Sustainability Social sustainability
TMETC is proud to share the Tata legacy of social commitment and is a keen supporter of initiatives within its local community and further afield. Based in Coventry in the University of Warwick in the West Midlands, local and national charities supported by TMETC in previous years have included the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), Birmingham Children's Hospital and Headway, a local charity that supports and helps people of all ages with acquired brain injuries.
The charities that TMETC is currently supporting are also of huge importance to the local communities they serve. These include Warwick's Myton Hospice and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance, selected through a nomination process within staff members and the company's Works Council.
Fundraising activities, including the annual Tata Founder's Day, celebrating the birth of the Tata group's founder, Jamsetji Tata, give staff members the opportunity to develop and foster partnerships within the local community and raise funds for these worthwhile causes, which are then matched by similar donations from the company.
The company is also encouraging staff to support local communities and charities through volunteering and supporting events by participation rather than just by raising funds. This provides a more personal engagement with local communities that fosters better understanding of the communities' needs.
In 2013, following the devastating flash floods in Uttarakhand, northern India, TMETC employees joined Tata group colleagues across the world to support the relief effort. Employees were invited to donate to the cause, with TMETC matching the total employee donation. TMETC employees rallied together and over £8,000 was raised to support the rehabilitation of the victims.
TMETC has also been a strong supporter of the Tata Medical Centre (TMC) in Kolkata, a state-of-the-art centre for cancer research, diagnosis and treatment. Inaugurated in May 2011 by Mr Ratan Tata, the then Group Chairman of Tata Sons. The TMC is a philanthropic initiative aimed specifically at helping cancer patients from the east and northeast of India and also from Bangladesh.
Just 13 miles from Tata Motors' Engineering Research Centre, TMETC's sister engineering organisation in India, is the Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK), a charitable trust that provides support to children and families residing in the state of Maharashtra. In previous years, TMETC held fundraising activities to raise donations for the BSSK, and new transport was bought with the proceeds, which was of significant help to the trust. TMETC continues to support, wherever possible and appropriate, communities close to its parent company in India, although more priority is given of late to supporting communities close to its work place in the UK, where it is becoming a significant employer.
Since its creation, TMETC has fostered relationships with leading institutions within the automotive and engineering industries. This network includes the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), with which it is a Corporate Partner. TMETC has also strengthened its interaction with the Midlands region of the IMechE and IET, with many TMETC engineers holding professional accreditations.
Enjoying a highly advantageous location at the University of Warwick campus, TMETC has developed a close relationship with the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), working in collaboration across a diverse range of engineering research initiatives and projects. This successful partnership extends to the use of shared facilities, with previous projects featuring appropriate test cases of Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMM) piloted at TMETC's Cross Point manufacturing facility, the Premium Vehicle Integrated Technologies (PVIT) facility at WMG and currently the sharing of facilities at the International Digital Laboratory (IDL) for energy storage research at the WMG Catapult. TMETC also contributes to the University's MSc courses, with guest lectureships and a number of our engineers are pursuing part-time engineering doctorates at the University of Warwick.
The relationship with the University of Warwick has recently been taken to higher level with the joint collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover to develop the National Automotive Innovation Centre on campus, while is due to be complete and fully functioning in 2018.
Further afield, TMETC has developed over the years strong academic and collaboration relationships with the Universities of Birmingham, Coventry, Loughborough, Sheffield and Cranfield, as well as nurturing a special relationship with the Royal College of Art, with a number of TMETC employees as Alumni, including the Head of Design.
TMETC takes a keen interest in the future of the automotive industry, where its engineers have experience ranging between two and 40 years, and is a strong supporter of emerging talent and the development of the next generation of automotive engineers.
This support is given through a variety of different pathways, including STEM courses, apprenticeships and various academic institutions. For example, in 2012, TMETC embarked on the creation of new talent in the highly sought after career of electrical and electronic engineers, who will be the masters of the next generation of highly electrified and electronically dense vehicles. A number of apprentices were selected and employed by the company and are being trained up to degree level, should they wish to. Consequently, TMETC has received the IMI Award of Approved Assessment Centre, which will enable us to develop this scheme further. More specifically, TMETC is a course contributing partner to the WMG Academy for Young Engineers, at the University of Warwick, which opened its doors in September 2014.
Apart from supporting a number of PhD Students at various local universities, in recent years TMETC staff have taken stands at various events to introduce visitors to a diverse range of engineering activities, including the Your Green Future event hosted by the University of Worcester and the WMG Academy for Young Engineers' taster day at the University of Warwick.
Expressions often heard around TMETC include 'we are car people', 'petrol heads', 'passionate about cars', and 'motor racing', as well as the general jargon of the automotive industry, which is often incomprehensible to people from outside it! This passion creates the desire among TMETC's engineers to develop the best cars for Tata Motors or for any of its external customers, as well to leave a legacy by helping others follow in their footsteps.
To stimulate this passion and interest in cars, the company organises a 'Cobblers Day' event in April each year, which allows employees to bring and display their 'classic automotive toys'.
