On Monday, 16 June, Post 16 students from The British School of Brussels had the opportunity to do a site visit to EVAPCO Inc., an industry in global manufacturing of heat transfer systems. Andrew Stockman, Managing Director of EVAPCO, Europe welcomed us all. EVAPCO is a leading manufacturing concern that is committed to sustainability. BSB students had the chance to listen to a range of professionals and discover what each persons function is within the company, and understand how each role within the manufacturing concern supported each other.
Students learnt that EVAPCO holds over 200 patents and were impressed by EVAPCO’s commitment to producing high quality products. The companies ethos of sourcing (as far as possible) local materials and ensure that they helped the local economy impressed them alongside the knowledge that the company was committed to taking care of their employees, by being an employee owned company.
EVAPCO’s Gert spoke to students about how a product was designed and developed and walked them through the various phases of the process, ranging from acquiring the contract to the logistics of delivering the cooling systems. Gert introduced the science behind evaporative cooling systems and spoke about different products that help preserve the materials of the cooling systems, whilst Jaya and Valentina spoke about what they love about being a part of the HR team. They highlighted that one of the aspects they loved was supporting the employees. They also showed students what skills were required for each job function within the company, ranging from strong communication skills in sales to being incredibly well organised. The day ended with Koen and Dieter (in production) giving our students a tour of the factory, and explained the process from inception to production, they explained how the factory floor was streamlined for efficiency.
One of our students, Naomi said, ‘The EVAPCO trip was a fun and enlightening experience. I especially enjoyed the combination of the eye-opening information sessions and the hands-on experience of a factory tour. Learning about the various careers in the field of engineering and then seeing this in application, as we spoke to employees working in all areas of the company, was truly enriching.’
BSB Futures is grateful to Andrew Stockman, Patricia Stas and all their team for allowing BSB students to experience first-hand a manufacturing concern. The students learnt about the skills required for different job functions, and how interrelated and important each member of manufacturing concern is in the development of a product.
For more information on our Futures programme and BSB alumni career journeys, please visit this section of our website.