On Wednesday 22 May a group of Form 6 Design and Technology students had the unique opportunity to explore the inner workings of a leading plastics manufacturing facility. The visit to Rutland Plastics was to support, and enhance, their current A Level and International Baccalaureate units on Polymers and Industrial Processes by seeing the specialist injection moulding techniques first hand.
On a comprehensive tour of the factory, which specialises in injection moulding—a manufacturing process critical to producing a wide array of products, from medical equipment to gas pipes, re-useable cups to phone casings, the students got to view the machines in action, seeing first-hand how raw plastic materials are heated, melted, and injected into moulds to create precise and complex shapes.
At the end of the tour students got to learn more about the injection moulding process, including the production of the tooling itself, and the business element of the company, including how they are considering machine efficiency and plastic recycling as a way of combating the environmental issues surrounding the plastics industry.
Pupils also got a valuable insight into studying Industrial Design at university via a question-and-answer session with the company’s sandwich year student, an opportunity which was taken fully advantage of by the students as they start to make decisions about their next steps following their Oakham journey.
