awards:

* The award for communications (sponsored by SEMTA) was presented to Tsz Fok for his project at Turner Powertrain Systems. He undertook an in-depth evaluation of the final stages of the production of transmissions and produced a new procedure that will save the company 78,000 a year.

* The award for innovation (sponsored by EIS) went to Jenny Auton, who undertook extensive research at Colgate Palmolive to design, assemble and test specialised rigs to measure the filling properties of toothpastes.

* The Environmental Impact Award (sponsored by QinetiQ) was won by Hannah Kershaw for her placement at Milklink, where she worked on the company's IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) permit application, and investigated environmental improvements to operations at the company's Staplemead site.

Companies interested in taking part in the Year in Industry scheme can find more information at www.yini.org.uk