Collaborating with impact: a live industrial product design project

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Watkins, M. ORCID: 0000-0002-3756-0437, Ebbert, C., Arthur, L. ORCID: 0000-0002-5401-3152 and Attwood, E., 2017. Collaborating with impact: a live industrial product design project. In: 19th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, E&PDE 2017. Building Community: Design Education for a Sustainable Future, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway, 7-8 September 2017.

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Abstract

This paper presents work undertaken by 2nd year BSc Product Design students on a live industrial project with McGee (a construction company) and outlines the success, academic benefits, merits and future work undertaken as a result. The project was initiated by the McGee Group who initially approached the Product Design department at NTU. The collaboration was planned 6 months in advance, with a number of presentations, demonstrations and a site visit. Initially introductory presentations from both McGee and the Metropolitan Police were given in relation to cyclist safety around construction vehicles in London. Following this a demonstration of the vehicle in question was combined with an 'Exchanging Places' cycle event at the university. Two weeks into the project students were then taken on a site visit and briefing to enhance their understanding of the situation. McGee offered a cash prize for the winning team as an incentive and the project was run over a 5 week period as a group based design project in a studio environment and was additionally supported in the students applied technology classes. At the end of the project students presented their work to representatives from McGee and the Metropolitan Police and the students' work was subsequently displayed and exhibited in the McGee headquarters before a decision on the winning teams was announced.
McGee representatives were very impressed with the students' efforts and outcomes and have since filed a patent jointly between the company and students for the winning solution. This solution is now being developed into a production-ready product by a final year student in collaboration with McGee. This innovative collaborative project resulted in McGee and Nottingham Trent University being shortlisted for and receiving two high commended awards at an industry safety award ceremony as well as a number of press releases in the local and trade media. However, the notable impact was the marked improvement in the students' motivation and attainment on this particular project, which will be explored in detail.

Item Type:	Conference contribution
Creators:	Watkins, M., Ebbert, C., Arthur, L. and Attwood, E.
Date:	September 2017
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	19 Sep 2017 13:35
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2020 13:57
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/31614