In the project seminar "Designing with Plastics", which is offered annually as part of the bachelor's program at KTP, the participating students have the opportunity to work in groups on a comprehensive task for the design and conception of a plastic component. In addition to the planning, design and economical analysis of the customer's order, participants also have the opportunity to set up a corresponding injection molding machine in the KTP laboratory and configure it to meet the required considerations. The scope of the seminar is five working days (Monday to Friday) and corresponds to three ECTS. This year, in the week from May 8 to 12, 2023, ten students from the mechanical engineering and industrial engineering programs came together in two working groups and took on the challenge of the project task. For their intended company, they planned the acquisition of an injection molding machine to supply a fictitious customer from the automotive industry with a storage system consisting of plastic boxes for vans. Cost accounting, planning and time management methods were applied in practice. Furthermore, the students were given the opportunity to independently produce small plastic boxes in laboratory tests on an injection molding machine at the KTP and to optimize these in the ongoing process with regard to component quality and manufacturing time. This preliminary work enabled the project to be planned further and a corresponding offer to be prepared for the customer. The results were presented during an interim presentation on Tuesday and a final presentation on Friday, before the project seminar ended with the traditional barbecue and cold drinks at the KTP.
