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Buhler Group Factory Visit

Year 12 and 13 Engineering students visited the Buhler Group Factory.  Please see their thoughts below.

Malaika

I found the Buhler trip very informative as they taught us about different aspects of the factory and their business. For the first activity, we got into groups to put back together a poorly-designed sorting camera and then wrote down improvements that could make it better. For the second activity they also gave us a mini tour around certain areas of the place, such as around the machines, and even operated the sorting machine to show us how it sorted waste from the goods (e.g., rice, lentils). 

Krystina

The Buhler Group trip consisted of many activities that helped me to understand what the company specialises in and how they do it.

The first activity I participated in was a group activity that required team work to finish the project. The project was to assemble a 3D-printed model of the cameras that Buhler use in their machines to detect defects. It included a circuit that we had to assemble with wires and LED lights where two were red and two were green. We were in groups of 4 and had to assemble the model using the instructions provided. There were instructions on how to assemble the body of the camera and how to wire the circuit that lights up the LEDs. From this activity I gained the understanding that teamwork is important in any sector of engineering. In our case, some of us had a better understanding on how to complete the circuit and the others on how to assemble the body of the camera.

After completing this activity, we had to come up with ideas on how to improve the design of the camera and I particularly enjoyed this part because everyone had unique ideas.  The second activity consisted of a tour around the different facilities that the Buhler Group had. We got to see where the employees assemble and test the hardware they use in the machines and to see some boards that weren’t in use.

Afterwards, we received a tour around the workstations where the machines were assembled and got to see some of their 3D printers that they use for modelling. Finally, we saw how effective the machines are at sorting the grains with an activity where we sorted the defects by hand and then put the grains through the machine to compare how effective it is. Overall, I enjoyed the first activity the most because I like teamwork and the different ideas everyone had.

Ellis

The Buhler trip was very enjoyable due to the different activities we got to experience on the trip. My favourite activity was assembling the electronic component, and then determining what changes we would like to make based on the design of the camera. I liked this activity because it combined aspects of both mechanical and electrical engineering. It was interesting being able to see all the different kinds of machinery and how they worked, and how they are used to produce their products. Speaking to the university students about their courses helped me to better understand the courses, and to gain a better insight on what it is like to take a university course.