Engineers of the future star at first ever MAN ‘Design & Make Challenge’

Alcester Grammar, Southam College and Ysgol Bro Dinefwr beat off competition from four other rivals to take the Manufacturing, Innovation and Efficiency titles respectively, impressing judges with their teamwork, creativity and ability to meet the project brief.

In total, 28 students swapped their daily lessons for the chance to test out their engineering and design skills by using basic materials and tools to make a device capable of lifting a 13kg block of stainless steel using just a friction grip.

The event, which was hosted by WMG, is the first in a number of activities being created by MAN in order to help it bridge the skills gap and start developing a pipeline of future engineers.

“Industry still has an image issue and we can no longer sit on our hands and just expect the Government to come up with a solution for getting more skills into our sector,” explained Austin Owens, founder of Grove Design and the driving force behind the initiative.

“We want to get young people excited about design and engineering so decided to bring the collective strengths of the group together and host a special challenge that would get them thinking about STEM skills, designing and making a solution for a real engineering problem.”

He continued: “Seven schools came forward and, I have to be honest, the atmosphere and energy was electric, especially with our young engineers providing hints and tips along the way. Out of the concepts created, five of them successfully lifted the block and the other two were brave solutions that came really close – a pretty impressive result.”

The three winning teams each received an Ultimaker 3D printing machine for their schools. These were donated by the Create Education project, which brings together technology with inspirational content and creative minds. It provides free resources and support to help introduce and embed 3D printing in schools, including professional development, lesson resources, projects, ideas and a free 3D printer loan scheme.

In addition to Alcester Grammar, Southam College and Ysgol Bro Dinefwr, teams also came from Kineton High, Lawrence Sherriff, Myton and President Kennedy Schools.

Manufacturing Assembly Network www.man-group.co.uk