To mark both National Career's Week and International Women's Day, Aimee Morgan, Delkia's new Capability Development Officer has highlighted some key stats on Women in STEM and engineering.
 
It has been a long-known fact that there is a gender gap with women being underrepresented not just in our sector, but in STEM (science technology engineering and mathematics) both in the workplace and studying STEM related subjects.
 
At Delkia we want to encourage as many women as possible into studying and working in engineering and STEM related specialties, and we’re passionate about the many benefits of having a career in our sector. (We even have some open career opportunities right now – visit www.delkia.co.uk/careers to find out more and apply.)
 
STEM Women report that in 2019 only 26% of graduates in core STEM subjects were female, with only 16% in engineering and technology subjects.
 
It’s not all bad news
Research in 2020 has found that there has been an increase of 93% in engineering during the last decade and the number of females applying for engineering courses has also doubled.
 
5 reasons to work in engineering...

1. Engineering is very diverse, there are numerous specialisms, sectors and industries to work in. At Delkia alone we specialise in the Nuclear, Defence, Maritime, Aerospace and Space sectors.
2. Solving today's problems for tomorrow – using close links to science and research in universities we at Delkia enjoy designing and building solutions (through systems integration) for our clients to solve many of today's challenging and complex problems
3. Flexible work and travel – engineering doesn’t just offer projects across the UK, but the world. At Delkia we offer flexible working practices that can fit around family life and other commitments, remote working options alongside an office base for our team.  
4. Competitive wages – at Delkia, alongside company benefits, we offer generous salaries. 
5. Creativity and innovation – a core value of Delkia is our ability to empower and invest into our teams' ideas and aspiration through our research, development and demonstration division.  Leading on many new technology fronts allows our team to embrace the latest in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Autonomous Systems and other Industry 4.0 development

 
For more information on the roles available at Delkia now visit the careers section of our website – if you don’t see a role suited to you at this point please send your CV to careers@delkia.co.uk and we can keep you on file for the future. 

A Delkia led consortia has been successful in acquiring Innovate UK support to develop a solution for an autonomous, integrated toolkit which sorts and segregates radioactive waste generated by nuclear decommissioning activities into compliant, optimised packages.

The consortia is made up of:
Delkia
Brokk UK
D-RisQ  
ICE9  
Infi-tex
Mirion Technologies
PWHytek  
Weidmuller  

The project has been awarded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in partnership with Magnox Ltd, Sellafield Ltd and Innovate UK following a ‘Sort and Seg’ innovation competition, worth £3.9million in total. The project was launched in July 2020 and aims to sort and segregate mixed radioactive wastes at the UK’s oldest UK nuclear sites.

This stage of the project will see the Delkia led consortium come up with feasibility studies for the previously submitted proposal, including robotics, advanced sensors and artificial intelligence.

Mark Sisson, System Integration Manager at Delkia commented:

​Delkia’s Managing Director Kurt Canfield commented:

14 successful companies, including Delkia, have been awarded contracts to come up with innovative approaches to remotely sort and segregate radioactive waste.

The ‘Sort and Seg’ innovation competition, worth £3.9 million in total, was launched in July 2020. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) - in partnership with Magnox Ltd, Sellafield Ltd and Innovate UK - set the challenge of coming up with proposals for using autonomous technology to sort and segregate mixed radioactive wastes at the UK’s oldest nuclear sites.

The first phase of the competition is now complete and contracts, worth up to £60k each, have been awarded to 14 consortia that will now come up with feasibility studies for their proposals, including robotics, advanced sensors and artificial intelligence.

The NDA’s Head of Innovation, Sara Huntingdon, said:

"The reaction to ‘Sort and Seg’ has been incredible – we have received the best response we’ve ever had for this kind competition.

It’s really exciting that most of the successful organisations are bringing in experience and ideas from other sectors and I’m really looking forward to working together with our partners and with all the winners to see how these ideas develop.

Competitions like this are an important way of engaging our supply chain, encouraging diversity of thinking and finding innovative techniques and technologies from other sectors to help deliver the NDA’s decommissioning mission and help meet the aims of the Nuclear Sector Deal."

Derek Allen, Innovation Lead, Energy Clean Growth and Infrastructure Lead at Innovate UK, said:

"We are delighted to be working with the NDA again to help drive innovation into the nuclear decommissioning supply chain and deliver things faster, cheaper and safer.

The response to the competition was excellent and some really exciting projects have been funded. There are some great examples of technology transfer and I look forward to seeing these innovative projects progress over the next few months."

The initial feasibility studies will be delivered in May, with the winners competing for a number of contracts - each worth up to £900k - for 15-month ‘demonstrator projects’.

The original version of this press release can be found here: NDA innovation competition winners have been announced - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

After what has been a tough year for many, the Delkia team have decided to spread some Christmas cheer in our local communities donating to local foodbanks in Egremont (North Lakes Foodbank) and in Barrow (Barrow Foodbank). 
​
In lieu of sending Christmas cards, the team provided some of the most needed items for the foodbanks along with some special Christmas and festive goodies and treats. Overall, the donations equated to over 100 meals for some of our area's most vulnerable. 

​Adding to the festive spirit, the team donned their favourite Christmas Jumpers and raised money for Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day.  Save the Children support children to learn, grow and become who they want to be through support via food, education and medicine.

Delkia have praised recent announcements of investment and growth in nuclear and defence, two key sectors the company operates in.  
 
The defence sector is set to be boosted by a £16.5bn funding plan over the next four years promoting job security and the creating of circa 40,000 new roles. The ‘once-in-a-generation’ boost to the sector, not only will allow for new technology, but also innovation and growth in naval, aerospace and cyber with an additional £1.5bn investment in military research.
 
The defence funding follows success in the nuclear sector with the UK SMR consortium (Small Modular Reactor), led by Rolls-Royce with key members such as NNL - National Nuclear Laboratory, announcing plans to build up-to 16 mini nuclear plants in the UK.
 
Delkia’s Managing Director Kurt Canfield commented:
“Not one, but two positive announcements for the nuclear and defence sectors are very welcome in what has been a tough year for many in industry.
 
The funding for the defence sector and UK SMR consortium’s plans are fantastic news for Delkia and for two of our key industry sectors. Both opportunities will require specialist systems engineering approaches with a safety-related and mission-critical attributes for which Delkia specialises in, is ideally placed, and keen to support on.
 
Research, development, growth and innovation are vital and investment to enable these to take place is welcome news for our company, clients and the sectors.”
 

For further information on the defence sector funding announcement visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-to-announce-largest-military-investment-in-30-years
 
For further information on the UK SMR consortium visit:
https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2020/11-11-2020-nuclear-power-stations-will-create-6000-uk-levelling-up-jobs-by-2025.aspx    

​Delkia are delighted to be supporting the St Bees U10s football club. 
 
In what has been a hard year for families across the UK, sports and hobbies have been a saviour for many, and given children the chance to have a bit of normality, fun an exercise. Now more than ever local clubs need the support of their communities and as such, Delkia are now proud sponsors of the St Bees U10s football club. 
 
Kurt Canfield, Delkia Managing Director commented: 
‘We’re really pleased to sponsor St Bees U10s, a local club and something close to our hearts. At Delkia we believe in looking after and supporting our local community, being able to support the team is a real pleasure and the new strips looks great!’ 
 
Richard Eaves, St Bees U10s Head Coach thanked Delkia on behalf of the club, and on behalf of all the parents and players for sponsorship for the coming seasons. 

​Delkia are building on their award-winning success by planning further investment and expansion at their headquarters in West Cumbria. 
 
Currently Delkia holds a number of business units at their head-quarters in Bridge End Industrial Estate in Egremont. With a close proximity to Sellafield, the nuclear supply chain, key clients and partners, Delkia are planning yet further investment in a dedicated secure workspace at Bridge End. 
 
The new space being developed includes systems integration workshops and a new electronics laboratory to support the organisation’s growing capability in systems engineering and complex systems engineering. 
 
The new premises is currently in development with plans to move in 2021, as a sneak preview Delkia have released the below building visualisation video created in-house by the design team using Autodesk Inventor Professional 2020 3D Modelling, displayed on Autodesk Navisworks Manage 2021. 

​Delkia are delighted to have been awarded the SME Business of the Year title at the 2020 In Cumbria Business Awards. 
 
The awards, one of Cumbria’s most anticipated business events, took place virtually for the first time with nominees, sponsors and guests enjoying the ceremony from the comfort of their own homes. Hosted live from London by British sports reporter, presenter, author and endurance runner Vassos Alexander, particularly known for co-hosting with Chris Evans on breakfast radio, the event was streamed via a dedicated website.  
 
The judges noted Delkia’s explosive growth in the past twelve months commending the company’s success in the encouragement of skilled workers into Cumbria. The award criteria included strong leadership and vision, good sales growth, sound financial performance and a robust plan for sustained growth.
 
The category was sponsored by Cumbrian solicitors Cartmell Shepherd who also acted as judge for the category. 
 
Kurt Canfield, Delkia’s Managing Director commented: 
‘We're absolutely thrilled to have won the SME Business of the Year Award - we were up against some strong competition and I would like to personally once again congratulate all the finalists on the evening, a fantastic array of Cumbrian talent.  
 
This year has been challenging for all businesses, I'm proud of the team at Delkia to have been able to achieve such fantastic results and this award recognises their hard work and commitment. I'm proud of Delkia and know that we have exciting times ahead as a business.’

Delkia is proud to have joined the Sizewell C Consortium.

The Sizewell C Consortium is a a group of more than 50 leading companies and organisations from every corner of the UK united in the goal of getting Sizewell C, the proposed nuclear power station based in Suffolk built for Britain. 

Levelling up the regions - Sizewell C will create 25,000 employment opportunities, up to 1,000 apprenticeships and provide benefits to as many as 2,500 businesses in every corner of the country*.

Built by Britain - UK-based companies will receive 70% of the project’s construction value: that’s over £14 billion benefiting British businesses and supporting UK jobs and industry*.

Powering Net Zero - Sizewell C will provide 7% of the UK’s low carbon power for the next 60 years – and keep us in control of our energy supply and transition for years to come*. 

For more information on the Consortium, visit their website: https://www.sizewellcconsortium.com/ 

*source https://www.sizewellcconsortium.com/

In this new world, we are stronger if we work together. This certainly has become the unofficial mantra of Delkia and PWHytek as the two companies have agreed to collaborate on certain projects in the failsafe sectors. ​

Delkia are a specialist Systems Integrator (SI) providing Digital Engineering, Systems Consultancy, Systems Integration, Build-to-Print, and Complex Systems Support.

PWHytek are a Design for Manufacture specialist providing Mechanical Engineering, 3D/2D Design, Stress Analysis, Lifting Media/Mechanical Handling Design, Tooling Design, and Manufacturing Support.

With Delkia’s specialism in EC&I, Electronics and Software Engineering alongside PWHytek’s specialism in Mechanical Engineering/Design and Manufacturing within the same sectors it was a logical step to formalise a working agreement, between the two companies.