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09/10/2009
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Nick Powell, manager - Technology and Clean Energy, Ricardo UK
 How did you get into the engineering industry?
I picked up a broken con-rod on display at the Ricardo stand at a careers fair in Cambridge in 1991! This started a conversation and before long I had joined the transmissions department of Ricardo. I had some previous experience of much larger gear design and manufacture because I was sponsored by Allen Gears during my first degree at Newcastle University. My PhD was on novel metal forming processes and featured in Eureka about 20 years ago, so I have always been interested in developing new technologies.
What does your role as manager of technology and clean energy involve on a day to day basis?
My job is quite varied. I manage our Technology and Clean Energy department at Ricardo, and I am responsible for ensuring that the right teams and skills are in place to support a variety of advanced technology projects. I manage teams responsible for some of our fundamental research and supervise projects both developing new technologies and assessing the impact of new technologies in different markets. I also manage our Intellectual Property portfolio, helping to assess and exploit new ideas.
What are the current projects that you are working on?
Most of the projects I work on are several years from production and many are confidential I'm afraid. I am working on a number of low carbon vehicle technologies such as kinetic energy recovery systems for road vehicles, downsized engine designs and new ideas for the clean energy industry, for example to improve the reliability of wind turbine gearboxes.
What is the most interesting project/piece of engineering you have been involved in?
Probably the current projects I am working on! I have been very lucky to have been involved in a huge number of different projects, but I think some of the latest technology we are working with has the potential to make a significant impact on our use of fossil fuels, and that is exciting.
Has the industry changed much since you joined?
Yes, in recent years new markets, for example in China and India have become more important and clients are often demanding complete support from concept through to production, with integrated solutions across a wide range of engineering disciplines, rather than help on a specific problem. There is much more collaborative working nowadays, so projects often involve working much more closely with customer and supplier engineers.
What are the current big issues facing your industry?
Reduced use of carbon fuels is, not surprisingly, the biggest issue. It's an exciting time to be an engineer in our industry because there are so many potential solutions to this issue and it is likely that both future vehicles and renewable energy supply will involve a great many different technologies to suit particular applications. For example, hybrid, range extended and pure electric vehicles will use a variety of different energy storage and efficiency improvement technologies, including advanced batteries and flywheels, depending upon their specific duty cycles.
What advice would you give to someone just entering the industry?
I would advise getting as wide an experience as possible, in a variety of technologies and engineering disciplines. We need flexible engineers with innovative ideas to tackle the big issues that face our industry.
How do you see the industry changing going forward?
I think we will continue to see pressure to reduce product cost and potentially a number of new players who can provide technological solutions to our future transport and clean energy needs.
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Author
Justin Cunningham
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