For all of us here at Watts Urethane, it’s second nature to talk about tooling, production, quality control and polyurethane without giving it a second thought but for someone walking through the doors for the first time, everything is new. There are often processes they’ve never seen, products they didn’t know existed and careers they may never have considered. That’s why we really enjoy welcoming work experience students to give them the experience of seeing how science, engineering and teamwork come together every day in a manufacturing business.
Last week, we welcomed a student for a three-day work experience placement. During her time with us, she spent time with colleagues across the business, worked alongside our chemist carrying out experiments and even mixed the materials to produce her own polyurethane sample to take home. She got to learn about our full product ranges, the different roles within the company and gained a better understanding of how each department comes together.
One of her observations was something we hear a lot from visitors to the business and that’s how many products that you may not even realise are made from polyurethane or have polyurethane parts. It’s a versitile material after all.
“I learnt how useful polyurethane is and that it is almost everywhere, being used in so many things that you wouldn’t expect.”
It’s one of those materials that most people come into contact with every day without ever realising it and it’s found in countless industrial and everyday applications. Seeing that moment of discovery is one of the most rewarding parts of welcoming people into the business because it gives them a completely different perspective on the products and materials around them.
There were also a few lighter moments during the week. One of our favourites was her discovery that bollards are far more interesting than she’d imagined, even going as far as declaring that the Manchester bollard had become her favourite… it’s a favourite of a lot of ours so we can’t blame her! Products that might seem ordinary from the outside often involve a huge amount of design, engineering and technical expertise before they ever reach their final destination.
The placement wasn’t only about learning how products are made. It was also an opportunity to meet people throughout the business and understand the variety of careers involved in manufacturing. Every role plays such an important part in delivering the high standards our customers expect from the laboratory and production, through to administration and customer support. Having the chance to speak to people about their jobs and see them in action really does help to bring those careers to life in a way that no textbook can.
“My experience at Watts Urethane Products was great and has really helped me to see what a work environment is like, and the different roles involved in the company, as well as seeing how chemistry can be applied in the workplace. All the people who worked here made me feel incredibly welcome and were all very kind and great to talk to, making my work experience placement very enjoyable.”
Feedback like this is always appreciated because it reminds us how valuable work experience can be. A few days spent inside a manufacturing business can introduce someone to industries, materials and careers they may never have thought about before. We hope that this placement helped spark and develop even more of an interest in manufacturing, chemistry and engineering.
From all of us here, we’d like to thank her for spending time with us and for approaching every task with such enthusiasm and curiosity. We wish her every success in the future and hope this experience is just the beginning of an exciting career journey.
