SMD
Employer: SMD
Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) design and manufacture subsea robotic machines. The deep sea floor is still one of the most unexplored, and inhospitable, places on Earth. No light, no warmth and high pressure all make it a challenging environment to work in. Why work under the sea? Well, every time you use the internet it’s likely that some of the information came through cables which are laid in a trench under the sea floor. Those trenches need to be dug and the cables need to be laid somehow. Or if you’ve seen off-shore windfarms, have you wondered how the electricity gets back to shore? More cables on the sea floor. It isn’t possible for people to lay these trenches themselves, so a robotic machine, also called a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is used to dig the trenches and lay the cables. The engineering that goes into the development of ROVs is staggering as they need to be both robust enough to survive in such a harsh environment as the bottom of the sea, and easily controllable. This video shows how an ROV digs a trench and lays a cable in it. The language is aimed at people looking to buy one of the machines so uses a bit of jargon, but the animation does help to show how the machine works.Who Are They?
Careers
To design, develop and make ROVs requires a lot of different STEM, and non-STEM, based roles.
Among the different roles at SMD are:
- Mechanical Engineers
- Electrical and Electronic Engineers
- Software Engineers
- Hydraulic design engineers
- Sales Engineers
- Health & Safety Advisers
- Quality Systems Engineer
- PR and Communications Officers
- Test Technicians and Assistants
Although based in the North East, SMD is a global company, so there could be opportunities to travel.
You can see what current vacancies SMD are available here, and also read about two of their employees, Charlotte and James.
Science and Maths links
Topics in Science and Maths that link to SMD and what the company does:
- Forces
- Electricity
- Corrosion
- Moments and balance
- Pressure of a liquid: Pressure in liquids student worksheet
Siemens
Siemens
Who Are They?
You will have probably used Siemens technology; their well known products include mobile phones and televisions. Siemens is one of the worlds largest and most successful technology companies, and they are passionate about innovation and change.
Siemens was established over 170 years ago and today employ nearly 14,000 people in the UK alone, with manufacturing sites in Byker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and another key site in Stockton, Teeside. The company is a large multinational company with bases in nearly 200 countries across the globe. Siemens specialise in a number of sectors:
- Power generation services including gas, wind power and renewables
- Energy management
- Building technologies
- Financial services
- Healthcare
Siemens are one of the world’s biggest producers of energy-efficient resource-saving technologies, as well as constructing offshore wind turbines which you will see across the region.
Siemens are not just about renewables though. They also design, develop and manufacture for example MRI scanners which are used in hospitals all over the world. The Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, has Siemens Engineers working at the hospital on a daily basis to make sure the scanners are working. Siemens also develop IT software which is used within a range of industries and variety of organisations including NASA to simulate the Mars Curiosity Rover!
Check out this great interactive 360′ tour of a wind farm, which allows you to explore wind turbines in further detail.
Careers
Some of the roles that people who work at Siemens have are:
- Client solutions engineer
- Customer support engineer
- Controls engineer
- Software engineer
- Manufacturing engineer
- Technical software architect
- Commercial sales manager
- Project manager
- Accountant
- Offshore commisioning technician
- Civil engineer
Science and Maths links
Topics in science and maths that link to Siemen include:
- Energy resources
- Energy and power
- Electric circuits
- Medical Physics (MRI)
- Health and Disease
- Ratio
Tag Archive for: renewables
Wind Turbine Engineering
How many people does it take to build a wind turbine?
I don’t know the answer, but I imagine it’s quite a lot. If I’ve learnt anything from our wind turbines workshop, it’s that these renewable rotators are considerably more complicated than they look.
In this workshop we design and build a turbine powerful enough to lift a small mass up to bench height. We are able to calculate the work done and the power output of our turbines using some simple physics equations. We then discuss the many different variables that need to be taken into account when designing a wind turbine and the types of people who contribute to that process.
Even with these smaller versions we have to think about materials, mass, stability, vibrations, torque, aerodynamics, safety, power output, efficiency, strength, balance, design, testing, and who knows what else. And we do all of that in just an hour! The aim of our workshop is to get into the mind of an engineer, especially the iterative process of “design – prototype – test – evaluate – repeat”.
The upshot is that to create a wind turbine from scratch takes hundreds of people, each with a different skill or specialism. The video below shows an offshore wind turbine being put up – just imagine how many people would be involved with such a huge effort, and’t that’s not including all the people who design, test and construct the separate parts. Or the team manager, the IT specialists, the business managers, the customer services staff, the human resources departments, the environmental impact assessors, the health and safety officers, the accountants, the marketers, the research teams, the public relations people, and no doubt countless other people.
Engineering is big business.
Siemens employ over 14,000 people in the UK, with several sites in the North East. There are many different routes into working for them, from apprenticeships to degree level positions. Have a look at our employers page to find out more about Siemens and have a go with this 360 degree tour of one of their offshore wind farms.
Sectors
Electrical, Electronic, Engineering, Mechanical, Offshore, Science
Employer Size
Large enterprise
Focus/reach
Global
Worksheets
Pressure in a Liquid KS3
Employer Links