News Industry Comment The Coldest Journey crew opts for MK


THE COLDEST JOURNEY, the world’s first ever trans- Antarctic winter traverse, is making use of wiring devices donated from MK Electric’s Logic Plus range, as well as the Sentry range of circuit protection con- sumer units and Prestige 3D cable management. Expedition co-leader Sir Ranulph Fiennes (who himself was recently forced to leave the expedition owing to frostbite), is no stranger to MK Electric, having first used its products on his Transglobe Expedition in 1977.


Addressing the burgeoning skills gap within engineering and the pro- motion of apprenticeships is some- thing that we regularly champion within these pages. The need for doing so has been fur- ther highlighted by a recent report from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) which has claimed that as many as one in five 21 year olds must enter the engineering profession each year until 2020 to overcome skills shortages - a worrying statistic when you consider the SMF also states that the industry is already 40,000 short of the number of STEM (science, technology, engineer- ing and mathematics), students it needs each year - a problem that will get worse as the engineering work- force ages and retires. The UK has all sorts of future targets to meet regarding the economy, and energy and the environment. However, these figures around engineering skills are surely the most pertinent ones that need addressing, and are the obvious place to start in terms of turning things around, as without the engineering tal- ent and captains of industry of tomor- row, how will UK industry fulfill its huge potential in the years to come? Joe Bush, Editor


Jason Ng of MK Electric, commented, “MK Electric is extremely proud of its British heritage. As such, we’re always willing to lend our support to pioneering projects and feats showcasing the best of British inge- nuity, talent and endurance. “We’ve been manufacturing products in Great Britain for the best part of the last century, and 83% of


our entire product range is still manufactured at our Southend and St. Asaph sites. As such, we’re proud to support British ingenuity and sponsor one of the great- est living British explorers. We’re behind The Coldest Journey team 100%.” www.mkelectric.com


Putting remote TV transmitters on standby


DIESELEC THISTLE HAS com- pleted the installation of 22 diesel generators at a number of TV trans- mitter stations to deliver the com-


munications infrastructure for the digital switchover (DSO). Dieselec Thistle carried out a rolling programme of generator delivery, installation and commis- sioning to provide standby power for TV transmitter sites throughout the country. The programme involved some of the remotest locations in Britain and all the gen- erators were built to withstand severe weather conditions. Paul Moore, MD of Dieselec Thistle, explained, “Because there needs to be a clear line of radio transmission between each trans- mitter, they are all located in ele- vated and unpopulated positions and many of them are very remote. This meant that the specification and build had to be very robust and that the logistics of delivering, installing and commissioning them


needed to be planned meticulously, often involving taking the gensets to the location in several consign- ments and re-building them on-site to overcome access restrictions.” The 22 generators were deliv- ered, installed and commissioned over a two year period and were housed in bespoke enclosures with low volume noise attenuation and were delivered to site with custom- built bulk fuel storage tanks to pro- tect the fuel from the risk of emulsifying at low temperatures. The generators will protect the transmitters from the risk of inter- ruptions in transmission due to localised mains failure. The con- trol systems for each generator have been designed to provide a ‘no break’ switchover to ensure there is no break in transmission. www.dieselecthistle.co.uk


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