The seminar forms part of the instruction that the company is giving to students who are undertaking the Product Design Practise Module.
The product design option is based on the “Power of Aluminium” competition which is organised by Alfed (Aluminium Federation), the body which represents the aluminium industry in the UK.
The programme incorporated wide-ranging subjects: from the production of aluminium, aluminium properties and uses to design principles and applications of aluminium extrusion.
One of the highlights of the talk was the demonstration of the extrusion process using "Play Doh" mini-fun factories which allowed the students to explore the principles of extrusion themselves in a practical and effective way.
The session ended with students dividing into groups to examine samples which illustrated some of the principles explored during the lecture. Each group then presented the features and benefits they had identified, as well as their best guess as to the application of each of their samples.
The content of the seminar was designed to give the students a broad base of knowledge in order to complete their product design brief.
The main criteria of the brief are:
• Novel design based on use of aluminium extrusion
• Elegance or simplicity in re-designing a product by incorporating extrusions
• Technical viability
• Commercial viability
Glenn McCrickerd, who is Development Manager for Sapa Extrusions UK says "We wanted to promote the opportunities that aluminium can offer as a material to the next generation of product designers and engineers, as well as supporting our designers and engineers of the future."
He adds that the company will offer ongoing assistance to the students in the form of mentoring sessions throughout the year, giving them the opportunity to discuss personally with Sapa's key technical personnel any challenges that they may face during their project.
Senior lecturer Chris Connor at Northumbria University says that "upon completion of this module our students will be able to satisfactorily demonstrate an ability to plan and implement a design strategy from a brief set by aluminium industry professionals.”
