News

A challenge set by specialist ventilation manufacturers Mansfield Pollard for a group of Bradford College students has unearthed the region’s top engineering talent.

In a bid to build greater links with the next generation of Bachelor of Engineering students, Mansfield Pollard volunteered to accept a group of final year students into its business as part of their studies.

After visiting the business and getting a feel for practical applications of their skills, the students were divided into two teams and set a technical challenge, the likes of which they would face in industry today. With a week to compile a technical report and solution, the teams faced a difficult task that would form part of their final year learning outcomes.

Mansfield Pollard’s Commercial Director Paul Dresser then visited the teams at Bradford College to listen to their proposals before grading them and giving feedback.

Paul Dresser said: It is wonderful to see such a wealth of young engineering talent coming through this region and for us as a business to see first-hand this raw talent action is really exciting.

“We look forward to seeing them again in Autumn to present the Engineer of the Year award. A wonderful result of this challenge has been being able to offer one student a full-time role at Mansfield Pollard; we hope it is the first of many opportunities for these excellent engineers.”

Anthony Huison, Engineering Lecturer at Bradford College added: “All students thoroughly enjoyed the industrial exercise. Our degree is administered by Teesside University and this industrial exercise was mentioned by them as one of the strengths of the syllabus.”

Mansfield Pollard designs and manufactures bespoke equipment to improve the environments of hospitals, schools, supermarkets, leisure chains, food processors and the rapidly expanding data centre market throughout the world.

The equipment they produce includes ventilation and air conditioning systems, acoustic and anti-vibration equipment, controls, air-handling units and kitchen extraction canopies. This highly-technical equipment is sought after by the likes of Rolls Royce, BMW, Astra Zeneca, Asda, Kelloggs and TGI Friday, to name but a few.