This week, our teams got outside of the work space in Bangor University, and took field trips to visit their partners, DMM and Halen Môn. The teams took tours of the north Wales’ businesses, getting an up close look at their current products, manufacturing and retail process. By visiting their facilities, our students got a better understanding of DMM’s and Halen Môn’s values, goals, and customers.
Exploring DMM’s Facilities
Our teams working on ideas for packaging products at DMM got a tour of DMM’s factory and warehouse, where they were shown the range of climbing products, the materials used to make such long-lasting and durable equipment, and most importantly, their current packaging. To learn more about the brief for our DMM teams, and what ideas they’re developing over the 10 weeks, visit our week one blog here. Through exploring DMM’s factory and warehouse, the teams got an insight into the history and growth of the business, the size of DMM’s operations, their different departments and the market in which DMM sells their products.
The teams were given a view of the retail perspective of DMM, as well as packaging examples to take home and hopefully give inspiration to their own packaging ideas. Their hope is that our students can come up with ideas to create sustainable, recyclable and appealing packaging for products such as their popular caribina. To learn about eco-friendly materials that can be used for packaging, visit our week 3 blog where our teams learned about how the Bangor Biocomposites centre uses fibre-based materials that can be used in sustainable packaging.
Taste Testing Salt at Halen Môn
Our Halen Môn teams have the unique task of coming up with a brand new product idea for the salt company, a salted egg with minimal packaging. Using Halen Môn’s signature salt, the company hopes their teams can come up with ideas that are tasty, cost effective and appealing to their loyal and potential customers. The students have been researching types of eggs, pricing, ways of boiling hard boiled eggs, and the potential market. By touring Halen Môn, our teams learned about the most important part of their research, the popular Anglesey sea salt!
The students watched the process of making the salt, explored Halen Môn’s production facility and got to have a look around their unique shop and cafe. At the end of their tour, the teams got to have a taste test session of some of Halen Môn’s most popular salts, such as rock salt, European sea salt, smoked Halen and pure Halen Môn salt. With a full view of the company, teams were able to appreciate the quality of the products, the success of the salt through the professionalism of their branding, and the type of customers that are drawn to Halen Môn’s products from all around the world. After the tour, teams were able to come back to the Enterprise by Design work space with expanded ideas and a better understanding of how to create an egg product for the popular Anglesey salt company.