Tees Components boss Sharon Lane named among Top 50 Women in Engineering

A North East engineering company boss has been named among the Top 50 Women in Engineering.

Tees Components’ managing director Sharon Lane received the honour fromthe Women’s Engineering Society (WES).

Announced on International Women in Engineering Day 2019 (Monday, June 24), the fourth-annual award for female talent across the sector this year recognises current and former apprentices.

The 2019 awards attracted a large number of high-quality nominations from a broad range of industries. The 50 winners and highly commended nominees came from a number of sectors, including professional services, pharmaceutical, aerospace, facilities management and automotive.

Sharon spent four years working towards an apprenticeship in machining and technical drawing with Middlesbrough-based TTE, which included placements at Tees Components, based in Skelton, near Saltburn, east Cleveland, and its sister business Dormor Machine & Engineering Ltd.

Upon completion of her training, she joined Darchem, in Stillington, near Darlington, where she progressed to become a senior engineer. She returned to Tees Components in 2005 where, as general manager, she ran the business alongside her father Clive Wood.

Sharon become managing director in 2018 and has continued to build upon the company’s success, diversifying into new markets to insulate the firm against downturns in its traditional cyclical energy markets.

“I am exceptionally proud to be named in WES’ Top 50 alongside some remarkable engineers who are demonstrating that there are high quality career opportunities for women in engineering,” said Sharon.

“It is also a great way to recognise the importance of apprenticeships in engineering and how the training provides the practical experience and skills that can be applied throughout people’s careers and I hope it encourages other young women follow in our footsteps and choose to follow a path into engineering.”

Tees Components is a heavy machining sub-contractor, operating in sectors such as offshore renewables, defence and the marine industry.

From its premises in Skelton, it operates a portfolio of more than 20 CNC machines producing precision parts 24-hours a day.  It has a workforce of more than 100, of which around 40 per cent have gone through apprenticeship training.

Dawn Childs, WES president, said of the awards: “Since the inception of the Top 50 Women in Engineering list in 2016, WES has been privileged to be able to identify, and thus help showcase, some amazing women in engineering.

“Every year a different focus is chosen to ensure that we can shine a light on female engineers at different stages of their career and who have come to engineering through many different paths.

“Apprenticeships remain one of the key routes for technical education and subsequently, to qualifying as an engineer. Consequently, we have looked at current and former apprentices in the WE50 list this year.

“The breadth and depth of roles and industries covered by the entries was simply breathtaking and the achievements of the individual entrants were stunning – we have definitely found another truly inspirational list of female engineers.”