3 ways to improve your formula student productivity

In creating the next generation of engineers for competitions such as Formula 1, Formula Student is the perfect platform for vehicle manufacturing companies to find the next generation of professionals. Formula Student is organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineering and includes Universities from around the world competing to see who produces the best motor car. The cars or projects are divided into different classes and winners are announced. A year's planning, organising and developing comes together at this annual event and this year is no different.

The Formula Student campaign is gathering momentum. Students around the world are desperately improving their teams, gathering intelligence on competing teams, and learning new skills to improve their odds against the best in engineering.

Image Credit - Leeds Univeristy - School of Mechanical Engineering

For some students, the competition can be a whole new experience. While others are trained veterans of the Formula student process. For each case, the Formula Student never ceases to be a difficult procedure of ‘trial and error’, ‘new vs old’, ‘what works better against what works best’. Particularly in an environment where – time – is of an essence.

Teams and students need to align their ‘Time vs Effort’ inputs to maximise their output on the final scoreboard. On the one hand, ‘time’ because of the deadline. On the other, ‘effort’ because what you put in is what you get out.

Besides traditional on-campus classes, students are learning that electronic, mechanical or electrical engineering barriers faced during the design phase of the car can be overcome by, on the one hand, taking workshops or accessing online video tutorials. While on the other hand, equipping themselves with the best and brightest teammates in the University. Either way, many factors come into play, and ultimately, the overall purpose of Formula Student is to increase students’ competencies and output on the job market.

Workshops are usually a quick and reliable form of obtaining valuable information. Video tutorials are increasingly more popular – stop, pause, fast forward – effortlessly and at your own pace. DesignSpark by RS Components provides both functions: Workshops and video tutorials.

Firstly, DesignSpark PCB has now over 250,000 registered users. Engineers around the world are now provided with increased innovation because the barriers for innovation have been removed for good. Students and professionals are learning quicker and easier with DesignSpark PCB and best of all, it’s all free of charge with the most extensive parts library on the market. Don’t believe it, see for yourself! 

Secondly, in DesignSpark Mechanical, time saving is again the backbone of the ECAD tool. DesignSpark Mechanical aims to give every engineer or aspiring engineer the power to quickly design and change product concepts in 3D without having to learn complex traditional CAD software. Traditional 3D CAD mechanical design is both time consuming and complex. Students are learning complex geometry within hours of first using it with DesignSpark Mechanical. Why not learn more!

Finally and with Universities in mind, RS Components has created RS University. RS University caters to the growing need for specialised engineering material for practical usage free of charge. Universities and students get provided with the teaching material tailored to training students quickly and effectively with reliable tools in the form of DesignSpark PCB and DesignSpark Mechanical for events like Formula Student. All you simply need to do is register on RS University and request the material through the email mitch.dasilva@rs-components.com.

These tools are meticulously created to be an effective and dependable source for improving students and engineers’ productivity wherever they are in the world.

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