Hello, and welcome back to the KTH Formula Student newsletter!
This fall has been a period of hard work and meaningful progress for our team, and the integration of new members has brought fresh perspectives and skills into the team. November was particularly focused on the design phase, where we concentrated on finalising our concepts. To meet our upcoming design deadline on the 18th of December, we spent two extra weekends in addition to our work sessions. These extra efforts have paid off, generating stronger interactions and collaboration among our subgroups.
Our team meetings have also evolved to become more engaging and informative. We have noticed an increase in overall attendance, reflecting the team’s dedication and enthusiasm. To make the meetings more efficient, we have shifted from brief weekly updates by each subgroup to a more detailed presentation format. Now, two subgroups take turns to share their recent work and developments in-depth. For example, pictured below is when the business and marketing subgroup (BM) presented their strategies for the upcoming competitions and how they plan to succeed this summer.
Sandvik Coromant is one of our longest-standing partners and we had the opportunity to visit them at their HQ in Sandviken. Here our Mechanical Design subgroup gained many insights on how to produce parts using the vast variety of tools and machines offered by Sandvik Coromant. We also discussed how our designs for the next car can be improved manufacturing-wise. We got plenty of good feedback and have now returned to improve our systems even better. Partnerships and visits like these help the team push for new concepts and help us verify that our current concepts are sound and possible to produce.
We recently had the honour of hosting KTH’s president, Anders Söderholm, and vice president, Mikael Lindström, at our garage. We made sure the garage was neatly arranged for their visit and prepared a detailed presentation about our organisation. During the visit, we had a good discussion about our project. It was clear that they recognized and appreciated the hard work we’ve been putting in. Their understanding of our goals and ambitions was encouraging. This visit has set the stage for a stronger collaboration with KTH in the future, something we’re really looking forward to.
To get ready for next summer’s competitions, we have to pass some challenging quizzes. These quizzes are all about timing, testing our engineering knowledge and how well we know the specific rules of the competition. They’re tough, not just technically, but they also need us to work together smoothly. We’ve started preparing by going through old quiz questions from past years. This practice is really boosting our confidence. The big test day is coming up in late January, where we’ll take all the quizzes on the same day. We’re working hard to make sure we’re ready.
We’ve kept up with our regular work sessions and team dinners, and they’re going really well. To our surprise, the quality of the meals has been fantastic! It’s even sparked a friendly competition among the subgroups to see who can whip up the best dish. It’s been a fun and tasty way to bring everyone together and add a bit of extra enjoyment to our project.
Until next time,
Filip and Axel