... A Manufacturing Engineer at Ballard Motive Solutions
Aaron Pitson
Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Ballard Motive Solutions
What does a regular working day at BMS look like for you?
Flexible working hours means I am able to do the school run, if necessary, but if not, I can start my working day nice and early. Mornings are usually good to clear any admin tasks and plan around meetings for the day before catching up with a daily call with members of the team working closely with my role. Video meetings are key when everyone works remotely to keep connected; time between meetings is usually filled with acting on outcomes of said meetings to fulfil the needs of the current workload.
What are your main daily responsibilities and what skills have you developed to be successful?
The key responsibilities of my role are ensuring we have control and efficient planning of our product development to manufacture a product that is robust, time and cost effective and achieves the necessary requirements for customer and service requirements. I work closely with design functions to advise and support with design development to ensure we have the best process to hand over to production functions.
I am also responsible for developing the facility requirements and layouts to achieve the optimum, lean, production process. Communication is a key skill that I have developed throughout my career to be able to listen to the needs and requirements of planning and design along with production and service requirements. Acting as the link between these two areas of the product development and release process, it is especially important to be able to bring people and ideas together for our common goals.
What kind of challenges do you face on a regular basis and how do you like to solve them?
I regularly translate design intentions into workable processes that production can follow. The challenge with that is understanding the level of detail needed in the information to suit the deliverable. Considering the timing and program requirements from the project management side and the time and resource allocation from production allows me to plan and decide on what information is required and how best to display and communicate the information.
%20(600%20%C3%97%20350%20px).png "ZEMIF (540 × 540 px) (600 × 350 px)")
In the post-Covid working landscape, how do you keep motivated and productive?
I am in the fortunate position that I have a dedicated office space at home where I can close myself off to focus on the tasks at hand, but equally where I can unwind from work at the end of the day. Keeping work and family separate when working from home helps to maintain a motivated attitude for me. I also work much better with music playing, helping to keep me focused on the task at hand.
How do you find the new work dynamic and balance? What are your methods for collaboration with colleagues?
Most of my work is from home, where I keep in close contact with colleagues through the varied and multiple video meetings throughout the week. Instant messaging services such as Google Chat are a real positive and, in my opinion, essential, as this effectively replaces the kind of information exchange where you might usually talk across a desk or walk across the office to get. I have regular opportunities to work at one of our production facilities to help with ongoing projects. This solidifies the remote relationships we’ve built and is a welcome break from seeing the same four walls all day!
What is your favourite thing about working at BMS?
Working with a team of like-minded, enthusiastic people to develop the best products possible – knowing that my input is valued and appreciated.
Do you have any words of advice or encouragement for potential candidates looking for a position at BMS?
My advice for anyone considering joining BMS would be simply to go for it! I have only been with the company for a limited amount of time, but feel that I am a fully-fledged member of the team and I can make a positive impact to support the success of the business.