#NCW2019 Blog: adi's Ian Cartwright Shares His Engineering Journey

By adi Group
schedule8th Mar 19

It's the final day of National Careers Week and also National Apprenticeship Week. In this Blog, Ian Cartwright, Process Division Director in adi's Project Management division shares his career progression in the engineering sector. 

Tell us a little about your role, the projects you are supporting and the type of work you undertake on a daily basis.
In relation to potential new work, my role involves interpreting the total project scope and then providing information to other adi companies and third parties so that they can submit a quotation. I collate all of the costs and calculate the prices for the client, including adi Project’s design and management elements. I then prepare a quotation for a client confirming the total project scope and provide them with the costs.

In relation to projects for which clients place orders on adi Projects, my role involves appointing suppliers and coordinating their activities. adi Projects then act as the main point of the contact for the client and manage the project through design, installation/construction and commissioning.

What attracted you to a career in the engineering sector?
(e.g. Have you always wanted to be an engineer or did you fall into the profession by accident?)
At school, I did A levels in Maths, Physics & geography. I don’t recall having a specific career in mind and maybe because my Father was involved in Engineering and I had friends studying Mechanical Engineering, I followed in their footsteps.

 How did you initially get started in engineering? Did you do an apprenticeship?
My route into engineering was via Polytechnic, doing a degree in Mechanical Engineering. The course I took included three spells in industry, which I spent working at a large Brewing company. Initially I spent time in the Machine Shop, time servicing equipment and time in the Drawing Office. This gave me good general appreciation of various engineering tasks.

After qualifying I have worked for companies on design and installation of equipment.

What do you most like about working for adi Group/adi Projects?
adi works in a number of sectors and there is chance to work on projects at various stages of a their lifecycle. This provides opportunity to work in different environments and meet new challenges on a regular basis.

What is the best project you’ve ever worked on?
(e.g. largest project you’ve worked on, a personal favourite, one for a major company)
The most memorable project I have ever worked on was the building of a New Brewhouse for Guinness in London. This was in the middle of an existing Brewery which needed to be kept running throughout the 2 ½ year programme.

With everything you’ve learnt, what would you tell the ‘younger you’ about a career in engineering?
Keep soaking up the information and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Any other comments on the engineering sector / engineering careers you’d like to share?
Engineers plays a very important role in the world and there are lots of rewarding aspects to it.

 Can you supply a photograph of either yourself or a project you’ve worked on for use on the web?
My claim to fame – I was involved in installation of four new process vessels, each of which held 400,000 litres of product at a time. That was a sales value of over £1M per batch!


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