AMRC apprentices tear down gearbox to build up engineering knowledge

Nine of the AMRC Training Centre apprentices have recently completed the tear-down of an automotive gear box in order to identify the materials used and the dimensions and weight of the components. Supervised by two Tata Steel product metallurgists, who are specialists in the forging and automotive industries, the apprentices analysed each gear to determine what processes it had been through, for example heat treatment.

Tata Steels product metallurgist Catherine Jones, who worked with the apprentices on the project said: “We have a generation of engineers who while very technically competent, sometimes lack the applied knowledge of how a system really fits together on a component level. When the AMRC was asked to tear down a gear box, this was a great opportunity for us to work with the apprentices to give them a greater understanding of what goes where, as well as for them to support us in studying the design and materials used.”

The nine apprentices are due to join The Proving Factory later this year to work in component manufacturing.

The Proving Factory, led by Productiv and Tata Steel, is a unique organisation in the UK automotive industry, credibly bridging the market gap between technology developers making innovative, low-carbon ‘proof of concept prototypes, and the need to develop the required confidence of vehicle manufacturers in the new technology by providing proving volume supply. By September 2015 The Proving Factory will have two factories – component manufacturing and assembly – with the capacity to produce up to 200,000 low-carbon vehicle technologies per year.