Engineering Showcase 2008

On the 17th March 2008 Pilot Drilling Control were involved with Suffolk Education Business Enterprise’s 2nd Engineering Showcase. The event was an opportunity for young adults in the Ipswich catchment to talk to engineers from the area about what engineering is all about. The school pupils aged between 14 and 17 had the chance to visit many exhibits from companies based around the east coast and not only discuss engineering as a profession but also have a chance to have a go at several hands on tasks with an engineering feel to them.

The show was a chance for companies in the area to make people aware of not only the standard of engineering in the area, but to interest the pupils in it as a career. It allowed not only the well known university route into engineering to be seen but also the modern apprenticeship route, with stands from Connexions Suffolk and EEF to highlight this to students and also many exhibitors making them aware of their own apprentice schemes.

The stand from Pilot Drilling Control allowed students the chance to have a go at the CAD software packaged used by the company. It also allowed the chance to talk to two of PDC’s current students on placement and get an idea of engineering from people still learning, as well as an idea of life at university.

Maths in Schools Events

The aim of this event is to encourage and stimulate local young people who may not have thought of the energy business or engineering as a career.

For this the third year of participation of working with Lowestoft High Schools, PDC has been joined by SLP Engineering. The students are invited into the companies, and are given challenging maths tasks to work on with follow-up activities in school and a final presentation of results.

This is an important step in addressing the skills gap in the energy sector and PDC and SLP have received very positive feedback from the schools, pupils and Enterprise Lowestoft who facilitate the event. Any companies who would like to learn more about how to be involved in this sort of activity should contact either Anne Swietlik at anne2@pdc-uk.com or Cheryl Willis at info@enterpriselowestoft.co.uk.