Creating a spark for West Cumbria’s future engineers

Assystem has more than 50 years of experience in the nuclear industry and its 5,700 employees work in a diverse range of engineering roles across the globe to support their clients deliver nuclear programmes in France, the UK, the Middle East, Egypt, Uzbekistan and Turkey. 

At the open day, Assystem colleagues aimed to give the young people a modern understanding of what engineering is today, dispelling myths that it is a stagnated or boring career path. Assystem’s Principal Engineer Graham Potter said: “A large part of engineering is now focused around capability in digital, understanding data and how certain software can design projects with greater precision, efficiency and safety. Another element is the increasing importance of robotics in the engineering world. A great example of this is our Sunderland based team who are designing a robot for the global ITER fusion experiment in France, when complete it will be able to operate in an environment hotter than the sun!”

Students viewed demonstrations and activities around robotics, technology and electrical systems. The visitors were also able to gets hands on with the kit and construct different types of circuits. Animations of previous and current projects were also played to give the pupils an idea of the type of work that is undertaken across a range of engineering roles. AutoCAD and software modelling were also on display to demonstrate the breadth and impact of the work undertaken by Assystem. 

The IET Open House is a celebration of the triumph of innovative engineering and technology organisations. With a programme that is fun and thought-provoking as well as educational, Assystem hopes to inspire students to strive for STEM-based careers, and to provide students and parents with the information needed to choose this career path.