Trainee servomotor engineer
- Recruiter
- Quality Servomotor Repairs Ltd
- Location
- Stockport, Greater Manchester
- Salary
- £18,000 for 3month probationary period
- Posted
- 12 Dec 2018
- Closes
- 12 Jan 2019
- Sectors
- Engineering, Mechanical
- Contract Type
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full Time
A servomotor is generally an electrical motor which has some kind of electrical or electronic positional feedback attached to its rotor. Modern servomotors tend to be brushless permanent magnet motors rather than the earlier brushed DC motors. Typical feedback devices are Hall effects, resolvers, tacho-generators and encoders.
History:
Quality Servomotor Repairs Ltd was set up in 2011 by an electronics engineer. The lab/workshop is based in a small unit in a converted textiles mill in Stockport. (26/C, Vernon Mill, Mersey St, Stockport. SK1 2HX). There are currently 6 engineers in the company.
Most of our customers are motor rewinders, automation engineers, industrial electronics companies, solutions administrators, etc. We also repair motors for end users from time to time.
It is vital that our repairs are extremely reliable and that there are no problems hidden from our customers which may cause them embarrassment with their own customers.
Quality Servomotor Repairs engineers' approach:
There are four inflexible characteristics of how QSRL-trained engineers approach each job:
- Precision.
- Carefulness & thoroughness.
- Honesty.
- Willingness to learn and to develop new techniques.
QSRL engineers have developed stringent assessment and repair procedures: you will receive training to allow you to implement and develop these procedures.
Training which the successful applicant will undergo
It is assumed that the successful applicant will have little or no direct experience of repairing servomotors, although they will be expected to meet all six of the essential person specifications.
The successful candidate will spend the first three months, probationary period, developing and applying their existing skills to the field of servomotor repair. They will also be familiarising themselves with the workshop facilities.
Training process:
First three months: this time is intended to be an initial training and acclimatisation period. After discussion, you will be given particular targets/ training aims. Which must be fulfilled by the end of three months. The contract for this period is only for three months, but obviously our aim is to ensure that you are happy and competent enough to be taken on full-time. This three months is a very expensive period in both wages and training time and our desire would be to help you succeed.
Assuming that the three month probationary is successful, it is likely that you will continue to develop so that you can tackle various jobs with no supervision. This usually takes a further three months.
It is likely that you will be competent to successfully repair almost all servomotors after three years and become excellent after five years. If you already have relevant background skills (mechanical engineering, electronics, software, etc) this period is likely to be substanitally reduced.
Your previous experience and, more importantly, your attitude, will affect these milestones.
You will be trained in the following:
- Use & maintenance of manual lathe and milling machine to very close tolerances.
- Assessment, disassembly and reassembly of servomotors.
- Balancing shafts to very close tolerance and, sometimes, very high speeds.
- Interpretation of different mechanical engineering instruments.
- Interpretation of different feedback devices: electrical, electronic, electromechanical, software.
- Other training will depend upon the successful candidate's strengths and development requirements.
Person specifications
Essential characteristics:
- Must have an “feel” for machines and/or materials. Evidence for this might be amateur or industrial experience in electrical/mechanical repairs/ automation projects, some DIY projects, car, hobby mechanical engineering, hobby electronics, art materials, etc. Must show evidence that you are willing to get interested in, and learn about, a variety of areas: let us know if (and how) gardening, car mechanics, Airfix model making, remote control models, ancient history, etc has sparked your interest in the past. Must be able to learn to apply simple trigonometry and algebra to servomotor-related engineering problems. It is unlikely that these operations will be more complicated than calculating angles from lengths of opposite and hypotenuse, calculating torque, using Ohm's Law, etc. It will be assumed that grade C or above at GCSE or equivalent will be evidence of the ability to learn these applications although other evidence will be considered. Must have a methodical approach to problems. Although speed will eventually be important, accuracy, care, thoughtfulness and ability to apply different techniques are more important during the first three years of training. Honesty, time-keeping, sickness, diligence. It is assumed that, at some point in your life, you may have been sick, been dismissed from employment, or have been accused of lack of diligence. We are interested in how you discuss these things during the recruitment process, rather than whether you can present the image of a perfect employee.
Desirable characteristics:
Please note: these are desirable: selection for interview will be based upon the evidence you provide for how you fulfil the essential characteristics. Please give examples or experience of any of the following desirable characteristics.
- Designing and making finished products, whether DIY, art, electrical, electronic or mechanical, industrial electrical control systems, etc.
- Electronics knowledge or experience (professional or hobby).
- Experience of working from diagrams: perhaps mechanical, electronic, woodwork, electrical, etc.
- Any kind of programming: Arduino, Raspberry pie, basic, C, PLC, HMI, etc, etc, etc.
Employment conditions:
3 month initial contract which serves as a probationary period. This period will serve as a familiarisation time and initial training period. There is no implicit obligation on your part, or on the part of QSRL, to move to a full-time contract after this initial contract expires. Our determined aim would, of course, be to ensure that you, and the director of QSRL, are happy for your training and employment with us to continue after this period.
37.5hrs per week. Hours are generally from 08:00hrs to 16:00hrs (with a half hour unpaid lunchbreak), although there is flexibility provided that the contract hours are fulfilled.
£18,000 p.a. Assuming that QSRL and you decide to move onto a full-time contract at the end of the probationary period, there will be small salary increments from time to time.
QSRL contributes 5% salary to your pension when you start your full-time contract. You may contribute as much as you want, subject to agreement by the company acountant and director.
20 days (pro-rata) per annum paid leave holiday plus bank holidays.
Evening and weekend overtime is rare, but may be required from time to time. Out of hours work is paid at 1.5X normal hourly rate.