Shropshire student scoops award for saving Telford firm £1m a year

Adrian Schmieder is on a year-long placement at Ingimex in Halesfield.

The aeronautical engineering student, from Southampton University, was asked by the maker of commercial vehicle bodies to design and implement new manufacturing and assembly work centres to allow the manufacturing process on box vans to be incorporated into the finished vehicle assembly cycle.

So he developed an assembly table with a pneumatically powered tilting top, and also created a separate work centre for component drilling to reduce panel assembly time.

The project has allowed the firm to double its weekly output from 15 to 30 vans, creating a yearly cost saving of £1 million.

Lead time will be reduced from 11 weeks to one, allowing Ingimex to widen its product portfolio.

Now Mr Schmieder has landed the Year in Industry Innovation award, sponsored by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), at a major awards ceremony at the BT Auditorium in London.

He said: “To be pitched into an environment where you have to develop quickly the teamworking, project management and technical skills in order to succeed is challenging and character forming, but ultimately very satisfying.

“My year in Industry has provided me with skills and experience that will stand me in good stead for the future and has provided me with insights that give me a much better understanding of the options I have for my career.”

Ingimex engineering director JM Gallen added: “Adrian’s contribution was not limited to this process step, he has also created a new work centre to remove metal cutting operations from the assembly line and revolutionised the way that we stock extrusions to save considerable warehouse space and improve operator health and safety.

“Throughout his time here he has demonstrated a tremendously high level of initiative and enthusiasm; we feel this has been a key factor in his success on this project.”