Following on from the success of last years’ event, TF Automation opened its doors again to local students providing an insight into the world of engineering and manufacturing, as part of the Chamber of Commerce initiative – Bradford Manufacturing Weeks.

Due to demand from schools we engaged with last year and from new participants, we tripled the number of students from last year, hosting over 100 both GCSE and “A” Level students for our site visit, from 6 local schools.

Again our suppliers supported us with the event with a robot demo unit from Staubli, a laser marker from Coherent/Rofin, vision sensor equipment from Keyence and a pneumatics unit from FESTO, all showcasing technology used in our machine build projects.

As well as a brief overview about who we are and what we do, we also demonstrated a live project from inception to completion.  One of our design engineers demonstrated how to create a machine in 3D CAD and the associated machine drawings and then the students could view that machine in manufacture on the factory floor.

Tony Hubbert, Managing Director at TF commented, “We were delighted to get involved with Bradford Manufacturing Week again this year as the initiative was such a success last year. All the schools we hosted last year wanted to come back and we welcomed some new schools this year including A level students, which was great.”

One student commented, “It was great to talk to the boss about engineering and now I think I’ll become an engineer instead of a builder.” Another said, “I wasn’t bothered about going but afterwards I thought it was great and couldn’t believe how much tech goes into building one of their machines.”

A teacher from Hanson School who also visited last year commented, “It’s great to see students’ opinions change after visiting TF automation. Being able to talk to staff has certainly opened their eyes to considering a future in engineering and manufacturing. It was a great eye-opener and I can refer to the visit when teaching Design Technology GCSE theory. Many thanks to the team at TF Automation – another great visit for Bradford Manufacturing week 2019.”

Tony concludes, “It is really important to engage with local students and make them aware of the opportunities in engineering and manufacturing in their local community. We have always supported the apprenticeship scheme over many years, currently employing 3 apprentices at various stages of their careers. We look forward to hearing about the plans for BMW2020! “