As part of their February sessions, students in Cohort 2 and 3 of Next Engineers Academy visited the JCB Headquarters in Rocester and Farm Urban in Liverpool. These visits provided a unique opportunity for students to connect with cutting-edge engineering practices and gain insights into how engineering is shaping the future and the world of work.
JCB World Headquarters, Staffordshire – “Always looking for a better way”
Our Cohort 2 students had the opportunity to venture behind the scenes of JCB’s world famous diggers with a unique tour of the museum and factory. Students learnt about the history of JCB – a company that evolved from a small farm machinery manufacturer to a global leader in construction equipment – and were able to get up close and personal to the JCB manufacturing process – risk assessed of course!
JCB employs thousands of people across its manufacturing, research, development and engineering operations in Staffordshire, making it one of the largest employers in Staffordshire. Coupled with JCB’s ongoing recognition of the importance of investing in the future workforce and offering graduate schemes, apprenticeships and internships, the tour provided the young people with valuable experience and future options for their careers in engineering and manufacturing.
Farm Urban – Healthier and more sustainable solutions to the broken food system.
As part of their “Feed a Family” project work, our Cohort 3 students travelled across the M6 from our base in Stafford to Liverpool to visit Farm Urban – a company dedicated to integrating technology and urban farming.
Farm Urban is focused on developing sustainable food systems using innovative engineering solutions to address the challenges of urbanisation and food insecurity. For engineering students interested in sustainability, this was an invaluable experience and provided our students with an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge of engineering principles in a real-world, sustainable context!
Key takeaways for our Academy students
Both groups found the field trips an invaluable opportunity to reinforce the importance of real-world problem solving and continuous innovation within the world of engineering. The experience of visiting the two sites demonstrated to our students the wide variety of opportunities within the sector and inspired them to consider their future career paths within the exciting world of engineering!
