Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

Identify opportunities to improve key performance indicators.
Use structured methodology in delivering improvement projects with measured gains.
Drive initiatives that reduce costs, scrap & returns to optimise efficiency, margin & sales.

A typical could include a bit of time troubleshooting production issues on the shopfloor. Other than that, it involves carrying out work relevant to cost reduction/continuous improvement projects i.e. carrying out trials on a machine using different settings that may optimise a process, validating alternative materials/processes that may introduce cost reduction.

Freedom to critically think of potential problem solving methods and apply structured methodologies to identify root causes.

Influencing stakeholders (internal & external) when justifying business cases or project proposals that involves potential investments but also improvements in terms of cost, quality and sales.

Involves a lot of problem solving, investigations, and critical thinking to resolve issues that may arise in a manufacturing environment.

Problem solving
Lean Manufacturing
Communications
Presentations
Teamwork

Move into operations management in the near future and achieve chartership with IOM3 in approx 4-5 years

Do not restrict yourself to large corporates or more "well known" companies but look at other options as well. Previous coursemates with Engineering degrees have ended up as Financial Analysts, Sales Executives etc. It's not only limited to roles outside of Engineering but also open to tons of industries. Everyone is interested in working for companies that manufacture cars and computers. Think about companies which build ships, manufacture helicopters and build bridges.