I manage a portfolio of 45 student houses for a private landlord in Bristol. In addition to my letting duties, I have led the digital transformation of the business and continue to look for more efficient ways of working. This has resulted in considerable time and cost savings and happier tenants.

I initially joined the GKN Additive team in Bristol to provide manufacturing engineering support. My role then evolved into becoming the EBM process engineer. Arcam Level 1 (Operations) and Level 2 (Applications) qualified.In my role, I was responsible for reviewing customer 3D part models and producing them in titanium alloy using the Arcam EBM machines at Filton. This involved understanding customer requirements and having a detailed knowledge of the EBM process and the limitations of the technology.If there were any issues with a build I had to investigate the reasons for failure and propose process improvements. Additionally, I provided manufacturing engineering and quality support to get the technology approved by the aviation regulatory authorities. This included writing work instructions and process documents.

In this secondment I provided manufacturing engineering support to global technology team with technology insertion projects. The technology team was tasked with improving productivity using latest automation and lean principles.My main role was to support the development of a Determinate Assembly (DA) project at Filton. DA or ‘jig-less’ assembly uses new or existing features of the part to aid assembly without the requirement for expensive tooling. I provided support with the design, development and testing of a viable industrialised solution with significant cost and man hour savings for the site.

As a production support engineer in design, I supported the manufacture of metallic and composite wing structures at Filton and previously at Western Approach.In both roles, I worked as part of a small team of engineers to provide design solutions to problems that can occur during manufacturing of the wing spars. I had to provide the best possible repair which minimised the impact on the demanding delivery schedules to the customer, Airbus.Significant highlights include:• Ability to use Catia V5 to interrogate models and design repairs• Knowledge of composite wing spar manufacture and assembly• Led development of the Concession Assessment Tool (CAT)

To improve global manufacturing engineering capability across GKN, I was selected for a secondment to a GKN site in California. There was an urgent need to optimise the production capability of existing machines and processes. My role was to support with data collection and analysis, capturing customer requirements and conducting PFMEA’s (Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis) to identify key risks to the process.

My graduate training gave me valuable hands-on experience and I improved my engineering and manufacturing knowledge. I completed practical placements in Quality, Operations, Commercial, Manufacturing and Engineering. I also completed Lean continuous improvement courses.