A student graduating next week has come up with a simple idea with the potential to save breweries millions of pounds.

Simon Carp, 22, from Leek, Staffordshire, graduates from De Montfort University in Leicester with a BSc (Hons) Industrial Design on Monday (14 July).

His manual handling system to help the beer industry deliver its barrels, usually carried out by dray crews, has already attracted investment from Coors Brewers Ltd.

Simon said: “My product will eliminate the need for the second member of staff in a dray crew. It’s a mobile lifting platform which is manually powered using a hydraulic pump and has been specifically designed to be a heavy duty design for off road and all weather performance. The product can lift weights of up to 200kg over a metre in height in order to load and unload from the truck bed.”
 
The BSc (Hons) Industrial Design is an award-winning course, accredited by the Institute of Engineering Designers. It is a four-year sandwich course with industrial placement, including overseas. Graduates work with companies such as Jaguar Cars, Dyson Appliances and Habitat.

The course combines industrial and engineering design. Students gain a detailed understanding of the principles of design and apply this, through project work, to meet commercial, technological, manufacturing and human requirements. Study and application of the latest Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and Rapid Prototyping techniques form a major element of the course.