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HOW WOMEN CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON THE SHOP FLOOR
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A more diverse engineering workforce is essential to propel collaboration and innovation, and advancing gender equality is at the heart of Renishaw’s equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) efforts. In this article, Sarah Chappell-Smith, Process Improvement Engineering Manager at Renishaw, looks at how women can make a difference on the shop floor.
ike many engineering students, I dreamt of a career in product design. In fact, it is what my degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering mostly focused on. Everything changed when
placement in a medical engineering company. Suddenly, I realised I liked being on the shop process improvement.
Renishaw at its Miskin production plant in South Wales. I started working there as a process improvement engineer while undertaking my Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering as manager level.
Process improvement is all about making maximise manufacturing capacity and output. Leveraging automation effectively is core to achieving these goals. For example, I have implemented automated dispensing robots across our glue applications at Miskin, to key driver behind what I do. I constantly look reduce waste in line with Renishaw’s ambitious sustainability goals.
WORKING AS A PROCESS IMPROVEMENT ENGINEER AT RENISHAW I am responsible for a team of engineers, technicians, graduates and apprentices. My primary goal is to support them in running the incremental side of Renishaw’s encoder production line.
environment and plans can change in a
heartbeat. Every day I learn something new about how production lines work and how I can improve them.
Process improvement engineering is very collaborative. I work with people with different academic and professional backgrounds across business divisions. This diversity is critical to pushing the boundaries of our knowledge and propelling our creativity, enabling us to develop innovative solutions to production problems. aspects of my role is seeing my team grow and collaboration and having transparent, effective communication are the key ingredients of a successful team. Adapting my communication style to each individual’s learning preferences has been invaluable. This is something I learnt when I worked as a gymnastics instructor while attending university. I ran multiple classes for different age groups, from parents and toddlers to children and teenagers. This experience communication to diverse learning needs.
EMPOWERING WOMEN IN ENGINEERING STEM outreach programmes are core to Renishaw’s mission and can go a long way toward empowering women in engineering. These initiatives aim to engage and inspire students from a young age, showing them how engineering and science can be exciting and fun. For example, we recently encouraged pupils at a local school to write letters to Renishaw engineers and ask them what a typical day in the life of an engineer looks like.
Renishaw’s STEM outreach programmes are a great way of engaging children, teenagers and young adults from diverse backgrounds, including young girls. This is how we can combat
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how they can thrive in engineering. I recently had the pleasure of being part of an internal panel event on International Women in Engineering Day. It was an inspiring initiative, with three women from different backgrounds talking about their experiences of becoming engineers. Events like this can be very inspiring, especially for young women who may have previously not had female role models to look summer placement.
I feel that women in engineering have come a long way, but there’s more to do to achieve full gender equality. Young female engineers often feel they need to work extra hard to obtain the same respect as male colleagues. Luckily, companies like Renishaw are committed to empowering women like me to thrive in their careers.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN SOUTH WALES The Miskin production facility has been a catalyst for change in South Wales, where opportunities for engineers are limited. At a time when we have seen several factory closures in this region, it is encouraging to see how companies like Renishaw are committed to investing in the local economy and providing the local communities with new career prospects. For further information on graduate roles at Renishaw, visit
https://www.renishaw.com/en/ graduates--6875.
Find out more and request a quote:
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