Central Scanning are keen to continue supporting and growing skills throughout the manufacturing industry. Due to increase in work load, we invested in a new Trainee Applications Engineer. Tom has now been with us a month, so we thought wed ask him a few questions about his role at Central Scanning and how hes finding it so far!
Tell us a bit about yourself Tom...
Im an 18 year old student living in Bromsgrove with my parents. I am currently attending HOW College in Bromsgrove two days a week, and then working at Central Scanning the rest of the week.
What made you interested in engineering then? In particular 3D Scanning & Digitisation?
I like the idea of being able to take a physical object, scan it in virtually and then model it, modify it or 3D print it. This is the part that interests me the most! There are so many different aspects to Engineering that I wasnt even aware of.
You currently study at Bromsgrove NEW College. What course is it that youre studying?
I study interactive Media & Games Design. The course covers a wide range of modules some of which focus on: Web Design, App Design/Development, 3D Modelling and 3D Rendering.
Working with 3D Software at college gave me a good foundation knowledge before starting at Central Scanning, so it helped me a lot to understand 3D Data in general.
One project I recently completed for college prior to starting at Central Scanning was a short work based learning project. I had to design an annex for a building, model it and then render it. From there I created a walk through and presented it to a company and my tutors. I particularly enjoyed this project as it was very much independent designing and problem solving.
On your search for a trainee role, what made you apply at Central Scanning?
It was a local company, which helped! I also liked the fact that they were a relatively small team, which I was used to from my old job. From doing my research on their website, I could see that they didnt just focus on one industry sector, but worked with a wide range of them. This was good for me, as I knew I could get experience for working on a diverse range of projects from Aerospace to Animation. I love 3D printing too- so to find out they had four printers too was a plus!
Whats the most interesting thing youve scanned so far?
One of my first projects was to 3D Scan a Coconut! Strange request for a London based Animation Company. They took the scan data and put it into their Animation Software Maya.