Jorge Martinez Romero

Why did you choose Cranfield?

Cranfield was my first experience outside my home country, Spain. It represented one of my career / life goals being met. I met great people and friends who I am still in contact with after all this time.

The best advice I could give is to embrace all the possible experiences Cranfield has to offer. It is a great opportunity to develop as a professional, but also as a person; do not disregard the opportunity to meet new people and experience new things, especially since Cranfield has an amazing multicultural environment.

What was Cranfield's impact?

I am currently a Layout & Material Handling Engineer at Ford Motor Company, based in Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre in south east England. I am involved in the drawing design and approval process for one of our engine assembly lines; I also design and procure internal logistics equipment for the different plants in Ford of Europe.

There are many challenges that come with this job, but the one of the biggest is trying to design equipment that fits all purposes in all the plants in the world. We always try to design something which is global rather than bespoke, eliminate complexity, and with it waste. It is not however a straight-forward process.

During the interview process my interviewer showed interest in my experience at Cranfield. It is a renowned university and therefore greatly valued by employers. I would personally highlight that every single one of my soft skills were tested during the course and helped me stand out from other graduates my age.

Though the MSc in Process Systems Engineering revolves mostly around the Oil & Gas industry, there is plenty of transferable knowledge. I particularly enjoyed the practical approach the course has, with real-life examples and use of the facilities where you can see with your own eyes how things work. It is easier, in my opinion, to understand the theory behind something when you complement it with an example of an existing facility.

My individual thesis was “Self-Optimising Control of a Crystallisation process”, sponsored by Yi Cao. It basically studied how to establish and programme a control system that reacted automatically to any disturbance in the system. We also had the opportunity to improve a real-life operation through our Group Project, in collaboration with British Petroleum.