Q&A: Andrei Feraru, mechanical engineer

Why did you first become interested in science/engineering/STEM?
My father is an automotive engineer. I've been exposed to engineering and design thinking from a very young age. I've always excelled in physics and technical subjects and found maths easy at university. When I look at regular objects or machines, I can imagine the distribution of forces keeping them working or together as an object. I see how things function, including the human body and I've always been a visual person, which has helped me understand physics and biology.

I've volunteered at various schools in the UK over the past 10 years, to promote STEM subjects and get young people interested in physics and technology. My favourite experiment to run for school-age students is to demonstrate gravity by extending a Lycra sheet and placing marbles on it (of different sizes and weights).   The Lycra sheet acts as the space-time fabric and the marbles become celestial objects (planets or asteroids), gravitating around the heaviest of them all until they all collapse into a centre point (black hole simulation). One of the main reasons I am still interested in engineering and STEM subjects is because of the volunteering work. I have the opportunity to ignite a spark in young minds and potentially inspire the next Isaac Newton to improve the world with their creative abilities and add to the body of knowledge.

How did you get to where you are now? 
My passion has always gravitated around engineering, physics, human biology and biomedical engineering. As part of my mechanical engineering degree at Coventry University, I was fortunate and worked very hard to secure an internship with Rolls-Royce Aerospace for a year. I was immersed in engineering and learned everything I could about jet engine and aircraft technology. While I was employed by Rolls-Royce, in Derby, I heard some shop floor employees complaining about numbness and tingling sensations in their fingertips and hands. I was naturally intrigued and started asking questions to my managers and health and safety professionals within the company. 

After a few months of research and hearing pitches for solutions to combat hand–arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) – a permanent condition caused by prolonged exposure to vibration from tools that leads to numbness, tingling and loss of strength in the hands – I realised that there isn’t anything that can measure vibration accurately at the palm of the hand and take into account all the relevant parameters (gripping forces, posture, hand orientation, and so on). So, I proposed, as an employee of Rolls-Royce, an improvement project that set out to measure vibration exposure and all relevant parameters, with the aim to control and reduce the risk to the shop floor employees.

As I was prototyping my own devices, my managers at Rolls-Royce (Alex Wilson, an occupational  health superstar, and Paul Williams, who is now a Non-Executive Director and shareholder in my business) and people at Coventry University (James Griffin and Brian Moore) were telling me that this is intellectual property and I should get a patent licenced or start my own business.

My brother, Vlad (a media production student at Coventry University) became involved and advised me how I could market this idea. We both decided it was worth pursuing and recognised that we have complementary skills to make it a successful business. So, with the help of both Rolls-Royce and Coventry University, me and my brother started a business in August 2018, with the sole aim to commercialise the patent titled: enhancement in hand arm vibration measurement technology and monitoring technique.  

The result was a market disrupting wearable solution we called HAV-Sentry. Ambidextrous designs that hold the vibration sensors firmly at the palm of the hand, in compliance with ISO5349 and using technology compliant with ISO8041. The user gets audio and visual alerts, in real time, as to when to take a break and when to do a job rotation. But our solution is much more than that. HAV-Sentry is a control measures focused tool. We would never advocate for continuous monitoring and relying on alert system. With accurate data on gripping forces, posture and vibration absorbed into the hand, the HAV-Sentry cloud dashboard analytics platform guides Health & Safety professionals towards solving the root cause of expose, with powerful A.I. analytics and state of the art graphics. We have essentially gamified managing the risk of HAVS with the latest hardware and software technology.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?
Our technology changed the standards for measuring vibration exposure. As soon as we had a working prototype that we validated internally as compliant with ISO5349 and ISO8041, we engaged the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and other independent organisations to volunteer our technology to be tested independently at Buxton Labs and other scientific facilities in the UK. We worked together with the HSE to prove ourselves and the technology we created. In December 2023, the HSE updated its official guidance, removing the previous statement that was said gloves shouldn’t be used to measure vibration exposure and put out new statements that specifically say measurements away from the palm of the hand are not compliant. The HSE made it very clear in the latest guidance that measuring on the fingers, back of the hand, or wrist, will not produce results that are representative of vibration exposure. 

We now have over 30 customers across the UK, North America, the Middle East and Australia, including Coventry City Council, Morgan Sindall, Balfour Beatty and more.

I was honoured to have recently received a Royal Academy of Engineering Young Engineer of the Year Award. And Feraru Dynamics has previously received the British Safety Industry Federation Innovation Award and the Highways England “Big Idea” Award.

What is your favourite thing about being an engineer?
I really enjoy diving into the engineering mindset to solve complex problems with simple solutions. What I like the most about being an engineer is transforming ideas into reality. Shaping the invisible language of logic into something that moves, protects and improves lives.
 
What does a typical day involve for you?
My typical day involves working on my business and spending quality time with my family. Alongside leading a team of 12 people to prevent hazardous exposure in the next generation of workers, I have built myself a small family in the heart of Warwickshire (Stratford Upon Avon). I have a four-year-old daughter who enjoys imaginary play and a 10-month-old son who is currently learning how to move around in the world. 

Regardless of the day of the week, I wake up at 6am (my alarm is 6.06am to be precise) and take the dog out for a quick walk around the neighbourhood. Before my family wakes up, I set up my calendar for the day in tasks and schedule a few emails for later in the day, normally to external companies that we work with to achieve our vision or respond to client emails that I've missed the previous day. I make breakfast for the family. They wake up, we eat. I do the school run. I work from the office or travel to construction sites or manufacturing facilities, most days. My work schedule is 9am to 4pm. I arrive home before 5pm and it's family time until the kids' bedtime around 8pm. From 8pm until around 11pm, I work on the business strategy, internal documents, technical roadmap for our product development and try to refine new ideas that myself, my team or our customers have with regards to innovation in wearable technology. Sometimes, during evenings on weekends, I do enjoy an occasional Dota 2 game or sit down with my wife to watch an episode of her favourite show (whatever that may be from time to time). 

What would be your advice to young people looking to pursue a career in engineering?
Never chase titles, chase mastery. Learn to think with precision, question everything, and build with purpose. Engineering isn’t about machines; it’s about solving human problems with integrity, curiosity, and relentless attention to detail. 
 
What’s next for you?
I want to grow Feraru Dynamics to become the most ethical and reliable one-stop-shop internationally for wearable technology and AI aimed at health and safety at work to prevent hazardous exposure in the workplace.  

We are currently raising investment to expand the team and employ more people to cope with demand and accelerate our mission to prevent HAVS in the next generation of workers. We have recently partnered with commercial partners in construction, manufacturing and utilities, to reach their client base and implement HAV-Sentry as part of their offering. We aim to protect over 10 thousand people across 4 continents by the end of 2027.

Alongside growing the company, I would also like to start dedicating more time towards helping university students who have the ambition to start their own companies.   Over the past 3 years, I have been mentoring 12 students from Coventry University and Loughborough University. My next ambition is to formalise a structure of competent resources for intelligent, disciplined and courageous students to be able to access investment and expert support.