After teaching the relevant knowledge, Dr Juan Wang, Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), led her undergraduate students to Ningbo Zhongchun Hi-tech Pile Industry Co., LTD on March 4th 2022, to better understand the manufacturing process of pile foundations.

Students were welcomed by several engineers and representatives who introduced the company, starting from their company structure to their goals. During the meeting, the company showed their cooperation between enterprises and universities and their innovation achievements in the past years, such as static drilling pile technology, low energy consumption manufacturing technology of precast pile, prestressed concrete bamboo joint pipe pile.

After a simple production process demonstrated to the students, the factory's lead engineer brought them to visit various laboratories and production workshops.

In the laboratory, students visited the testing of raw materials and the medium-scale model of new technology development. Through the equipment model in the laboratory, technicians can simulate the actual pile to be designed and optimize the size of the pipe pile.

“I think this visit was of great help when we will meet relevant situations in our future study and work” , Mingyi Shang (Year 4 Civil Engineering Student) said after this site visit.