Engineering a Future with Seagate
Seagate Technology has been helping raise local young people’s interest in engineering careers by mentoring students from Limavady Grammar School over the last sixth months. Seagate teamed up with a group of four students at the school as part of the annual Engineering Education Scheme, which is organised by Sentinus, one of the largest providers of business education activity in Europe. The initiative aims to increase the number of young people choosing to enter careers in the field of engineering by presenting them with a project that will require them to conduct research, develop ideas, trial potential solutions, and record outcomes in order to decide on the best end-solution.
Participating companies provide the skills and knowledge of an experienced engineer who mentors the student team on a specific project that, once completed, will be of real benefit to the host company. Meanwhile the pupils benefit by developing a range of skills and experience that only a practical, business-related project can deliver.
Paul Talley, a senior engineer at Seagate’s Limavady facility, mentored the students through their project, which involved them working in the wash area of the manufacturing process. The team was tasked with selecting a suitable replacement for the discharge elevator – a light-weight lifting mechanism, which removes, lowers and turns the disc for the next stage of the manufacturing process. In coming up with a new design, the students had to ensure that certain criteria were fulfilled: it had to increase system reliability; have no impact on tool throughput; reduce repair time; and reduce the cost of components held as spares. The students’ solution was a pneumatic slide that will now be put to use within the Limavady facility.
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