Category: News & Updates

It’s fair to say there has been a genuine issue with getting young people involved with the engineering industry over the past few years. With dwindling numbers of skilled workers within the sector, more must be done to change the image of engineering for young people.

There is a common misconception that most young people simply do not have the skills or required grades to become a high flying engineer – whilst some simply believe that the engineering industry will be ‘boring’ to work within.

In this article, we take a closer look at just how important it is for the engineering industry to appeal to young people and some of the ways businesses can ensure they are doing their bit for the industry as a whole too.

The Importance Of Appealing To Young People

It goes without saying that it is absolutely vital to work on changing the image of engineering as a whole for young people. Ensuring that enough young workers are interested in working with the industry is vital to the growth of the sector as a whole in the coming years.

With a significant skills shortage already plaguing the engineering industry, and more skilled workers expected to be lost following Brexit, there is a genuine need for more young people to start considering engineering as their career of choice. Whilst young people certainly couldn’t be expected to come into businesses and fill the shoes of seasoned industry professionals, there is hope that following a few years of intensive training, through apprenticeships and entry-level roles, that the skills gap will begin to close.

It’s fair to say that some progress has been made in making the industry appeal to a younger demographic in recent years, with the introduction of apprenticeships enabling young people to come into the engineering industry with little to no previous experience. There has also been a focus on introducing and encouraging STEM subjects for students from schools around the UK over the last couple of years, which has allowed students to gain the skills required to have a solid footing within the engineering industry.

How To Change The Image Of Your Business For Young People

In recent years, a lot has been made about the importance of changing the image of individual businesses within the engineering industry. The thinking is that if each engineering business appeals to younger people, the engineering sector as a whole will. Here’s a few simple ways to enhance your company’s reputation with young people:

Carry Out Workshops in Local Schools – Engaging young people by encouraging participation in fun engineering-related activities, workshops within schools, colleges and universities is a great way to get young people involved in engineering. Simple activities complemented by some of the key facts on employment within the sector, potential earnings and career paths can be a fantastic way to enthuse young people about engineering as a career in the future.

Introduce Work Experience Opportunities – Many businesses within the industry are reluctant to allow young people into the business for work experience. Whilst it can be seen as an inconvenience, work experience is a fantastic way to engage young people and get them seriously considering a career within the engineering industry. Constantly shutting down any applicants for work experience can have a significantly negative effect on the engineering industry as a whole, as the sector can appear closed off and unfriendly to young people.

Introduce an Apprenticeship Scheme – Apprenticeships are a fantastic way to introduce aspiring engineers into your business, whilst also giving your business the opportunity to gain a potentially skilled worker at the end of the course. Apprenticeships have been reshaping the industry over the last few years, and businesses who are taking part in the schemes have seen apprentices learn their trade on the job, gaining valuable skills, which has led to the vast majority of apprentices taking up roles within the business on completion of the scheme.

Attend Job Fairs – Whilst it’s likely that your business already does this, it’s worth considering how you are communicating with the young people you come into contact with at these events. If you are simply setting up a stall at the job fair and discussing opportunities within the sector, you may find that you are struggling to engage young people, so you may want to consider including some interactive elements within your stall. Getting young people engaged by having some simple engineering puzzles or quizzes could be a great way to help your firm identify young people who have potential too!

As experienced custom spring manufacturers, we are committed to ensuring we do our very best to encourage young people to enter the wonderful world of engineering. That’s why we have been running our very own apprenticeship for the last few years, which has proved to be extremely successful. We have seen several of our apprentices blossom into fantastic spring manufacturers of the future, and we look forward to our current crop of apprentices having a long and successful career within the engineering industry.

To what extent is the manufacturing environment still a male-dominated environment, and how can individual businesses make a positive change to the industry’s gendered landscape? In this article, we’re talking about why gender equality in the workplace is vital to the success of businesses everywhere.

Women are Critical for Your Company’s Success

This year, IndustryWeek released an article titled ‘women are critical to manufacturing’s future’. Incorporating women into your business isn’t simply a matter of equality – important though that is – it is a pre-requisite for your company’s success.

Research has found that equal gender distribution amongst low-skilled workers is more likely to improve their productivity, dependent on the size and type of the firm. It’s not all about productivity, however, improving gender equality is going to save you money in the long term because better gender equality means better employee retention rates, which translates to fewer expenses on recruitment, interviews, hiring and training.

There are plenty of benefits you could be reaping from improving diversity in your workplace, starting with women. By employing a variety of people, you are going to be encouraging greater perspective in your business which will help with problem-solving.

If we step outside of the individual company and turn to look at nations as a whole, then we can see that the employment of women in skilled roles across a range of disciplines is vital for staying at the top of the market. The World Economic Forum has found a correlation between a country’s competitiveness and how it educates and – more importantly – how it employs its female talent. If equality is so vital on the global front, then it surely affects businesses at lower levels too.

Introducing Women into the Workplace

Women were first properly introduced into previously male-only territories during World War I when manpower was being diverted into the armed forces. Today, women in the workplace don’t arise out of national necessity, so women are still fighting for places in work.

IndustryWeek looks at American studies, which are somewhat comparable to the British workplace. They quote a study from Women in Manufacturing, finding that only 7% of respondents thought of manufacturing as a field that offers opportunities for young women. To bring more women into the manufacturing environment, it is vital that we start by changing perceptions of our industry.

We can see similar efforts being made in STEM at education-level as our nation attempts to shift perspectives on vocational learning and apprenticeships for the better. For individual businesses, similar initiatives may need to be employed to make a real change. We’re thinking about offering equal opportunities apprenticeships to encourage women from a young age, as well as working to provide stunning female role models within the industry that young women can look up to and work towards.

This means encouraging your current female workers to pursue the skills training that they need to achieve higher roles. By promoting your female workers and placing them in visible roles, you will find it easier to recruit more women in the hiring process because they will see that yours is an environment which will allow them to grow and achieve.

European Springs and Equality in Manufacturing

Discussions about improving gender equality are only the beginning; improving the face of manufacturing and encouraging productivity in your business will require effort, planning, and dedication.

At European Springs, we have great staff retention and plenty of initiatives to encourage diverse members of today’s youth to start their career in manufacturing. As a nation, we need to aim to achieve 50/50 by 2020 if we want to pull ahead of the global competition.

If you’re keen to start actively participating in diversity equality, then take your business to the annual Diversity & Inclusion in Manufacturing summit on November 14^th in Liverpool this year. There is plenty more to be done, so learn from the best at the summit where you can participate in lectures and discussions. A good place to start learning is with McKinsey & Company’s Diversity Matters report.

European Springs are reliable spring manufacturers dedicated to improving the face of manufacturing. We believe in delivering the highest levels of dedicated service with unbeatable prices; you can find out more about our products by contacting us.

The recent acquisition of a Bennett Aqua Grinder by the Redruth site of European Springs & Pressings has revolutionised the grinding capabilities of the Cornish factory.

The new eight headed, water-cooled grinder has not only enhanced large wire grinding quality, predominantly in the automotive sector, but has also increased grinding production by 400%.

Critically, the new system delivers a higher quality of finish with a near mirror finish, offering the customer an exceptional level of manufacturing excellence and an improved level of service.

Michael Gibbs, Managing Director of the Cornwall factories says: “Adding the aqua grinder to our infrastructure of grinding production systems has raised our performance across multiple platforms.

The quality of finish is exceptional and we’re delighted to be able to strengthen the level of delivery we offer our customers and increase production alongside demand.”

The new grinder is an integral part of a new performance platform, centred on prioritising lean manufacturing and production targets, across Cornwall’s two factories.

Ensuring that our company has a consistent and active presence within the engineering industry is vital. Attending high-profile trade shows within the industry is a fantastic way to network with like minded individuals and potential customers.

In this article, we take a closer look at two of the upcoming trade shows the team at European Springs will be attending in 2019 and highlighting some of the key benefits that attending each show can bring not only to our business, but also to potential attendees of each show.

Engineering Design Show

The Engineering Design Show prides itself on being the only event solely dedicated to engineering, electronics and embedded design in the UK. Providing the perfect environment for design engineers to benefit from direct access to the very latest products and services available in the sector today.

Attendees will have access to over 220 exhibitors from a wide range of engineering backgrounds, 25 conference speakers discussing some of the most important upcoming trends within the industry and 35 practical workshops, aimed at ensuring your business is in a position to thrive in the coming years.

The Engineering Design Show is not to be missed, with the show guaranteeing that your business is able to stay ahead of your competition by taking in a whole host of powerful content on the future of engineering, electronics and embedded design. All whilst being able to network with industry peers and developing new business relationships with individuals from across the design engineering community.

If you are interested in attending the show, you’ll be pleased to know that entry is completely free, and free parking is provided on site. This year’s Engineering Design Show is being held at the Ericsson Exhibition Hall at the Ricoh Area in Coventry on the 16^th and 17^th 2019. You can find us at stand G85, so be sure to come and visit us and have a chat about how we can help your business thrive.

Advanced Engineering Show 2019

Later in October, European Springs and Pressings will be exhibiting at the Advanced Engineering show 2019, aiming to highlight our expertise as a spring manufacturer.

The Advanced Engineering show is the UK’s largest showcase on the latest advances in engineering, converging innovations, latest developments and vital information. The aim of the show is to enable all engineering businesses in the UK to work as efficiently as possible, enabling each company to increase profitability and compete and grow in a competitive global market.

The show prides itself on providing exhibitors with a chance to connect with thousands of relevant decision makers from a whole host of engineering businesses throughout the UK. Whilst at the event, there is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your expertise to an enthusiast audience, who are ready to invest in the latest technology and products within the engineering industry.

There are opportunities to network with around 15,000 professionals within the industry, with businesses from the aero engineering, composites engineering, automotive engineering, connected manufacturing and medical device engineering sectors.

This year’s event is being held at the National Exhibition centre in Birmingham on the 30^th and 31^st October 2019, so be sure to register your interest early if you are looking to attend this year’s show.  If you would like to discuss European Springs products and services in more depth, please feel free to visit us at stand A16, we look forward to seeing you there!

As spring manufacturers with over 70 years’ experience in the industry, we take great pride in sharing our knowledge and expertise with other businesses within our industry. Our range of products is vast, and we are capable of providing a whole host of businesses with springs and wire forms of the very highest quality.

World Breastfeeding Week began on August 1^st this year, but this awareness week isn’t just about celebrating the wonders of the human body; it’s also about improving discussions on those who cannot – or choose not – to breastfeed. This is a topic that everyone can get invested in, including ourselves, as our products helped to create self-warming bottles that are improving the lives of parents everywhere.

World Breastfeeding Week

Held every year from August 1^st – 7^th, this important awareness week is celebrated in no less than 120 countries. It began in 1992 and has achieved several of its original goals, including improving general opinion towards breastfeeding mothers and ensuring that they receive the support they need to thrive as a family.

Whilst WABA has made leaps and bounds; it is important to understand the pressure faced by young families to breastfeed their child and the negative impacts that can have on their mental stability and general happiness. It appears to be true that exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months provides the new-born with important sustenance to prepare it for the future, but what is often left out of this statement is the pressure that this puts on breastfeeding parents.

The desire to provide the new baby with the best start in life may place undue stress on new parents, especially when complications arise – not all babies suckle sweetly, and many parents reach a point where breastfeeding simply becomes too painful for the parent to continue supporting their child with breast milk.

This should not be shamed. Postnatal depression is already a severe issue which could benefit from greater support, and the unintelligent opinion that all families can and should breastfeed exclusively for the first six-months can push young families towards depression unnecessarily. This depression should not be waved off, either, as it has been well noted that postnatal depression can lead to poor treatment of new-born children as exasperated parents struggle to make healthy decisions. This means that better support is needed, and one way that we can provide relief is by alleviating the pressures of breastfeeding.

When You Should Consider Alternatives to Breastfeeding

There are many reasons why you should consider finding an alternative to breastfeeding your baby, whether your family is struggling with postnatal depression or the child simply isn’t latching on – there is never any shame in supplementing or fully changing to an alternative method.

Infant Formula – Infant formula is not a complete substitute for breast milk, but in cases where there is no alternative, this is the next best thing.

Wet Nursing – This practice used to be very popular, but since the rise of blood bourne infections, it has been surrounded by fear. If you are considering allowing your child to receive wet nursing, then you should be careful to choose someone who you can trust to provide good milk for your child.

Receiving milk from another woman may seem a little odd to some families, but so long as the wet nurse is healthy, it could be beneficial for your child to receive milk from an additional source as it will bolster your baby’s immune system beyond that which your milk can offer.

Milk Banks – There are 17 different milk banks across the UK where you can source breast milk for your baby. This means that you can still source important nutrients for your child without putting all that pressure on yourself.

Milk Pumping – Milk banks exist because new parents pump (or express) their milk to send off to banks, but you can do the same. If there are complications in getting your child to suckle on either side, expressing the breast milk to feed to a child via bottle may be a preferable method.

Yoomi Innovation and Baby Bottles

When using an alternative to breastfeeding, you may want to use baby bottles, and one of the best bottles on the market is undoubtedly the Yoomi bottle – a bottle which understands the pressures facing new parents.

Yoomi means that you no longer need to worry about heating the milk to the right temperature because this bottle warms it for you and your baby. Late-night baby routines just got more efficient, and European Springs have been more than happy to be a part of this amazing process.

We designed various prototypes for spring stamping designs to be used in the bottle, which evolved to a final order of 3,500 clicker spring stampings for the first bottles on the market, quickly jumping to 250,000 as those initial orders sold out. This bottle has been revolutionary for families worldwide, and you can read more about it on our case study: Heating Up One of Britain’s Top Inventions.

We are eager to continue challenging ourselves, especially when it leads to the completion of inventions that substantially improve the lives of real people, such as Yoomi. We are spring manufacturers, but we’re also custom spring manufacturers, which means we are capable of making completely bespoke products to meet your precise requirements.