The Seeker:

An internationally based plastic packaging company that uses many process technologies in order to satisfy its customers in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

The Challenge:

In one production area, 49 different machines were linked into one cooling system, the control of which was critical to maintaining product quality. The business was experiencing difficulties in this area, due to a lack of historical records and many different practical explanations of how control might be improved.

The response:

Over a period of four weeks, four masters’ level students worked full time on-site, to investigate and resolve this problem.

Making use of some fundamental theoretical knowledge from their degree course (including thermodynamics and statistical process control), and in the context of the rich practical experience of the factory personnel, the students devised experiments to clarify the effect of process variables and proposed workable system changes to improve quality control.

The outcome:

The company was delighted with the outcome.

Success factors in achieving this good outcome were:

• A friendly supportive environment at the host site, with the team engaging well with the students
• A well-defined brief, iteratively worked by the company supervisor (host), and the university supervisor
• Regular project reviews to assess progress and help students explore a full range of solution options

Note:  this is a real project that has been anonymised for confidentiality and to provide an example of the type of project that might be suitable.