TKS Secondary school works in partnership with the Zahid Group, who produce Volvo and Renault trucks at their AVI production plant in King Abdullah Economic City, to offer the Volvo-Renault-UD Trucks Club. The aim of this Club is to provide the secondary students access to a world-class assembly plant, enable them to see real-world applications of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science, and to work with the team at Zahid to deliver improvement projects.
Four Grade 10 students have been working with AVI to develop an app that improves communication between the logistics operators and the production workers at the factory in KAEC. As part of this project, the students were also invited to attend the IED 230 Product Development Course delivered by the KAUST Entrepreneurship Center. This course is usually only offered to KAUST university students (who are all post-graduates and studying for Masters and PhDs).
The students completed this course in June and delivered their final presentation. They received very positive feedback from KAUST faculty and students. The students will now be continuing their work with AVI to ensure the app is fully launchable and fully implemented within the factory system.
Congratulations to these students, who have pushed themselves and have demonstrated great potential during this project!
KAUST appreciates the work of the management team at AVI – especially Abdulrhman Bahaziq, the Production Manager – for allowing our TKS students to access their facilities, and being very patient with the trial and error process of developing the new app – in an operational production plant.
KAUST Professor – Bulen Erbilgin and Dr Lama Hakem, the Educational Programs Lead at the KAUST Entrepreneurship Center – have supported the students well and provided constant feedback… and Anwar Haredy (a KAUST student) has been volunteering his time to work and guide the group.