ANDREW'S PROJECT SUMMARY

Description:
JET was to have a significant upgrade of its RF heating capacity by building a new 8MW antenna array, known as the ITER Like Antenna (ILA). I was the project engineer for the delivery of the control system hydraulic actuator sub assemblies

Objectives:
The main goals of this role were the following:

To manage the procurement of components for the sub assemblies on time and on budget

To manage / originate technical “for manufacture” design changes including 3rd party approvals

Deputy manager for the fabrication of the assemblies, preparing QA documentation, technical trouble shooting and organisation of technicians

Commission the actuator systems for hand over to the ILA team

Comments:
This job was challenging, as it was identified as critical path, and also had the highest technical risk for the project. It was great to be able to use my broad engineering knowledge to make key simplifications that not only reduced cost, but aided manufacture. Also, working with, and occasionally leading, a team of technicians and welders to deliver a complex fabrication on time taught me a great many practical lessons in how to build systems, as well as how they should be designed. In summary, this job spread my horizons from a purely analytical role into the management, financial, and practical real world aspects of engineering. I’ve subsequently used the lessons learned to design the next generation of antenna
for ITER.