BAL Group supports next generation product designer

Sam Hodgson is a 21 year undergraduate studying a BSc in Product Design and Management at Aston University. He joined the BAL team last year as Technical Design Engineer for his one year professional placement.

Says Stefan Kucharczyk, Managing Director of BAL Group, “Initially our objective was to appoint a technical graduate to support our design team. However, since appointing Sam we have realised the management side of Sam’s course can be of benefit to us too.

He has looked into other areas of the business and investigated how we can use and implement engineering processes and manufacturing systems to enable us to work even more efficiently.”

The BSc in Product Design and Management at Aston University has been designed to enable graduates to get careers in industry and has been developed to meet industryÂ’s needs.

It equips graduates with business management skills as well as product design knowledge and covers a variety of modules: commercial practice, engineering principles, design and prototyping and design for use.

As Sam explains, “I have always been interested in design and fascinated by how things work and fit together. I’ve studied Product Design from GCSE though A-level all the way to my degree. One of the reasons I chose the course at Aston was the one year professional placement, the opportunities they are able to find for undergraduates are second to none. I think it will have a huge impact on helping me decide what area I would like to specialise in and hopefully significantly increase my employability once I’ve graduated.

He continues, “Up until now my course and background included more conceptual design work. What attracted me to working for BAL was the practical experience I would gain and the knowledge I would acquire of materials, processes and management. My placement has been a chance for me to develop a different skill set. Combined with what I have learnt at university I hope to have come away with an all-round knowledge of the entire design process.

Aston University aims to develop confident and commercially aware industrial placement students who make a positive impression in business.

Stefan adds, “At BAL Group we want to support the next generation of product designers, offering them valuable experience in industry and allowing them to build on the theoretical knowledge they have acquired during their first two years at University.

In doing so, we also gained an enthusiastic new team member with different knowledge and skills which has benefiited our business considerably. ”

If you are interested in recruiting a placement student for your business contact Aston UniversityÂ’s Careers+Placements Employer Team : [email protected] 0121 204 5299