Having previously spent a whole year at Labman doing his Year-In-Industry internship, Tom has just completed another summer but this time as a Project Leader. Now he feels like part of the furniture and we look forward to seeing him back again soon.
"It was great to get stuck into another summer at Labman, having previously spent a full year here in industry.
This summer I worked as a Project Leader to deliver and upgrade to an existing solubility preparation system which I had fortunately helped design and install during my year in industry. After being away for a year, it was fantastic to have a customer call you exclaiming “Tom, you’re back!” from the other end of the line. The upgrade introduces an additional 14 ‘Tecan’ lines to dispense solvent in addition to the current 10. All 24 lines are temperature controlled with an industrial standard peltier between -10° and +40°. The timelines for the project were rather short, owing to my return to university therefore it was important to ensure the project ran very smoothly with parts being correct first time, components ordered quickly and ease of assembly with room for adjustment. I was in my element, designing bespoke parts and 3D printing probably too much of the system!
I think Labman is a fantastic place to work as you are given a large amount of responsibility, which leads to a much more exciting summer compared to other summer jobs. This is clearly reflected by every intern who has written a blog this summer and commented on the diverse projects and skills learned. Of course, the main reason I came back to Labman was not the brilliant design and manufacture opportunities, but to resume the table tennis rivalry and increase my bouldering grade on the climbing wall! All in all, it is a mix of the people and the wide variety of work which sets Labman apart.
Once again, Labman has been a fantastic place to spend the summer and I would highly recommend to any who is interested. See you next year!"