Work placement students from Bregenz pay a visit to Arburg
- Students from the Higher Technical Institute (HTL) in Bregenz complete the practical element of their course at Arburg
- Long-established cooperation involving many different areas
- Two Allrounder injection moulding machines for HTL training
Lossburg. For some years now, cooperation partners Arburg and the Higher Technical Institute (HTL) in Bregenz have been offering students the opportunity to spend four weeks on work placement in Lossburg in order to find out more about the production of injection moulding machines. In July, the company welcomed three 4th year students of plastics technology, who were training as plastics technology and product development designers in Bregenz.
Collaboration with the HTL in Bregenz dates back to 2007. At the time, Arburg was the first machine manufacturer to help the college in introducing the plastics sector into its training courses.
Technical Centre at HTL Bregenz uses Allrounders
“We have worked with Arburg from the very start. As early as 2007, we decided to install an Allrounder, which was given to us on loan. Then, in 2008 we received a hydraulic Allrounder 370 S with Multilift robotic system for training purposes. The first HTL students began a work placement at Arburg the same year,” explains Prof. Jörg Maninger (MA), Head of Department at HTL Bregenz. “We now have two Allrounders in our Technical Centre. These are used in workshop and production technology and in laboratory lessons. Among other things, the students learn how to set up and start the machine, as well as becoming familiar with details regarding the influence of process parameters on part quality and part properties, statistical test scheduling and prototyping, as well as process optimisation.”
Work placement students gather practical experience at Arburg
The idea of sending more work placement students to Lossburg was discussed intensively during a visit from the heads of department at the Bregenz institute to Arburg in 2009. Under the supervision of Arburg's training management team, the relevant conditions for expanding cooperation were quickly put in place. Since then, work placement students come to Arburg from Bregenz every year in order to look around the company and to gain basic experience in mechanical engineering and plastics processing. Cooperation is also supplemented with excursions to Lossburg and training sessions. Several courses in plastics technology have already been held in Bregenz by Arburg's training team and have proved to be generally popular.
Work placements offer a wealth of professional impressions
In July 2016, Aleyna Sahin, Raffaello Cappello and Oskar Singer, all of them 4th year Plastics Technology students at the HTL, spent four weeks at Arburg. They will complete their five-year secondary education at the Higher Department for Plastics Technology, qualifying as designers in plastics technology and product development. Afterwards they can go on to further study or enter the workforce directly in their chosen career. During their time at Arburg, the students worked in the Rotational Production, Cube Processing, Pre-assembly and Final Assembly departments.
“As trainee designers, we mainly deal with the design, injection moulding and additive manufacturing areas, so that I liked the insights offered into production and the inner lives of the machines,” says Aleyna Sahin. Raffaello Cappello adds: “Naturally we would love the opportunity to take a look at the Design Department at Arburg too. The reception we received and the time spent here have been very useful. I will certainly take these new insights into manufacturing at a leading injection moulding machine manufacturer back home with me.” Oskar Singer also has a favourable comment: “Training places were available in other attractive locations, such as England or Hungary. However I do not regret my decision to come to Arburg and can heartily recommend the practical training I received here. The people that we met were all very nice and offered us many insights into their work.”
Intensifying cooperation through mutual learning
Ralf Dirker from Final Assembly and Jörg Gessler from Centre Production agree that the cooperative arrangement with the HTL in Bregenz has brought new insights for both sides. They find that the collaboration with young people from a different school system is always interesting and is of great assistance in adapting the material covered in work placements.
Are there any prospects for new developments or points of reference for the future? Prof Jörg Maninger answers in the affirmative: “In the future I could envisage, for example, also offering dissertation opportunities together with Arburg as part of our final diploma examinations. This could further extend the practical knowledge gained in production technology and general mechanical engineering and the in-depth insights into plastics processing beyond the four-week work placement, also encompassing the theoretical aspects.”
Intensive cooperation between HTL and Arburg
The cooperative arrangement with the HTL is particularly important for Arburg because Austria's Vorarlberg region is the home of many large plastics processing companies of international repute that recruit their specialists from the graduates of the local school. The project is the result of the work of educationalist Rudolf Reichart and school director Gunther Berzler on the HTL side and Arburg's Eberhard Lutz, Manager of Domestic Sales, and Stefan Briel, Sales Consultant for Arburg in Austria, who handles most contacts between the school and the company. Prof. Jörg Maninger has nothing but praise for the excellent cooperation: “We receive every assistance when we have questions or encounter problems. Because of the excellent personal relations between Mr Reichart and Mr Briel we find that a lot of things can be resolved with minimal fuss. We value Arburg's loyalty and expect that we will continue to have a strong German machine partner, so that our school can continue to offer professional training with its finger on the pulse.
Likewise, we should not underestimate the advantage of the geographical proximity of Bregenz and Lossburg.”
Photos
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All of the participants clearly enjoyed the work placement (left to right): Ralf Schaber (Arburg Rotational Production), Raffaello Cappello, Oskar Singer and Aleyna Sahin (all HTL Bregenz) and Jörg Gessler (Arburg Centre Production).
Photo: ARBURG
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