As his six week engineering placement with Fozmula comes to an end, Fozmula Bursary Award student, James Russell, has demonstrated the mutual benefits of the long-standing relationship between Fozmula and Oxford University.
During his brief, but intensive, placement, James made a significant contribution to several projects. Most notably, he was able to employ his electronic and mathematical skills to help improve the compensation algorithms used in a new high temperature variant of Fozmula’s flagship fuel level sensor.
Commenting on his placement, James said he was pleasantly surprised at the degree of autonomy he was allowed and that he immediately felt like a valued member of the engineering team. This encouraged him to deliver results as he was keen to demonstrate his project’s progress at the weekly new product introduction (NPI) meeting. He also found that Fozmula’s integrated structure meant he could see the entire production cycle first hand; “I was given the opportunity to follow a product from assembly, through testing and on to dispatch. I did this by spending a day on the production line then working with the quality department before finally watching the products shipped off to their point of use!”
James’s talents are not limited to engineering, it transpired he is also a capable baker presenting his colleagues with homemade cakes on a couple of occasions including a chocolate creation to say “Thank you Fozmula”.
Engineering Manager, George Pelari, said that James’s contribution has been invaluable; “James not only successfully completed the projects we gave him, he also fitted in well with the team. I think I can speak for everyone at Fozmula in wishing him well with his studies and what promises to be an exceptional engineering career.”
A bit about Fozmula Limited:
Fozmula is a UK based manufacturer of equipment primarily designed for the control, monitoring and protection of internal combustion engines, generator sets and vehicles. Fozmula’s products include sensors, switches and gauges for the control and monitoring of fuel level, coolant level, temperature and pressure. Established in 1977, the company specialises in solid state level sensors that enable continuous measurement of fuel, oil or coolant levels using in-house developed capacitive technology. Not have any moving parts, these devices offer improved accuracy and reliability when compared to the mechanical alternatives.
For further information: www.fozmula.com
Oxford University and Fozmula’s Bursary:
Fozmula works closely with several universities but has particularly close links with the University of Oxford. Through this connection, the Fozmula Trust funds three bursaries in each year at the Department of Engineering Science. The purpose of these Fozmula Bursaries is to encourage able students to pursue a career in Engineering, whilst ensuring Fozmula’s technical staff are kept abreast of developments via one of the world’s leading technology centres.
Working with the Department of Engineering Science at Oxford University, Fozmula regularly provides final year students with work based placements of up to six months. During their time with Fozmula the students usually undertake a project, jointly set by the University and the Company, which is marked as a part of their Finals.
