INRESCOS Industry Event at Raufoss Industrial Park

Benteler
Tour at Benteler Automotive with PhD candidates from INRESCOS
Case work
PhD candidates from INRESCOS participate in a range of social and academic activities designed to enhance both their professional development and interpersonal connections within the research community.
Dinner at Strand
All activities during the Industry & PhD event culminate in a final dinner, offering an opportunity for further networking and informal discussions, reflecting on the time spent together.

PhD candidates from INRESCOS participate in a range of activities designed to enhance both their professional development and interpersonal connections within the research community.

23 Sep

Practical information

Author: Stine Brenden Bjurlemyr

Monday the 23rd of September INRESCOS had an event situate in Raufoss Industrial Park, one of the biggest industrial parks in the country and the national centre of competency for lightweight materials and automated production. A total of 14 participants, consisting of mainly PhDs from INRESCOS and a few selected students from NTNU Gjøvik partook in the event during the day, while INRESCOS only gathered at night for a social event and dinner.

The event started of with a short introduction from all the participants, and some coffee to get to know each other a bit. Thereafter Professor Geir Ringen, Associate Professor Carla Susana Agudelo Assuad and Associate Professor Ragnar Holthe from NTNU gave a short introductory lecture. The lecture browsed topics within aluminum, production processes, complexity in manufacturing, sustainability and circularity, giving the participants from numerous fields a common ground and understanding for the continued events of the day. Some case specific challenges regarding logistics, circular business model and design were also presented, giving the participants something to ponder while getting a tour of the aluminum product manufacturing company Benteler.

Technical expert Yngve Langsrud at the automotive division at Benteler were the leader of a tour through one of their production lines, giving explanations of the various processes in the line as we went through the factory.  After the tour the participants were given the opportunity to ask Yngve questions, an opportunity highly appreciated and utilized. With students from such a large variety of fields as INRESCOS possess, the questions varied between business models, industrial cooperation, recycling, the properties of aluminum, quality standards and more.  

After some lunch, the time had come for the students to get into action. All the participants were divided into interdisciplinary groups for case work, discussing and proposing solutions to some of the challenges presented earlier in the day. The academic part of the day ended with presentations from the student groups of their suggested solutions, with Q&As from the other participants and the staff from NTNU.

One of the benefits for PhDs in INRESCOS is to get to know other PhDs also working with an industrial context. To facilitate this and get to know each other in a more informal context, the PhDs in INRESCOS went for bowling after the events at the industry park. The mood was high, with joint celebrations of every strike. The night ended with a wonderful dinner for all of INRESCOS at Restaurant Strand downtown Gjøvik.

All in all, the event was a success, with increased industrial knowledge and some new relationships established for the INRESCOS students.