Year 12 students have recently successfully completed their participation on the fantastic EDT Gold Programme which is a scheme whereby a team of 4-6 Year 12 students work with a local company to design and create a real product to assist with a problem that may occur within the company.
The Team were: Luca Lombardi (Team Leader), Will Barnes, Lilah Boxall, Cameron Thain, Amelia Green and Phoebe Hansen. They worked alongside an Aldridge company called ‘EATONs Electrical Systems’ under their mentors Joe and Paul, and were supported by Jeremy Hutton from our DT Department.
Their project was to produce a quicker, more ergonomical device to support the insertion of a sinter into a nylon plug which are mainly used on fuse boxes on oil rigs to prevent electrical explosions. EATONs employee, whose job it is to complete this procedure manually one at a time, is a an elderly lady and manages to produce 2-3,000 of these a day using her hands, which over a long period of time could lead to Repetitive Strain Syndrome (RSI). Our team created a stand-alone prototype with an adaptable holding plate and a plunger lever system that reduced the amount of strain used on her hands, which was also built from recycled material having a benefit on the environment.
Students attended a two-day workshop in December at the University of Birmingham where the prototype was produced using the advanced engineering equipment and assistance from PHD students. A full report was then submitted in April, followed by an assessment presentation in May conducted by a number of West Midland engineers and EDT staff.
A Celebration Day at the University of Birmingham in June was held whereby all the Teams within the West Midlands managed a stall demonstrating their final prototype and timeline of the project. They then delivered a ‘Dragons Den’ pitch to a number of engineers to promote the prototype and secure ‘funds’. They came 2nd overall, competing against at least 20 other teams from the West Midlands.
Helen Barratt, Assistant Headteacher, said: “This long-term project is a wonderful example of how we ensure our students gain work-life experience that they can take forward into their future job and university applications. The entire programme requires a great deal of commitment but our students thoroughly enjoyed it. We are looking forward to our next cohort signing up later this school year.”
