MAKE
IT
REAL
WHY MECHANICAL ENGINEERING COULD BE THE CAREER FOR YOU
From its six-acre site in North Skelton, family firm Tees Components has specialised in“ heavy engineering” since the 1960s.
The Channel Tunnel and even the huge Wembley Arch are just two of the projects it’ s been involved in – and it’ s currently working on several more.
But what sort of work goes on there? And how could you get involved? We asked its managing director, Sharon Lane …
WHAT DOES TEES COMPONENTS DO?
We provide mechanical engineering services, including machining, fitting and measuring.
And we have our own product, a ship’ s thruster, which sits in the hull of a ship and gives it 360-degree manoeuvrability.
We’ ve made them for around 20 years and recently got a major new order to make two more.
WHY SHOULD I CONSIDER MECHANICAL ENGINEERING?
We love engineering because we make real things! Mechanical engineering is about keeping the world going round.
Whether it’ s part of a bridge, a power station or a ship, you’ re doing something that’ s going to be running for years and that’ s really rewarding.
IS IT JUST ABOUT OPERATING BIG MACHINERY?
No – we have a finance department, a sales admin team, front-of-house roles, a kitchen with a chef … lots of different roles.
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We don’ t want young people to think,“ Oh, unless I’ m really good at maths and physics, I’ ll never work there,” because that’ s not the case. And we’ re a really modern, digital operation – it’ s not all about boots and overalls.