What is an Engineering Role?
Engineers within the food and drink industry are a vital part of the production process and overall manufacturing process. As the nature of the world continues to lean towards automated manufacturing processes, engineering roles are more in demand than ever. Ensuring that everything runs smoothly, and that vital equipment is looked after and well maintained can be the be-all and end-all of an efficient production or manufacturing line.
Carrying out maintenance activity with equipment, efficiently and effectively reacting to breakdowns which may occur from time to time, and learning from them to identify and mitigate against future risks. Research and development can also be a part of engineering roles, to ensure constant improvement and increased efficiency.
Routes Into An Engineering Role
- GCSE Maths and Science (Helpful)
- Vocational Qualifications – Further Education College
- Engineering Apprenticeship
- General Engineering Degree or a Food Engineering Degree
- Training with a professional body such as MDS
Skills and Knowledge
For roles in engineering within the food industry, the skills you will need can be broken down into soft and hard skills. Soft skills are more transferable skills, whereas hard skills focus more on technical ability. There are many kinds of soft and hard skills but we will break down the most common ones.
Engineering Soft Skills:
- Analytical
- Organised
- Teamwork
- Coordination
Engineering Hard Skills:
- Machine Learning
- Mechanical Skills
- Mathematical, can work with budgets and costings
What Will You Do?
Day to day, you will likely be responsible for the maintenance and overseeing of equipment and machinery runnings. Dependent on your role in the engineering team, you will need to attend breakdowns, and service and maintain machinery and equipment, all whilst working to very tight schedules and deadlines.
A lot of the roles available on the MDS programme are within a project management capacity. These roles on MDS do not specifically require an Engineering Degree and will see you supporting production-type businesses to improve efficiencies via projects.
Your role will require health and safety knowledge and upkeeping personal safety measures such as protective clothing. If keeping busy and problem-solving gets you ticking, then this practical, hands-on career is for you!
Career Path and Progression
There are a lot of career prospects for Engineering roles and you can be employed across a variety of areas. These include but are not limited to:
- Engineering Manager
- Engineering Section Leader
- Food Production Engineer
- Maintenance Co-ordinator
- Maintenance Technician
- Project Engineer
