Last week, Matthew Hancock, Minister for Skills and Enterprise underlined the importance of attracting more young people into the automotive sector as Nissan hosted an event at SMMT’s headquarters to celebrate See Inside Manufacturing.
The event, which was held within Nissan’s current SMMT exhibition, was attended by a number of key ministers to celebrate government and industry’s current See Inside Manufacturing initiative.
Speaking about the event, Hancock said, “The automotive sector in the UK is one of the most exciting and innovative in the world. It’s great to see Nissan opening its doors to give young people an insight to the inner workings of the industry. I’m sure it will inspire many young people to pursue interesting and rewarding careers in manufacturing.”
The See Inside Manufacturing programme, which was first piloted by the automotive industry in 2011, gives young people the opportunity to explore the diverse nature of manufacturing and discover the varied career paths into industry. A number of automotive manufacturers across the UK have opened their doors to thousands of young people this month as part of the See Inside Manufacturing initiative.
This year Nissan has played an important role in the scheme, by offering an exciting and engaging insight into the inner workings of all three of its three UK divisions: manufacturing, R&D and product design divisions.
Its record-breaking Sunderland Plant was the first to throw open its doors, giving 1,500 students the chance to see the new Nissan Note in production and participate in a series of hands-on challenges and team building exercises on an engineering theme.
Then, Nissan’s state-of-the-are Research and Development facility in Bedfordshire, the European Technical Centre (NTCE) followed suit by allowing local school pupils a glimpse inside its normally off-limits areas before engaging them in a number of activities with an engineering focus.
Finally, NTCE and Nissan Design Europe (NDE) – where models including the Qashqai and Juke crossovers were conceived – collaborated to stage a captivating exhibition at the headquarters of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in Westminster. The exhibition centred on the development of the new Nissan Note, walking viewers through the model’s design, R&D and manufacturing.
John Martin, Nissan’s Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management in Europe said, “Nissan is one of the UK’s great manufacturing success stories. Our British facilities for design, research and development and manufacturing are recognised to be among the very best in the world.
“The continued success of our UK operations depends entirely on the calibre of the people who work in them, so it’s crucially important we identify, encourage, support and inspire the next generation of talent.
“That’s why we have been delighted to support the See Inside Manufacturing initiative for a third year and to once again share our enthusiasm for design, engineering and manufacturing with thousands of young people.”
Click through for more information on this year’s See Inside Manufacturing initiatives.
