Training Skills Feature Library
Operations Engineer's library catalogues editorial features going back five years.
Access to all archive material is free to all, including non-members of IPlantE
(the Institution of Operations Engineers) or BES (Bureau of Engineer Surveyors), under
the umbrella of SOE (Society of Operations Engineers). However, to discover the
many benefits of becoming an SOE member, please click here.
18/03/2025
Comment: Platform to move forward
The combined sector committee of the BES and IPlantE met for the first time on 4 February with a packed agenda. The new committee was well balanced with elected and co-opted members and the initial indication is the format worked well and ...
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04/02/2025
Comment: Honoured to be chair
In December, I took over as the new chair of IPlantE from Ian Jackson. I am honoured to be holding this role to share my insight, skills, experience and knowledge from Hong Kong, where I reside.
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09/01/2025
A journey of resilience and leadership
At the SOE Safety and Resilience in Engineering Awards 2024 in October, Babcock International Group’s Flavia Popescu picked up two awards. The achievements marked a remarkable career rise for Romanian-born Flavia. She speaks to Justin Burns
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09/12/2024
Comment: Academics over experience
For many years now, the Test, Inspection and Certification (TIC) sector has experienced challenges associated with recruitment. Finding the right person with the appropriate amount of relevant experience and the appropriate academic ...
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07/11/2024
Comment: Community and congratulations
It was a pleasure, a couple of months ago, to provide the keynote speech at the SOE event “Navigating Engineering” at the SOE offices in London. The event followed on from the “Pathways to Progress” initiative designed to provide guidance ...
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08/08/2024
Comment: Time to take the plunge
For some time now, the SOE has been exploring ways to increase membership and promote professional registration. The personal benefits of membership and registration are well known, but often it is the employer who absorbs the costs, so ...
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08/01/2024
Comment: Mutual recognition
Recently there have been some announcements by the Engineering Council covering the introduction of bilateral engineering competency initiatives, the most recent being with the Netherlands.
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12/10/2023
Comment: View from the top
For well over 10 years now, I have supported the Engineering Council at membership and registration level of several professional engineering institutions, as a volunteer. I have observed and reported registration activities and how they ...
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24/11/2022
When fasteners go wrong
Taking machinery apart is a routine that every engineer knows – and often enjoys. But what if you can’t take it apart – if fasteners get stuck in place, or (worse) pull out of their fixings?
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14/11/2022
T Levels - the new broom
The first engineering repair standard in the new T Level course suite took its first learners in September. Will Dalrymple reviews the course and approach
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28/01/2021
Holding all of the cards
Skills passports offer direction for strategically minded technicians and evidence of aptitude for employers. No wonder then, of their growing popularity. By Steed Webzell
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04/03/2020
The stage is set
Plant & Asset Management returns to Birmingham’s NEC from 21-23 April 2020, alongside co-located events Drives & Controls, Smart Industry Expo, Fluid Power & Systems and Air-Tech, as well as MACH (20-24 April)
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01/11/2019
Steady on the tiller
The SOE’s new patron is Sir John Parker, a near 60-year veteran of industry. He sat down with OE to reflect on his career in shipbuilding and heavy industry and to state the importance of carrying on learning
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07/03/2019
Brainy benches
Intelligent assembly workbenches go beyond a printed manual to instruct operators on how to perform tasks step-by-step with context-based lighting, graphical displays and other cues. What benefits can this bring for operators and ...
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05/02/2019
Gas Train
The Industrial Gas Operations Accreditation Scheme, designed to provide an independent determination of competence for those working on large-scale gas installations, is two years old. How is it faring?
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09/12/2014
Balancing benefits or appeasing the voters?
With the chancellor putting the final touches to his Autumn Statement (as we go to press), and the pressure on to continue delivering the coalition's austerity programme, recent developments will be making this balancing act increasingly ...
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14/12/2013
Time for tribology
As the UK strives to rebalance its economy in favour of manufacturing, Brian Tinham talks to Dr Peter Jost about the still unfulfilled roles for tribological science and technology.
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07/08/2013
The new broom
As the Society of Operations Engineers – home to BES, IPlantE and IRTE – welcomes its new chief executive, Brian Tinham finds out more about the man and his ambitions for this important professional engineering institution
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07/08/2013
Engineering the future on shoulders of giants
Should we have been surprised that the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering went to the founders of the world-wide web? Yes, their innovations rank right up there among the giants, changing the lives of billions globally... But ...
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08/06/2012
Hard headed young engineers
It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, they used to say. And so it is with interest that we observe a significant rise in the numbers of engineering, technology, science and maths students taking up 'The Year in Industry' scheme, ...
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