Engineering students visit Rehau and Trawsfynydd Power Station
The trips were an eye-opener for Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor students, who also learned about work experience and employment opportunities
Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor learners visited two local industrial partners this year as part of their Level 3 Enhanced Engineering course.
Students from the Dolgellau and Pwllheli campuses visited Rehau Ltd in Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority site at Trawsfynydd - formerly Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station.
Both offer learners work experience and a possible route into the real working environment after completing their course, via apprenticeships.
The students had their first glimpse of a modern manufacturing factory when they visited Rehau, which makes products for the automotive, construction, furniture, materials, medical and industrial sectors.
Quality manager Andrew Tindall welcomed the students to the factory, where current employees spoke to them about future career opportunities available at the Blaenau site.
This was followed by a safety briefing from safety and security manager Malcolm Brown, and a tour around the shop floor with logistics manager Chris McPhail and technical manager Dylan Roberts, to see the positive impacts made at the factory to embrace technology and sustainability as a world-class polymer manufacturer.
The students were then given a presentation by HR partner Tracey Derbyshire Robinson on the many apprenticeship and employment opportunities available with the firm for those who show potential and good work ethic.
Emlyn Evans, engineering lecturer at Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, was an employee at Rehau for 20 years, having progressed from graduate trainee level to a management role.
He said: “I have visited Rehau’s Blaenau plant many times over the years. I was impressed by the positive changes compared to the last time I visited the factory about four years ago, since leaving employment with Rehau and entering the education sector.
“Keeping in contact and supporting local industry is very important to me, and visits like this allow us to strengthen the link with the education sector, which ultimately supplies the high-calibre young engineers into local apprenticeship schemes and eventual employment.”
Andrew Tindall said: “Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai have developed great talent for us in the past, including our last apprentice Owain Cunnington, who graduated from Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor in Dolgellau after completing an HNC General Engineering course in 2021.
“Owain showed a very good aptitude from the onset. His project management skills, attention to detail and positive work ethic made him a very strong candidate, so we decided to invest in Owain’s future with Rehau, and he now has a new role as a production system lean manufacturing specialist.”
The second visit of the year took students to Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station, which is currently going through its decommissioning phase.
First up was a safety briefing from site engineering manager Richard Owen, who gave an introduction to the generating process when the reactors were operational, and also the work being done during decommissioning.
After being kitted out with hard hats, safety glasses and PPE equipment and passing security, the students were taken around the site to see various projects being undertaken, such as the preparation work to lower the roof height of the two reactor buildings.
While there the students were able to see a live video stream from inside the reactor core, controlled remotely from a safe area - footage only seen by a few people.
They were also shown how the radioactive waste was handled by robotics and remote manipulators, and the work ongoing to strip down the plant equipment and return the area closer to its natural beauty.
Noah Hutchins, engineering lecturer and programme leader for the BTEC Level 3 courses at Dolgellau and Pwllheli, said: “The Level 3 Enhanced Engineering course is an excellent pathway for learners who wish to enter any engineering field.
“At Pwllheli and Dolgellau we have a wide variety of modules covering all aspects of engineering disciplines, and coupled with the work experience and industrial visits it gives our learners a valuable insight into local and national opportunities which they can pursue after finishing the course, or continue their progression onto an HNC course at Dolgellau.”
He added: “We also welcome engineers and companies to come to the college campus to give presentations to our students.”
If your organisation would like to arrange a visit to Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor’s engineering department, please contact Noah Hutchins via email: n.hutchings@gllm.ac.uk
Do you want to work in the innovative world of engineering? North Wales needs engineers to fill a wide range of exciting and well-paid jobs. To learn more about Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s courses, click here.