WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP PAYS

Solihull’s Plant Quality and Launch team shows teaming up with Strathclyde University students really pays off.

Over the past seven years Solihull’s Plant Quality team has partnered up with Strathclyde University to lend a helping hand in giving students real life experience of what it’s like to work in a premium automotive factory. In return, Solihull gets some extra helping hands and bright minds to look at implementing improvements.

This year, eight students from Strathclyde have spent time looking at improvement projects around door connection testing and lineside parts storage. With their fresh eyes and a helping hand from the Plant Quality and Launch team, they have come up with some simple but innovative ideas which if implemented could save Solihull thousands of pounds. 

Dave Adkins, Plant Quality and Launch Technology Manager explained: “We have had a close partnership with Strathclyde University for a while now and every year students come to help improve what we do here on site. Each year I’m impressed with their enthusiasm, out of the box thinking and ability to solve problems quickly. This group of students this year has been no different and they’ve come up with some really impressive suggestions.”

At the end of June, a select group of students travelled down from Glasgow to present their final ideas to a team of experts from Solihull. Lauren McCutcheon, Product Design Masters student was part of the team looking at door connection testing. She explained: “To get experience in the real world of what it’s like to design a new product to help with testing has been amazing. I want to say a big thanks to everyone at Jaguar Land Rover for giving students the opportunity.”