Engineering students visited Caterpillar facilities

On 10 May, 14 Mechanical Engineering students from all years and courses visited the Caterpillar Europe Research and Design Centre in Peterborough.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering organises trips to industry sites on a regular basis, allowing students to appreciate the variety of industries involved in the discipline they are studying.

Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The Caterpillar facilities in Peterborough host highly skilled researchers and engineers who are working on meeting the environmental and sustainability challenges of the future. The location factory also produces around 350 000 industrial diesel engines every year, with applications in off-road machines, construction, mining, power generation and other areas.

Caterpillar provided a packed and interesting day for the trip. Imperial students had the opportunity to go on behind-the-scenes tours of the factory and the European Research and Design Centre (ERDC), including engine test cells and laboratories. The visitors also attended talks from Caterpillar managers and engineers, two of which were Imperial Mech Eng alumni.

Here is what a few of the students had to say about the trip: 

"The thing I found most useful is that it gave me an insight into how my future career may look. I also had the chance to get to know an excellent company. Since I am from China, I was able to compare industries in China and the UK. It is a really worthwhile trip."

Yingue Xiong (ME1)

"I found the visit really beneficial, and it answered a lot of my questions about what an engineer does and engineering as a career. I felt motivated to do my best so I can have the opportunity to gain experience, and maybe in the future, start an organisation with the same core values as those that I have seen in Caterpillar.

Thank you very much for your time and effort in giving us a great first impression of your company. The visit was inspiring, and as expected, I was very impressed!"

Abdulrahman Alhaddad (ME2)

"In my opinion, the presentations are interesting and well-prepared,  a good balance of introduction to Caterpillar and what roles and opportunities there are. I think Andy and Mike did a good job in intriguing some of us to start planning for our career.

Everyone has certainly seen a car but not everyone has seen what’s driving it – an engine. It is not surprising for some, myself included, to struggle to fully appreciate the design aspect of internal combustion engine just from books and sometimes the complex illustrations attached within. Having seen a real physical engine would surely help in understanding when student can relate better what they read to what they have seen. Which is why I think the factory tour would be the most interesting part of the visit, where we get to see the engine being built-up from components."

Wei Sheng Cheong (PhD student)

The visit was organised by Guy Blundell, Engineering Manager at the ERDC, and Dr Guillermo Rein from our department. Caterpillar is a long term research partner of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial, as funders of the Innovation and Research Centre led by Professor Ricardo Martinez-Botas and Dr Aaron Costall.

Trips to industry facilities from a diversity of engineering areas will continue to happen in the department in the future; students can sign up to attend on a first-come, first-serve basis.