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10/03/2010
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Paul Fanning speaks to Paul Lewis, Design Engineer, Penny & Giles Controls.
 How did you first get into the engineering industry?
In a way, you could say that I've been in engineering since I was 11 years old. I went to a technical secondary school and went straight into industry from there. Strictly speaking, of course, I was 17 when I left school and started an engineering apprenticeship. But engineering was always something that interested me.
What does your role with Penny & Giles involve on a day-to-day basis?
I generally do a bit of everything on the design side, although at the moment I deal more with changes, upgrades and reviews of products than anything else. However, if I'm required to work on anything else, I'll obviously do that.
What are some of the projects that you are currently working on?
The latest thing we're working on is a potentiometer for the Hawk aircraft. Penny & Giles has always been heavily involved in the aerospace sector and we have another ongoing project in which we're working on the solenoids for a range of different aircraft that are coming up for review.
The solenoid designs that I'm working on at the moment are generally for older aircraft, dating as far back as the 1980s.
What is the most interesting project/piece of engineering you've been involved in?
There have been a fair few interesting projects over the years, but one of the most interesting for me was designing a big tow truck that was used for towing aeroplanes at airports. Although I believe the company itself has closed down now, I understand the trucks are still in use at Bristol airport and a couple of other airports as well.
From my point of view, it was interesting because I'd never done anything like that before. Prior to that project, I was working on production equipment, like conveyors and so forth, so it made a big change for me.
Has the industry changed a great deal since you joined?
Yes, it's changed very much. The main difference is that now it seems so much more controlled: there's more paperwork, more control and much more in the way of regulations and directives.
I appreciate that a lot of these regulations do improve things, of course, but it just seems to me that there's an excess of it. These days, it seems as though everything's covered by rules and regulations. It's interesting, in fact, looking at these solenoids that I'm working on and comparing the work that we have to do to review them now with the work that was done – by which I mean the different types of drawings and everything – when they were first made.
The truth is that, these days, we just wouldn't get away with a quarter of what they did back then!
What are the big issues facing your industry?
Unfortunately, I think the biggest issue is the lack of engineers. It's just become so hard to recruit qualified people as there are just so few young engineers coming through, either from within the business or generally. And the sad fact is that I don't think the Government takes engineering seriously enough, which doesn't help.
I suppose, though, if you look on the bright side, with all the need for renewable energy and the need for ecologically-sound technology coming through, things will start to change, because they're going to need engineers for that.
How do you see the industry going forward?
I think that, as the country and the world become more and more technical and technology becomes an everyday part of everyone's life, the industry is going to become even more technical.
As a result, people working in the industry are going to have to become more and more qualified just to keep up with developments.
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Author
Paul Fanning
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