Eldon were recently contacted by a student at Sheffield Hallam University requesting a visit for a project they had been given to look at machining processes.
Abbie, along with 7 of her fellow students came to visit us last week, taking in a tour of the shop-floor, seeing our machines producing parts in the various cell sections of Turning, Milling, Prototype and Foam Router. They were also able to watch our Laser Etcher in operation. The visit ended with a talk given by our Head Designer Neil Vincent.
The students were shown all our machining techniques and various procedures that we go through at Eldon to produce our parts. These included the manual prototyping cell that produces a one of sample to test out the design of a new tool/product range. We then proceeded to show the CNC milling & turning machines that take the numerical code & from this produce in steel the required parts.
We discussed the methods that we take to make sure that the quality of the parts are adhered to by the use of documentation for the operator
They seemed very interested and keen to ask questions on every aspect of a busy engineering company. They took lots of photographs of all the sections and then were shown into the showroom to continue the day with a discussion with our Head of Design
In the design department talk we had a show and tell of the processes involved for designing of products, this consisted of how we collect the information to scope out the project by talking to the customer (Voice Of the Customer), and this involved showing the documentation that we use to collect the relevant data for the project, outlining any special needs that the design must meet.
We talked about how we go about starting the design phase by organising a cross functional team of people that include the production & procurement departments to brainstorm what materials could be used to meet the design scope but be cost effective & with the required quality. Discuss the manufacturing methods that we could use for the material selection for what could be the final design.
We also talked about how the introduction of a 3D printer helped in the Proof of Concept evaluation for trial fitting to assess the form and fit functions of the design. We talked about the benefits of this technology for helping the downstream manufacturing processes understand the parts that they would machine or process from billet or laser cut materials, & reducing the lead time to convert drawing requirements to full products.
We finished up the afternoons discussions by highlighting the amount of things that we take for granted that have gone through the same process for the design to manufacture of items like,
Door handles, kettles, Irons, mobile phones & then moved on to discuss the applications for design & manufacturing with in the Automotive, Aerospace, Renewable energy industries that are now going through major changes to reduce the environmental impact that human consumption have on the planet.
We finished off the day with taking any questions that the students had about what they had seen & we found that they had a genuine interest in the daysÂ’ visit posing a number of questions about the design function & manufacturing workings of the site.
