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In order to plug the growing engineering skills gap in the UK, companies need to encourage more women into the profession. Schaeffler UK is now reaping the rewards from investing in a female engineer, Birgitta Liesching, who has now progressed to a fully qualified applications engineer.
“For me, the most enjoyable part of the job is listening to a customer’s specific application details and devising a suitable bearing solution, which often requires me to think outside the box,” enthuses Birgitta Liesching, applications engineer at precision bearing manufacturer Schaeffler (UK) Ltd.
“I also enjoy the variety of work. One day, I might be advising an OEM customer on what type of rolling bearing is the most appropriate for an application. The next day, I could be down in the lab inspecting a damaged bearing that has been returned to us,” she continues.
Based at Schaeffler’s UK headquarters in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands – the base for all sales, marketing, engineering and logistics operations – Birgitta, 29, has been employed in her current role for almost three years. She spent the first year as a graduate applications engineer and the next two as a fully qualified applications engineer.
Born in Germany but having lived in Sutton Coldfield since 2011, Birgitta has already earned a reputation at the company – and with customers – for her technical knowledge, excellent problem solving skills, tenacity and positive attitude.
As Dr Steve Lacey, engineering manager at Schaeffler UK confirms: “Birgitta has been a breath of fresh air since arriving here. In her interviews, she came across as a technically competent individual, who also listens well, is thorough and customer-focused in her work, proactive, tenacious and clearly thinks about the detail – key attributes required for that role.”
“I can honestly say that if I interviewed a hundred engineering graduates, male or female, less than 10 per cent would meet our expectations and even less would match up to Birgitta’s standards,” he adds.
UK statistics confirm this. According to a recent survey by the IET, 44% of engineering recruits in this country do not meet the employer’s expected skills levels. When you also consider that the UK needs to double the number of engineering recruits to 87,000 each year for the next decade, it is critical that employers do more to promote engineering as an appealing career choice.
“Yes, as employers, we must all do more to help change the negative perception of engineering that exists among young people, in schools, colleges and universities. One way of plugging the skills gap is to attract more females into engineering roles. Birgitta is a shining example of how this can reap rewards for employers,” agrees Dr Lacey.
Firm foundations in Germany
In Germany, Birgitta left school with A levels in Maths, Physics, German, French and English. She then studied a Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Karlsruhe University for six years, which included a Masters Degree, where she specialised in Materials Science.
As part of her Degree, Birgitta spent six months working for a UK company, B. Mason & Sons Ltd, a specialist producer of non-ferrous, copper-based rolled strip. Working at the company’s rolling mill in Aston, Birmingham, Birgitta was involved in all aspects of process engineering, including quality control, process improvement projects and laboratory work. She was offered the job after approaching the company’s stand at a recruitment fair held at Karlsruhe University.
On completing her Masters Degree back in Germany, Birgitta then applied for a full time position at B Mason & Sons in Birmingham. She recalls: “I was accepted and went back to work for the company as a project engineer for one year before unfortunately being made redundant in 2011.”
A few weeks later, Birgitta was contacted by a recruitment agency about a graduate applications engineer position at Schaeffler UK in Sutton Coldfield. “I knew about Schaeffler from my time at home in Germany, where the company is well known. I applied for the job, attended some interviews and was offered the job.”
Birgitta spent the first 12 weeks based in Germany at Schaeffler’s Eltmann Training Centre. This involved training courses on the company and its product range, the basics of application engineering, including market sectors, practical exercises, bearing failure analysis, bearing calculation tools, and so on. In her first year in the role, Birgitta also benefited from personal development training and gained an Open University postgraduate certificate in Personal Development and Leadership.
Today, as a fully qualified applications engineer, a typical working day for Birgitta involves a variety of tasks: “Believe it or not, the most important tool in my job is still the telephone,” she explains. “This is because most of our incoming enquiries are still via the telephone, with some also on email. I also need to speak to Schaeffler engineers in Germany, so being able to speak both English and German languages is invaluable.”
As for other personal skills and qualities needed to be an application engineer, she states: “You need to be a good listener and be able to discuss and analyse specific application details with the customer, advising and guiding them accordingly. This typically involves providing customers with supporting technical data, drawings or bearing load calculations. It could involve advising the use of a particular type of bearing lubricant or sealing method.”
But has the male-dominated world of engineering accepted women such as Birgitta into the fold? “In my case, most definitely yes,” states Birgitta. ”Although you still get the odd customer on the telephone or on an exhibition stand who cannot believe a woman is actually working as an applications engineer, on the whole I think women are now accepted in engineering roles today.”
“As the only female currently working in the engineering department, I do sometimes feel that I have to prove myself by working that little bit harder and to show others that I am technically competent. But in reality, the other engineers here treat me the same as any other, so it’s never really been an issue for me.”
So how do we attract more women into the profession? “I never really had a burning ambition to study mechanical engineering or to work as an applications engineer. I kind of fell into the profession by accident. I enjoyed A level Maths and Physics, but once I began to study mechanical engineering at Degree level, I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth of subjects it covered and how interesting these were. If we could find a way of portraying what being a mechanical or applications engineer actually entails, I strongly believe that more young people – male and female – would consider a career in engineering.”
“In Germany, engineers are treated and viewed very differently compared to here in the UK. Being an engineer in Germany is a very well respected profession, whereas here it is sometimes viewed as an inferior job that means working in a dirty, oily environment and wearing overalls. The media could help more I suppose, by publishing positive stories about engineering, which might then attract more women into the profession. Schools also have an important role to play here and can help inspire more girls to study STEM subjects.”
Birgitta is actively involved in helping to inspire the next generation of young engineers. Recently, she visited The University of Birmingham with two other colleagues from Schaeffler to talk to more than a hundred mechanical engineering Degree undergraduates about what it’s really like to work as an applications engineer at Schaeffler. As Birgitta concludes: “It all went very well and the students were really interested in hearing what being an engineer actually involves on a day-to-day basis. The only concern for me on the day was that out of the 105 students who attended the presentations, only three were female.”
For more information, please contact Schaeffler UK’s Marketing Department on info.uk@schaeffler.com
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| 23284BK NTN | 420 | 760 | 272 |
| 23284B NTN | 420 | 760 | 272 |