Encouraging its engineers to attain Chartered Engineer status through the IMechE is playing an important role in SC Group’s successful diversification strategy into new sectors was the message to the President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), Prof Richard Folkson, in a visit to the Devon based design and engineering firm yesterday.   Today nearly half the Group’s UK based 30 strong engineering team have Chartered status or are undergoing sponsored registration with the IMechE.  Five years ago there were two.

“Being registered as a Chartered Engineer with the IMechE is an internationally recognised accreditation which is respected across multiple industry sectors.  It provides our new and existing customers with assurance of our high level of professional competency and compliance”, said Steve Austen, FIMechEng, Engineering Director of SC Group and the IMechE Wessex region’s `Engineer of the Year`.

Prof Richard Folkson, President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said:

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to meet with the hugely talented engineers at SC Group and to witness some of the cutting-edge innovations the company is developing.

SC Group is a UK manufacturing success story. The equipment and vehicles they are developing are integral to the work of the army, as well as lifeboat rescue teams, and show just how important it is for the UK to have a vibrant and skilled engineering workforce”.

Last year the company rebranded under a new SC Group identity comprising four distinct businesses: Supacat continues as the brand for its core military vehicle business; SC Innovation offers engineering equipment design for diversified sectors such as marine, oil & gas, nuclear and renewables; Proteum for the marine products and services; and Blackhill Engineering brings large fabrication and associated machining.

The President visited the Design Office to meet with the engineering team and then toured the workshops where he inspected Supacat’s new Lightweight Reconnaissance Vehicle (LRV400) and SC Innovation’s Lifeboat Launch & Recovery System developed with the RNLI.   The visit concluded at the Test Track where Richard Folkson, a former Chief Engineer for Ford UK, and the IMechE delegation got the chance to test drive the acclaimed `Jackal` and other high mobility vehicles, for which the company is renowned.

Richard Folkson was accompanied on the visit by Ian Parsons, IMechE Western Region Chairman; John Earp, IMechE Devon & Somerset Area Chairman Alan King, IMechE Business Development Manager and Jill Dwyer, IMechE Business Development Executive.

Click here to visit the IMechE website:

https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/chartered-engineer-registrations-supports-sc-group-expansion-into-new-markets-hears-imeche-president-in-visit-to-devon-engineering-group

Roger Baker has joined UK high mobility vehicle specialist, Supacat, as Post Design Services (PDS) Manager. In this role he will liaise directly with the UK MoD customer, ensuring the Supacat family of vehicles continually evolve in order to best support our end-user’s requirements. Roger will also manage and control customer engineering upgrade projects to ensure all modifications are developed, implemented and supported throughout the Supacat range.

A Mechanical Engineer by trade, he served a 22-year Army career with the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers. This involved working with a wide range of military vehicles, hence, Roger brings with him both technical engineering ability and operational capability experience.

During his Army career, Roger has managed repair facilities supporting Protected Mobility Vehicles. More recently, whilst at the Combat Service Support Trials and Development Unit, he was responsible for trialling, developing and bringing into service a wide range of military vehicles and associated equipment. Roger’s wealth of military operational experience combined with his understanding of equipment maintainer issues and user needs adds significant value to Supacat’s support offering in building strong and credible relationships with our stakeholders.