Global engineering company Renishaw attended the South Wales Big Bang Fair, held recently in Llanelli, where it promoted engineering careers to sixth-form students from its dedicated stand (
www.renishaw.com/outreach).
Since October 2017, the company has helped teams from Howell’s School and Monmouth School with their competition
entries. Howell’s School won the overall competition and will represent the region at the UK national competition next year.
The Big Bang Fair is the largest annual science, technology, education and maths (STEM) fair in South Wales, and it sees schools take part in the Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW) Sixth Form Project.
This involves developing the solution to a real industrial problem, set by local companies, over a period of six months.
Renishaw set its teams the challenge of designing a device to accurately measure a part for one of the company’s position encoders.
A total of 84 teams entered the competition this year, with 75 exhibiting on the day. The team from Monmouth School won the award for Best Application of Engineering and Technology and was nominated for Best Working Model or Prototype.
Team one from Howell’s School was named overall winners, while team two won the award for Best Working Model or Prototype.
Team one will now represent South Wales at the National Big Bang Fair at the NEC in Birmingham next March.
Simon Biggs, Renishaw education outreach officer, said: “Renishaw held regular meetings with the sixth-form teams, and the students were able to work alongside the company’s engineers and apprentices to develop their skills and understanding.
"The measurement nature of the project meant that the students were developing a solution that could be used within Renishaw.”
Andrew Ford, Howell’s School’s head of physics, said: “The engineers from Renishaw were impressive role models for the students, relating well to the students and offering valuable guidance and support.
"The students have learnt about design, engineering and project management, leaving them enthused by their experience and excited for the next step.”