Plant & Mechanical Engineer
Plant and Mechanical Engineers design, install and repair plant machinery and parts.
The Role
- Designing and implementing equipment modifications to help improve safety and reliability
- Investigating and testing ideas to improve existing systems or to overcome machinery problems
- Making parts and installing and testing machinery
- Carrying out maintenance and identifying and repairing faults in equipment
- Solving complex problems with manufacturing departments, sub-contractors, suppliers and customers
- Managing projects
- Planning and designing new production processes
- Working with other professionals, within and outside the engineering sector
- Monitoring and commissioning plant and systems
Salary
- A newly trained plant & mechanical engineer can earn in the region of £25,000 - £30,000
- Trained with experience plant & mechanical engineers can earn in the region of £30,000 - £40,000
- Senior plant & mechanical engineers can earn in the region of £40,000 - £50,000
Qualifications & Training
To get into mechanical engineering you will usually be required to have a degree.
Degrees in mechanical engineering, engineering science, aeronautical engineering, agricultural engineering, computer-aided engineering, manufacturing engineering or nuclear engineering are looked upon favourably by employers.
It is useful if your first degree or masters is accredited by a relevant professional body, such as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers as it can help you to achieve the status of chartered engineer at a later date.
It is possible to enter the career as a trainee without a degree but you would need to build up the necessary skills and knowledge, and possibly take higher qualifications, to work up to the role of mechanical engineer. 
