AN engineering competition hosted by the University of Ulster helps companies build their reputation as an ‘employer of choice’, according to one of its organisers.
Ronald Laird, who is industrial placement co-ordinator for the UU School of Engineering, said the event – for first year engineering students – would also help build students’ CVs towards their industrial placements next year.
“This competition gives our young engineers the opportunity to solve a real engineering problem, work as part of a team, develop self esteem and address the full range of issues from design to production,” he continued.
“For sponsoring companies, involvement with the competition and our student engineers raises their profile as an employer of choice, and allows them to see for themselves the talent and capabilities of University of Ulster student engineers.
“It also helps develop a useful two-way relationship with the University.”
Among the challenges set for the teams competing in the event were designing a chassis for a Formula racing car and also designing an aerodynamic skin.
One of the competition judges, Joe Lawn, a senior engineer with B/E Aerospace, Kilkeel, said: “The high standard of all the displays and the practical solutions delivered has made it very hard to select the winners.
“Everyone has performed brilliantly and I hope many of you will join me at B/E Aerospace in the years to come.”
Team prize money of £400 for first place and £200 for second within each competition, was provided by the sponsoring companies: AES Power, Kilroot; B/E Aerospace, Kilkeel; Elite Electronic Systems, Enniskillen; Heartsine, Belfast; Intelesens, Belfast and Terex Corporation, Omagh.
All the competition’s sponsoring companies have well-established relationships with the School of Engineering and participate annually in its industrial placement programme.
The four competition categories included mechanical engineering (teams had to design a chassis for a Formula student racing car); electronic engineering (teams had to develop a sensor system suitable for use the car); engineering design (teams had to design an aerodynamic skin for an existing car frame) and biomedical engineering (teams had to design a body sensor system to fit to the driver of the racing car).