West Sussex-based ventilation manufacturer
Vent-Axia has won two environmental industry awards, partly due to the valuable work
University of Bath student Roben Els undertook during an industry placement at the company. Now in his final year studying a BSc in Natural Sciences (chemistry/physics), Roben secured the placement last year in the third year of his four-year degree.
The project Roben worked on at Vent-Axia involved helping set up and run the company’s new materials testing database on recycled plastic. This ground-breaking work was recently recognised by the industry with Vent-Axia winning the H&V News Awards
Low Carbon Impact award, and the BEAMA
Net-Zero Collaboration Award, winning the latter with AO, the electricals retailer.
Roben arrived at Vent-Axia at an opportune time with the company undergoing a manufacturing transformation, moving from using virgin plastic to recycled plastic. As the first ventilation company to set such high ambitions regarding the use of recycled plastic in its manufacturing, it initially faced a challenge since test houses would not certify products made from recycled material due to recycled plastic content variations and the absence of materials data. To overcome this, Vent-Axia took a proactive approach and tasked Roben with helping test recycled plastic and collect the data that was necessary.
Initially, during the first few months, Roben familiarised himself with the new testing equipment Vent-Axia had invested in, as well as the relevant industry standards. Once familiar, and following guidance, Roben began batch-testing the materials. The next step was to create a database of evidence to ensure all recycled plastics were tested and the results were traceable.
Unchartered territoryFinally, Roben compiled weekly graphs on recycling rates for use in the business. The creation of a new database was unchartered territory and it paved the way for the ventilation sector. By batch-testing recycled plastics in Vent-Axia’s own laboratories and creating a materials database to share with test houses, Roben’s work has helped enable product certification and third-party accreditation.
Roben said: “It is really exciting to see everything I have worked on at the company being recognised with the two award wins, especially since people don’t generally see the time and resources that go into making such changes. I was pleased to be able to work on a project that was useful to Vent-Axia and to have left something for the company that could be built on.
“My year’s placement at Vent-Axia was really enjoyable and dynamic. I liked all the practical work, I could be in the mould shop, product testing, or at my desk so it was quite varied. I learned about industry standards and how a business runs. I also witnessed how important sustainability is to Vent-Axia and how it innovates to ensure it never compromises on quality.”
The placement has also had a big influence on Roben’s career path. Before the placement, Roben was majoring in chemistry but he has now changed to majoring in physics since he enjoyed the physics involved during the placement. Meanwhile, if he were to work in a science-based job in the future rather than working in research, he would now like to work in analysis. The placement has also given Roben confidence while preparing him for his career after university.
Real-world impactsDr Simon Freakley, senior lecturer and placement tutor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath said: "It is wonderful to see our placement students applying their chemistry skills to tackle global challenges, such as finding new uses for waste plastics. We are thrilled that Roben’s contributions have been recognised, and we look forward to hearing about many more real-world impacts from our students' work in the future.
Alexis Roberts, Vent-Axia’s channel marketing manager, said: “We are delighted that the project Roben was working on has been recognised by the industry. At Vent-Axia we are committed to investing in people and we are pleased to be able to offer students a placement so they can experience working in industry and to guide them on their career path. We are so pleased Roben was able to be part of our sustainability journey.”
Vent-Axia aims to be Net Zero by 2040, a decade ahead of the Government’s target. By the end of FY2025, the company targets 70% of its sales revenue to be from low-carbon products and 90% of the plastic used in its own manufacturing to be from recycled sources. This manufacturing transformation involves transitioning from virgin to recycled plastic. Meanwhile, Vent-Axia is dedicated to designing innovative low-carbon products to help its customers decarbonise with heat recovery ventilation at the forefront of further growth.
Vent-Axia has now welcomed a new University of Bath student, Luke Tucker, for this year’s placement. While Roben focused on injection moulding, Luke is tasked with focusing on extrusion and PVC.