It Just Takes One…Engineer

It Just Takes One…Engineer
This is a guest article by Rachael Dalton-Taggart, Acting President of the CAD Society.
Anyone who has read my recent CAD Society articles or heard my presentations will already be used to the mantra: Engineering is not being chosen by the majority of kids in the western world because of its bad rap. In fact, survey data suggests that more parents encourage their kids to be actors than engineers. I believe that kids (and parents) can easily choose engineering, if they were in fact educated about what it is, as opposed to being subjected to the constant media blitz of Hollywood, ‘Extra’, ‘People’ magazine, ‘US’ magazine, etc.
To crystallize this, my nephew, living in the UK, is currently pursuing media studies and math at the age of 16. But this summer he made an unexpected visit to an engineering center (that happens to be in the F1 Triangle). He sent the email below as a result. It would seem that engineering is a possibility in his future. For all you engineers out there, what would you advise him to do? (Please send comments)
(Note: There has been no editing to this message. This is his own work which is pretty good for a 16 year old.)

Hethel Engineering Centre – The point of view from a 16 year old

It’s hard for a person like me to work out what to do in the future. There are so many different opportunities and so many different paths to take and there is that worry that I might take a route that is not suited for me and end up somewhere I don’t want to be. I envy the people that know exactly what they are going to do in the future.
Because of my love of maths though, I had the opportunity to go to the Hethel Engineering Centre in Norfolk on a school visit. Hethel is a small place in the middle of Norfolk, England. Some of you may know about the car manufacturer Lotus who build their cars right next door to the Engineering Centre and work closely with the companies held within.
There are about 15 different companies based within the centre although when I visited there were almost 30 different companies on site showing off some of their technology and career opportunities. To name a few, Scion Sprays, P1 Motorsport, HAAS and Active Technologies.
It was a brilliant experience to find out all about the things that were being developed on the site. Scion Sprays is a company dedicated to fuel injection systems for small engines. They have been working for 5 years on the development of a brand new piece of kit for motorbikes and mopeds that not only makes the fuel injection kit small, but doubles the MPG and enables a limited throttle control, therefore getting rid of the need for a limiter on the bike. Then if you wanted to get rid of the limitation of the throttle, because it is computer controlled, all you need to do is upload the new software to make this so. It’s a fantastic bit of kit.
Stepping away from the automotive side of things there was a company called C-MAC MicroTechnology who specialise in designing micro chips that can carry on working in some of the harshest environments for all sorts of companies around the world. They have some of their chips in the Airbus A380, Circulating the earth up in space and in some missiles around the world.
One thing I got from almost all the engineers I talked to was that there are two things needed when going into engineering. Maths plays a big part in Engineering. You don’t have to be a maths genius but a good knowledge of maths really helps you in an engineering job. The second thing is a passion. One guy even went as far as to say that the grades you get from school doesn’t mean that much. The most important thing is that you come into somewhere you wish to work and you come straight out and ask the boss for one. This shows a dedication showing that you really want the job even when you may be scared about what you are about to say.
I have been really inspired by what I saw at the centre. I still do not have a clue about what I’m going to do in the future but my eyes have really been opened to the possibility of me entering the career of engineering. As one engineer said, “There is a shortage of engineers across the globe,” could I be the one to fill this gap?
www.hethelcentre.com
If you want to know more about the CAD Society’s volunteer program, please visit: http://www.cadsociety.org/volunteer.html

More on UK salvage yards

I have visited a number of yards this week and seen many different styles of operation and varying success stories.
The most successful yard was run by a father and son team who are big into exporting and believe that relationship and trust are the keys to successful business. They recently received an e-mail from a customer in S E Asia who told them that they had been recommended by his father - checking records highlighted that they had done business with the father in the late 70's and early 80's. what better recommendation can you get?
The poorest yard was still being operated in the style of the 1980's, reliant upon local customers, not willing to advertise or use technology to promote the business - unless this yard gets a major influx of enthusiasm and ideas it will, to put a Monty Python slant on it, cease to be.
Most yards are specialising, know what sells well and where it sells, and working very hard to make a living for the owners and provide steady employment for the staff, all done in the face of increased competition, greater red tape, Environment Agency demands, and increased costs, but they seem to be the forgotten face of the business, recycling 85% of each vehicle, ensuring that environmental standards are at the highest ever, and keeping local government and national Government at bay by complying with all requests - however stupid and time consuming.
Support them where you can, buy previously used parts for your own or your friends cars, and ensure that scrap vehicles always go to licensed operators, otherwise the next time you wnat them they may not be there, or the parts you need will have already been exported.

UK Salvage Yards

All this talk of recession, job losses, and other depressing things, isn't it great to see an industry bucking the trends.
I have visited at least 6 yards this week, and all were busy with customers coming and going, and the phones never stopped ringing.
All said that the last few months have seen the numbers of enquiries for parts increase as more customers look to repair their cars rather than replace, and many of the yards confirmed that there is still considerable amount of vehicles and parts being exported from the UK to all parts of the world, including Europe, Africa, Middle East and Australia/New Zealand.
One overriding factor that I saw in all the yards this week; they are family run operations where husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters all work happily together, employing local people, helping the community repair their vehicles at lower cost, and generating a legacy that they can hand on to their children and grandchildren.
And as their children and grandchildren come into the business they will find an industry cleaner than ever before, a professional industry that is improving standards year on year, an industry that has a global reach, an industry that we can be proud of.
Next time scrappage is mentioned in the media or by government remember the yards that are treating these vehicles, de-polluting them to remove the hazardous elements, recycling the vehicles and parts, as well as creating revenue for UK plc by exporting parts, scrap metal etc, or helping others repair their cars at low cost and saving the environment by not having to produce brand new parts.
Now if we can get insurers to use 2nd hand parts in insurance repairs!

Air Bags

I see from the latest BVSF (British Vehicle Salvage Federation) magazine that Air Bags are on the agenda again. The BVSF are joining the groups actively campaigning for the current Association of British Insurers (ABI), Code of Practice for Motor vehicle Salvage to be re-written with the clauses about the re-use of non-deployed air bags removed.
As stated previously in this blog it is common practice in the USA to allow air bags that have not deployed in an accident to be re-used in another vehicle, saving costs and the environment. This is entirely safe and with correct legislation, safeguards, training and consumer protection should be accepted by all - including Insurance companies.
We all need to support the BVSF as it works with the US based Automotive Recyclers Association and make representations to the UK Motor Insurance Industry to get the Code of Practice updated.

Breakdown

Car broke down yesterday, very busy Friday afternoon, the RAC were brilliant, they couldn't repair the vehicle so the got me and the car the 110 miles home, and then collected the car again today and took it to the garage for the repair, I cannot fault them!
It appears that the fault is the Fuel Pressure Regulator, a known problem, hopefully the repair will be quick and I can get the car back early next week.

The US scrapyard!

During my recent holiday in the US, enjoying ‘gas’ at $2.50 a gallon (approx 40 pence per litre!), I took some time out and visited Nordstrom’s Automotive in South Dakota (www.nordstromsauto.com) - thanks to Benji Steffs for showing me around.
So many differences between their operation and the UK, Nordstrom’s rely mainly on their local customers for business, either through their sales teams based in the office or travelling locally, or their ‘u-pull-it’ facility, where customers come in, pay a flat rate and remove the parts that they want for their vehicles.
Difference to the UK, well many salvage parts operations can be up to 70% mail order, in some cases delivering worldwide - so have limited local customers.
The US also does not have the stringent environmental requirements that apply in the EU, no End of Life Vehicle regulations there!
They still have legal requirements to keep the land clean, and ensure that their hazardous waste (tyres, batteries etc) are removed to specialised operators, gas goes into their own tanks for re-use in their vehicles, and when the tanks are full each member of staff gets 10 gallons for their own vehicles. Oil keeps their heating system going in the winter.
Working conditions outside are very weather dependant, hot and dusty in the summer, cold and snowing in the winter. Consequently they have large indoor working and storage areas giving a working environment than many UK operations could only dream about!
Vehicles come from many sources, mainly insurers, and Nordstom’s make the decision on what they do with the vehicle – scrap it, use it for parts, or sell as repairable. They do not have restrictions like the Association of British insurers Code of Practice, so they can re-sell non-deployed air bags (under strict guidance), and they can section vehicles and sell these parts to body repair centres for insurance repair. I saw a front end section from a Honda Accord that had been cut at the base of the ‘A’ pillars and across the floor and sent to a body repairer, the repairer had then expertly removed the section of the front wheelhouse that they required for the repair and returned the rest of the front end section to Nordstrom’s for further sale/sectioning, paying for the parts that they removed.
The different standards in auto recycling is highlighted by my experience in the US, the standards set in the UK are much tougher, especially around the removal of unsafe vehicles and vehicle documentation, areas currently not mirrored elsewhere in the world. ELV regulations mean that the EU is leading the world on environmental and recycling targets, and the US show the benefit of using ‘green’ parts in automotive repair.
I believe that there will soon be a time where a global standard in auto recycling will begin to appear, taking the best of the UK, Europe and US standards and bringing a lasting benefit to the whole auto recycling industry.
This may take a few years to develop and bring to fruition, maybe start with a European Salvage Code and then work forward; as usual comments and ideas are welcome from all.

Repair standards and how this could impact the Motor Salvage industry.

Repair standards and how this could impact the Motor Salvage industry.

20 years ago very few standards were in place in the motor vehicle accident repair industry, most body repair centres relied upon manufacturer approval or the support of local garages for their workflow.
Since then there have been enormous changes in the body repair industry, many bodyshops have closed their doors and those that have survived have done so on tightening profit margins whilst having to invest heavily in the business.
One of the latest investments in the UK is the Kitemark scheme from BSI British Standards, supported by Thatcham, the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre.
This scheme is one of the very few in the marketplace that concentrates on repair standards rather than customer service standards, and is designed to develop a robust cross industry standard for the body repair industry, ensuring that vehicles damaged in accidents are repaired efficiently, effectively and safely by competent professionals working with the correct equipment and technical back up.

This scheme will drive up repair costs, well trained technicians will be able to demand increased salaries, repairers will have to finance their investment in training and equipment, and repair methods for some of the new vehicle construction techniques and exotic materials now appearing in motor vehicles will be more costly than some current methods.
When coupled with the current economic climate and severe downward pressure on vehicle values there is a strong possibility that more vehicles will be written off and disposed of as repairable salvage.

I am regularly asked about repair standards in the motor salvage marketplace, as once a vehicle moves into the UK salvage market it comes under the voluntary ABI Code of Practice for Motor Salvage, and this does not address repair standards.

So why not implement the Kitemark scheme for repaired motor salvage?
There are a number of very valid reasons for doing so, including:

Repair Standards and Quality, a vehicle repaired by a Kitemark approved repairer will have been repaired to a satisfactory standard by trained staff using the correct equipment, whereas a vehicle repaired in a salvage yard may not be repaired to a safe and satisfactory standard.
The vehicle will perform correctly in the worst-case scenario of another accident.
The vehicle has been repaired using correctly obtained parts, either new or second hand – i.e. not stolen or from an older vehicle.
It could be possible to have a process in place to remove the previous total loss marker from the vehicle following satisfactory repair


As in all cases, there are some compelling reasons for not implementing any initiative, including:
During the last eight years the motor salvage market has gone global!
Motor salvage is moving across borders in great numbers, a lot is going to Eastern Europe and then to Russia, some goes to the Middle East and Asia, and customers are even coming from China. A lot of these countries have much lower costs than the UK and our local salvage companies and repairers are finding it very difficult to compete, if you add the cost of repair standards to the UK salvage market then a lot of businesses will just cease to deal in this type of vehicle, leaving the way open for more salvage vehicles to be exported and could result in the closure of a number of UK based salvage businesses.

The Kitemark scheme is a voluntary, UK only, operation that has not been mirrored in other parts of the world, so a vehicle could be repaired at a UK repairer that does not have kitemark accreditation, or outside of the UK, to a high standard and put back into use quite legally.

All motor salvage dealt with by UK insurers should be categorised and recorded on MIAFTR (the Motor Insurance Anti Fraud and Theft Register), this data is then available to the general public through the various car data check schemes, if the customer decided to use these sources of information they would know the vehicle history and they can then make a choice - walk away or complete further checks on the vehicle if they wish, however if customers fail to use the information available then it is at their risk.

So how do we resolve this conundrum and look towards implementing sensible repair standards for salvage vehicles that will not cause significant harm to the motor salvage industry.

There are two areas that need to be focused on, and these involve salvage practices and repair standards:

The UK has the tightest salvage standards in the world – the adoption of the voluntary Association of British Insurers Code of Practice for Motor Vehicle Salvage has seen significant benefits to the UK, salvage categorisation should ensure that badly damaged vehicles are removed from circulation, and the steps taken to control vehicle documentation have significantly reduced motor vehicle fraud. Additional efforts with Motor Salvage Operators Registration, ELV (end of Life Vehicles) Licensing and Vehicle Identity Checks have only added to the controls in place to ensure that the general public are dealing with legitimate businesses and vehicles.
Unfortunately these controls are UK only, and there are no similar schemes in place anywhere around the world, so we need to look at the introduction of a European Salvage Code (ESC) that would offer similar benefits in the removal of vehicles from circulation and prevention of fraud.

Kitemark is too narrow and needs to widen its’ focus in the following areas.

The motor salvage industry must be included in the scheme, specifically with a view of:
Green Parts – use of second-hand parts in insurance and motor salvage vehicle repairs.
Parts standards – Setting the standards for quality of green parts and customer service.
Repair standards – setting the standard for quality repairs, enabling customers to purchase repaired salvage with confidence.

As with the ABI Code of Practice, Kitemark needs to be extended to the whole of Europe, and include repair standards, and sharing of information between member states.

To ensure full coverage Kitemark needs to include motorcycle and commercial vehicles.

Without this type of input and inclusivity there will always be ways of getting around the standards, and customers will suffer as a result. Additionally there is also the possibility that the Kitemark scheme would go the way of many other initiatives and fall apart within a few years if it fails to encompass some of these critical issues and close the potential gaps.

I appreciate that this cannot be implemented in a few months, and some of this could take many years, but the EU have already shown what can be done by implementing the End of Life Vehicle Directive (ELV) that is fully in place across all member states - Legislation that has set a standard and is being mirrored in other parts of the world, so lets set our sights high and work towards a consensus across the EU that promotes efforts to eradicate fraud, reduce the possibility of poor or unsafe repairs, and increases recycling by the sensible use of green parts in all types of vehicle repairs.
The UK motor salvage marketplace, by virtue of the controls already in place, should be at the head of any operation to drive up standards, an opportunity that should be grasped by all with an interest in the motor salvage industry, and a combination of the UK Motor Salvage Associations, Thatcham, Kitemark and the ABI would be an unstoppable force across Europe.