Encouraging every idea

“No” is a word that graduate mechanical engineer Aaron Lopez has yet to hear in his seven months at Rotork.  

As part of his first rotation in the Rotork Graduate Programme, Aaron has been working in New Product Development where he said that every idea and suggestion is welcome – in fact, it’s positively encouraged in this environment where “agility” is the name of the game to develop Rotork’s next generation of actuation systems.

Aaron explained: “One thing that I’ve always respected about the team here is the opportunity to collaborate and succeed. Whenever I’ve had an idea, I’ve never been told ‘no’ or that I couldn’t do something because it was out of my scope. It’s quite the opposite as the team here has not only encouraged me to try out new ideas but also guided me through the approaches associated with them. At Rotork you're encouraged to work and learn, and push yourself, so developing new skills is paramount.”

Positive impression

Aaron first came across Rotork as a sponsor of Team Bath Racing Electric, the electric Formula Student team based out of the University of Bath’s Faculty of Engineering and Design. He was an active member, developing racing cars and competing against other university teams on racetracks around the UK and Europe. He said: “We built up a good rapport with the Rotork team who used to visit us and when I heard more about their scope of engineering it really piqued my interest, particularly their graduate scheme.”

Although the work in New Product Development is confidential, Aaron can reveal that he’s enjoyed applying a lot of what he learned at university regarding thermal analysis and thermal heat transfer as well as running simulations. He added: “We are taking a big evolutionary step in terms of what Rotork has done before so this has required a lot of input, new thinking and agility.”

Aaron has only been working with Rotork for seven months. However, he already feels that he has a good understanding of the ‘big picture’, thanks to the Engineering function’s monthly team meetings, and that he’s provided with opportunities to innovate and drive impact, making a difference to the organisation.

“One of the pillars of our Growth+ strategy is innovative products and services. I feel that, by being part of the New Product Development team, I’m contributing to looking at all the different scopes of what we can do, as well as what will benefit our customers and the business. It’s exciting as we’re looking in areas that we’ve never really explored before, such as how we can provide more sustainable solutions to consumers, making industries cleaner, safer and more efficient. I feel I’m contributing to that in a meaningful way and at a level of involvement that I wasn’t really expecting, which is great.”  

Education outreach

Another advantage of working at Rotork is the company’s approach to supporting their graduates’ professional development, providing opportunities to grow and progress, and Aaron has been keen to get involved with the company’s outreach programme.

He said: “I wanted to push myself further regarding early careers outreach and the encouragement and the support I get has been very good. I’ve been working with our HR department to visit schools and universities to interest people in engineering as a career, and in working with Rotork. It’s a good way to develop my soft skills related to working with and influencing people.

“Rotork prioritises our professional development compared to what I’ve heard from my peers who work in other industries and ’m confident I speak for other graduates on the scheme when I say that none of us have ever been told we can’t do x, y or z. We’ve always been told, ‘if you think it’ll benefit you and the team, push yourself and go ahead with it’.”

Aaron’s next six-month rotation will be in Rotork’s Project Management department working with their Sustainability team. He is looking forward to more secondments around the company which he hopes will eventually put him in a leadership position in the future.

He added: “Ultimately, I want to become a technical leader with opportunities to innovate, collaborate and grow, creating a lasting impact on our customers, the world and each other, and, as we say at Rotork, keeping the world flowing for future generations.”