The Curiosity Project On the factory floor

Siemens Siemens was established in the United Kingdom more than 170 years ago and now employs over 13,000 people in the UK. As the world’s largest engineering company, Siemens provides innovative solutions to help tackle the world’s major challenges. The Curiosity Project by Siemens The UK needs more engineers and through our Curiosity Project, we aim to bring science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to life, by supporting leading organisations that reach out and nurture the innate curiosity in young people and showcase the amazing and rewarding opportunities a career in engineering can provide. This workshop is part of the project and you can find more details at siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project.

Learning outcomes You will be able to analyse a process and the tasks that are needed to carry out efficient manufacturing processes. You will be able to work together to allocate roles within a team to maximise efficiency.

Made in the UK

What is manufacturing and automation? Many manufactured goods are produced in factories. Some are highly automated with ‘robots’ carrying out many of the repetitive tasks. Siemens produces software that helps automate steps in manufacturing.

How do you make the perfect cuppa? Pour boiling water into the teapot Switch on kettle Get mugs ready Put water in kettle Pour tea into mugs Get out milk and sugar Wait for kettle to boil Add tea bags to the pot How do you make the perfect cuppa?

Will you make the cut? Aim: Try to get the highest possible score by cutting letters out of a newspaper and counting up their point value. Instructions: Cut/tear individual letters out of the newspapers pages. Add up the total score of the letters according to their point value in the score table. Remember, you lose points for inaccuracy - so count carefully!

Inaccurate/ incomplete counting Letter Score All vowels 1 point M R F C V 3 points Z X Y Q 8 points All other letters 2 points Inaccurate/ incomplete counting - 10 points Scoring chart

Improving your score Let’s discuss how you can organise your team and approach to get a higher score on the second try. How does what you experienced relate to what might happen in a real factory?

Analysis What changes did you make the second time around? Did this improve results? How were the steps you’ve taken similar to the manufacturing process? Ensuring efficiency is one of many roles that engineerS have – engineers solve real problems to make people’s lives better!

Play Lean Machines Check out Siemens’ Lean Machines game developed in collaboration with MINI. siemens.co.uk/education/en/students/interactives.htm