Outcomes
Matthew Baird:
"Working with people who will tell you straight up that what you've developed was useless was a bit of a shock at first – I haven't had that sort of honest response in some of my past projects. My client Tony just told me straight up what he thought, which was quite refreshing really."
Tony, Matthew's client:
"What has really impressed me is that every time that I phoned Matt he said 'Right, I'll come over'. He's actually taken the time to sit down with me and go through it and sort it out. I think that's why its been so successful – because we've worked together, and that's been so marvellous."
The ability of students to interact effectively with their clients, industry mentors and other stakeholders became more evident as the development work progressed. By the end of the project it was obvious that the high level of constructive feedback into the ongoing development process had significantly influenced the fitness for purpose of the final products.
Students also willingly gave constructive feedback to each other throughout the year, a factor that improved the quality of the development process and the students' outcomes.
"The final design of the calf feeder ended up like a big mobile trough on wheels," says Steve. "The student had worked on the efficiency of the towing connection and other features such as galvanising that improved the durability. He had a tight budget and worked closely with the farmer to produce a practical solution to what was a real client issue."
Matthew's grabbing tool
"With the bike rack, the client specifications were quite demanding. The fixture had to be removable and the back door of the vehicle had to be able to open with the bike still on. So there were some tricky problems to be solved and quite a few regulatory requirements to satisfy."
"In Matthew's case this was a real-life situation. He had to provide his client with a device that would work well and last for a long time, so it had to be made properly. Matthew didn't have the facilities or the level of skill required and if he'd decided to do all the machining and construction work himself it most likely would never have been fit for purpose. However after doing the design and development work, his mentor, Peter Botting at RML, arranged for the calf feeder parts to be accurately laser cut and machined to ensure a quality final product."
In their extended contact with the individual industry mentors, students not only received valuable technical advice but the opportunity to see current leading edge industrial manufacturing practice in the region.
"It was interesting to see that RML never make anything unless it's first working on the computer," says Matthew Baird. "They'll never make anything unless they know that it will work."
"The importance of day-to-day planning was brought home to Matthew," says Peter Botting. "At RML up to 15 significant equipment items are being manufactured in any one week – each with 30-odd tasks in the area of design, assembly, manufacture and installation. We were able to show him how we use Microsoft Project to effectively budget the number of hours for each."
All students commented on the improvement in their research skills and problem solving ability over the course of their senior technology programme. Working with companies like RML enhanced their appreciation of the value of the 'technology process' "Seeing how industry goes about the process and how closely it stacks up with what we have been doing at school has reinforced the value of the classroom learning we've had," says Matthew.
Throughout the year Steve emphasised the importance of presentation, and was particularly impressed with the detail in their documentation of the development work and the overall quality of the presentation of the final folios. This has helped Steve to extend the pool of exemplar projects for future students - to give them ideas on the type of project they can select and how to effectively document and present their work.
