Our graduate training programme has been instrumental in launching successful careers at Invertek Drives, particularly in the areas of Innovation and Manufacturing Engineering, aiding in the attraction and retention of many of our team members.
In addition to the graduate scheme, we also have apprenticeships and other training opportunities.
Here, we highlight just one of the scheme's members and how he's benefited from his initial placement at Invertek.
From summer job to electronic engineering degree
Harry Dockerill's summer job in production at the age of 16 in 2018 proved to be the starting point of a remarkable learning journey with Invertek. Little did he know that this opportunity would take him to Italy and the United States, helping shape his education and career.
Harry, a Bachelor's degree student in Electronic Engineering at Bath University, is embarking on his final year before preparing to pursue a Master's degree. As part of Invertek Drives' Graduate Training Programme, he spent the past year working with the Innovation team on an industrial placement as an Innovation Technician.
It was after his third summer at Invertek that he was offered sponsorship through the programme which also involved paid work placements during his summer holidays.
“It was in 2021 when I had my first summer placement working in Innovation, which was a great opportunity for me. It allowed me to start using my interest in electronics in a more productive way.
“That summer I worked in Innovation supporting released designs and working on improving designs. This was invaluable as I could see first hand the level of detail and work that goes into ensuring every component we use in our drives is of the highest quality.
Solutions being used globally
"It also gave me the chance to get involved in extremely thorough investigations on rare occasions when customers were experiencing issues. Some of my solutions are now being used on our drives worldwide!
“I’ve just completed my 12-month industrial placement in the Innovation team. This has allowed me to broaden my experience significantly in an area I’m keen to work in. I’ve been able to work on initial plans for the next generation of drives.
“I worked specifically on power stage development where I was in a team iterating and testing the drives, including electro-static discharge testing, radiated EMC and vibration testing. It’ll be good to see the first of these released for production.
“It was great to have the freedom to express some of my own ideas, whilst also being able to learn from the very knowledgeable people in the Power Stage team.”
From the US to Italy
In addition to this work, Harry has spent time servicing drives for Invertek Drives USA in New York state and worked with sister company Lafert Group in Italy.
“Both experiences were unique in their own way. I worked with colleagues from the Service Department on a significant project in the US at a gas turbine power plant. We had 45 Optidrive ECO drives that needed modifying. The 55kW drives themselves control motors for large scale fans used for cooling at the site in New York State.
“Time was critical as we had to ensure the plant wasn’t affected by the work. I worked with Justin Walsh from Service over three days on-site, and we completed the work on 45 drives in that time.
“It was good to be in a real-world scenario such as this as I was able to see how an end-user uses the drives and the environment they are in. I learnt a lot about troubleshooting when we had to get all 45 drives communicating with the plant’s Modbus network before our flight the following day.”
In recent months, Harry has spent five weeks working with the R&D team at Lafert Group in San Dona di Piave, Italy.
Working with colleagues in Europe
It was here that he was able to use his experience to solve a problem on a new large fan project using a Compact 2 drive. The Integrated Direct Drive Fan Motor (IFM Range) are for large areas requiring ventilation, such as factories, agricultural buildings, shopping centres and more.
The fan blade diameter can be up to seven metres in order to distribute temperature in a large area.
“They wanted to use Compact 2 because of its small size and the ability to integrate it into the system. But they had issues with the control, specifically at start-up where the high inertia would make the fan stall or judder.
“Working with the team there I came up with a solution involving the DC injection feature of our drives to align the fan blade with the poles of the motor when it stopped. This resulted in much more reliable and consistent starting.”
During his own time in Italy Harry managed to visit the Alps for hiking, the beach at Venice, and Slovenian caves. As well as eating plenty of pizza!
“It really is an amazing place to work and live, and I am very thankful for the efforts of our colleagues at Lafert. They made me feel so welcome and gave me advice on things to see whilst I was there.”
In addition to his own work, Harry has also supported the other graduate training programme members and Training Manager, Julia Gough. He attended careers fairs, local schools, and colleges.
“It’s great to have such opportunities and I’m looking forward to returning next summer before my Master’s.
“It’ll be great to return with all the investment being made, particularly with the planned new Innovation Centre.”
If you know someone who is interested in joining Invertek or the Graduate Training Programme, visit www.invertekdrives.com/careers
For media information, contact:
Owain Betts, PR and Communications Manager
t: +44 (0)1938 558 253
m: +44 (0)7483 072 739
e: Owain.Betts@shi-g.com
