Internships and placements
Spend your placement on parts that fly.
ESM takes engineering and technician students every year. The subject is a real industrial problem, the tutor is the person who owns the process, and the deliverable is used after you leave. You work inside an EN 9100 quality system, on a machine park bought new between 2020 and 2025.
What we take
Four kinds of placement
| Placement | Who it is for | Usual length | What you leave with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final-year project, engineer | Engineering students in mechanics, industrial engineering, materials or production, in their final year. | Final semester | A defended dissertation on a subject ESM actually needed solved, and a result that stays in service. |
| Final-year project, technician | Students from technology institutes and applied-licence programmes in machining, metrology, maintenance or methods. | Final semester | Hands-on command of a workstation or a control method, and a report built on your own measurements. |
| Summer or introductory placement | Students mid-course who want to see an industrial plant from the inside before they choose a specialisation. | One to two months | A clear picture of how a part is actually made, inspected and documented — and of which job you want next. |
| Work-study | Students on a school-and-company alternating programme over a full academic year. | Academic year | Real responsibility on a recurring task, and a track record an employer can verify. |
Placements are agreed with your school under a signed agreement. Subjects are defined before you arrive, with the function that will host you.
Subjects
Where the real problems are
Methods and CAM programming
Toolpath strategy on thin-wall aluminium, cycle-time reduction without touching surface integrity, post-processor work, fixture design, tool life analysis.
Industrialisation and NPI
Taking a new part number from customer definition to a frozen, repeatable process: process route, control plan, first-off, transfer to series.
Quality and metrology
FAI files to AS/EN 9102, measurement strategy on the 3D arm, gauge capability, 8D and root-cause analysis, PPM tracking by family.
Continuous improvement
Setup-time reduction, line balancing between machining and fitting, 5S and flow on the shop floor, OEE analysis machine by machine.
Supply chain and planning
Load and capacity modelling in the ERP, material scheduling, packaging design against transit damage and FOD, supplier performance analysis.
Maintenance and reliability
Preventive maintenance plans on a modern DMG MORI park, spindle and axis condition monitoring, spare-part policy, downtime analysis.
How it works
A placement here is not a desk in a corner
You are attached to a function and to a named tutor. You get the same induction as a new employee — safety, FOD, product safety and confidentiality — because you will be on the shop floor and near customer data.
Confidentiality is taken seriously: drawings, programmes and customer references are covered by agreements ESM has signed, and what you may put in your dissertation is agreed with your tutor before you write it. It is a constraint every aerospace engineer learns to work inside, and learning it early is part of the training.
Application
Send your CV and say which area interests you. Applications for final-year projects are best sent several months before the semester starts.
Interview and subject
A technical conversation with the hosting function, then a written subject with a scope and a deliverable.
Agreement and induction
Agreement signed with your school, then induction on safety, FOD, product safety and confidentiality.
The work
You sit with the function, go to its meetings, and present your progress. Reviews with your tutor throughout, not only at the end.
Handover
The result is handed over to the process owner. Good work is kept, and it goes on your record here.
Apply
Tell us what you want to work on
A specific subject interests us more than a general request. If you already have a subject imposed by your school, say so — we will tell you honestly whether we can host it properly.
Schools and teaching staff
If you place students and want to set up a recurring arrangement, or discuss subjects for the coming year, write to us directly.
