By: Adam Westbury
Date: 3rd April 2019
Earlier this month, ATS Design Engineer, Laura Baker delivered a training session to 15 Southern Water mechanical and electrical engineers.
It came about during a conversation with Tom Westwood of Southern Water that highlighted a knowledge-gap at their end and Laura used fantastic initiative by offering to help.
The purpose of the training session was to give the engineers more knowledge and insight into engineering design, to help them make better early design selections and to understand why we make the system selections and configurations we do.
Accompanying Laura on the day were David Castle and Mark Murphy, who were lending moral support, bag-carrying prowess, and using it as a great opportunity to spend quality time with customers.
The half day of training began with a two-hour session looking at and considering different scenarios and the mathematics behind making good choices, when it comes to system structures and component combinations.
After a short break, Laura then tested how much the engineers had taken on board by asking them to work-through and find solutions to several challenges, she set them through workbooks. It was clear from the answers they gave that Laura’s training session had been very well-received and very well understood.
“I really enjoy discussing thoughts and putting forward proposals to customers face-to-face but the idea of standing up and presenting in front of a large group of people was slightly daunting. The last time I did it was at university when my nerves got the better of me and I had a panic attack and was then sick! This time around though, I absolutely loved it. Everyone was very appreciative of the session.”
Laura hopes to run more sessions like this in the future, adding: “It was really worthwhile, it gives even greater value to our service for Southern Water and helps cement our relationship, and that can only be a good thing.”
