19 September 2014

Nestlé Graduate named Engineer of The Year at FDF Awards

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Nestlé UK Ireland engineering graduate James Cheema was crowned 'Engineer of the Year' at last night's prestigious Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Awards. The ceremony at London's The Brewery celebrated the leading businesses and people in the food and drink industry.

In a category sponsored by Spirax Sarco Ltd, the award recognises individuals that work in highly skilled electronic, mechanical and chemical engineering roles in the industry.

James, who is currently in his final year of the Nestlé engineering graduate scheme, was praised by judges for his enthusiasm and passion for driving sustainability improvements in the business. For example, the engineer led a project which aimed to achieve an 84% water usage reduction at Nestlé's Girvan site from 2011 to 2015 equating to 60,000 m3 of water per year.

During the 18 months of his placement James played an active role in organising forums for the young engineers in the business to help them build a strong network, and share experiences and best practice. He has also acted as an industry ambassador at a number of careers events such as the Scottish Universities Careers for Engineers event and open days at Sheffield Hallam University to promote industry's new MEng Food Engineering degree.

FDF's Director of Economic and Commercial Services Steve Barnes said: “James is admired for his leadership, enthusiasm and technical ability, and is regarded as a fantastic ambassador for Nestlé and the food and drink manufacturing sector. Recruiting and developing the next generation of food engineers is vitally important to food and drink manufacturers and their ability to deliver sustainable growth in the future. We congratulate James for what he has achieved during his time on Nestlé's graduate scheme and thank him for his energy in driving interest in careers in our sector.“

Category sponsor Sheldon Banks, Director UK ROI at Spirax Sarco, said: “Being an engineering firm ourselves that serves the vital Food Drink sector, we are very proud to be sponsoring the 2014 FDF Food Drink Engineer of the Year award.“

“We recognise the importance of the profession not only within the Food Drink industry itself, but also as a career path to help address the shortage of engineers in the UK generally. This is why we felt it essential to honour those who are doing a great job. We'd therefore like to congratulate the winner, James Cheema for doing such tremendous work in this field.“

Winner's case studies are accessible here: http://www.fdf.org.uk/fdf-awards.aspx.

The 2015 FDF Awards will launch on 18 November 2015. For more information on the FDF Awards visit http://www.fdf.org.uk/fdf-awards.aspx.

Photography available from 19 September here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdfphotos/sets/

Notes for editors

1. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector. For more information about FDF and the industry we represent visit: www.fdf.org.uk
2. Full details of all the winning company initiatives are available at: FDF public site: Events > FDF Awards
3. Nestlé UK is a subsidiary of Nestlé SA, the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company, employing 8,000 employees across the 23 sites within the UK and Irish food industry. For more information visit: www.nestle.co.uk
4. Spirax-Sarco Engineering is a leading British-based manufacturer of boiler and pipeline control valves for steam heating and process plants. For more information visit: http://www.spiraxsarco.com/uk/

For More information

FDF Fleur Williamson 020 7420 7120 fleur.williamson@fdf.org.uk

Nestlé 020 8667 6005 nestleukpressoffice@uk.nestle.com

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