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Job Role: Senior Planning Engineer
Neil works for Corus Northern Engineering Services at their Scunthorpe premises. They are an integrated workshop facility offering project management, machining, fitting, and welding applications. Corus Northern Engineering Services work from four sites: Teesside, Scunthorpe, Cumbria and Rotherham, employing around 2,000 people.
Neil's job role is within Production Control and the workshops. His role requires him to forge agreements on scopes with customers, including timing and completion dates for specific jobs.
His working day usually starts at 8 am and his first job of the day is to check the progression of every job through the shop; this is done by using a priority list - jobs are numbered from 1-30; this is classed as a hit list. There can be up to 300 jobs on the hit list. Neil and his team can then highlight any foreseeable problems with the customers' completion dates and then liaise and alter schedules accordingly.
Neil reports to the Production Control Engineer for the workshops and is directly responsible for six Process Plant Engineers and three Progress Officers. Neil oversees and prioritises their workloads whilst actively encouraging a team approach.
Neil says "I enjoy the freedom my job offers me, I get to see all the customers out of the Scunthorpe site. Not only do I get to visit them I get to see the components that we have made actually in service at the plant, something that we rarely get to see. I visit customers all over Britain which can involve long journeys and overnight stays, which is something again I enjoy."
Neil works on his own a lot, but is part of a larger team. He requires input from planners, progress officers, sometimes other departments and then in some extremes, other parts of Corus.
When Neil first started at Corus Northern Engineering Services he worked a shift system, a five-week rota pattern that involved working 6am to 2 pm, 2pm to 10 pm and nights. The first year he was on the plant it was a real shock to discover he was 2pm-10pm on Christmas day and nights on New Year's Eve! Nowadays he works a 9-5 day, although sometimes he is required to travel away which can lead to longer days.
He primarily works in a large, open plan office. However there are times when he has to visit customers out on plant; the weather can play a major part as to whether that experience is enjoyable or not.
Driving is essential in his role as he often travels the country to visit customers. Neil drives to work but many of his colleagues travel to work by train or bus; the business is easily accessible by public transport.
At school Neil enjoyed design and technology lessons more than any others and so when he saw the advert for apprenticeships he thought it would be something he would enjoy. He was accepted and taken on as a Mechanical Craft Apprentice, for a period of three years. It allowed him to continue his Higher Education as well as earning a wage. After the apprenticeship finished he was taken on as a Mechanical Craftsman within the workshops at Scunthorpe. During his apprenticeship he undertook a Higher National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering. He then applied to be sponsored by Corus to attend a part time degree course at Sheffield Hallam University. He now attends on a day release system one day a week.
Neil's career at Corus has already developed through his appointment as Quality Assurance Team Leader, which means looking after a team of inspectors within the machine shop. After a few years he applied for a job within the Management team and that is the job that he is currently in.
Neil explains "My long-term aim is to progress further within the management structure here at Corus, but taking one step at a time. I would like to complete my degree and graduate in 2007 at a good level, which will help me further in my career".
