Intellicase lasswade

Young Enterprise Scotland’s Company Programme can sometimes become the domain of Business Management or Business Education within schools. The programme is an excellent way to bring the curriculum and the theory the young people are learning in class to life. As the young people set up and actually run their own business, they learn first-hand – learning by doing – everything about setting up and managing their own business. The Company Programme really enhances their studies and gives them a level of comprehension and experience that is second to none.

We know the programme works well in developing young people’s skills, knowledge and experience. Skills very much sought after by employers and a first class experience that will stand all young people in good stead for their futures.

One school this year, Lasswade High School, took the Company Programme to the very heart of their Design and Technology department. This hi-tech business provided a brilliant opportunity to show that enterprise education and entrepreneurial learning can really be embedded across any department within the school.

Utilising the 3D printer and the expertise of a very innovative team – both the young people and the teaching professionals, Intellicase was created… well 3D printed to be exact.

Using the technology within the school, the Young Enterprise team decided to print products for their company giving the resource freely available in school a very practical and real application!

Intellicase from Lasswade High School use 3D Printing to produce Phone Cases Rory Turnbull was the driving force behind the team creating their products in this innovative way. The fact they were able to print their own products allowed them to offer personalised products at very little extra cost to them.

Intellicase wanted to provide a high-tech experience for their customers which they provided throughout their time as a business, from market research on iPads to using CAD to design the cases to using a 3D printer to manufacture them.

The team had to order in the plastic in the right colours to put into the printer that then printed the design from the computer. They were also able to produce cases for phones that rarely have cases available in the shops.

It cost them about £1.50 to produce each case and they sold them for £8 - £12 each. The team also diversified and produced headphone wraps with their logo on. These cost just 11p to make.

As Rory learned more about how to use this technology from his Information Systems teacher, Mr Inglis, he became more interested in how it worked and what else was possible using the 3D printer. It took a while for him to learn how to create the products using the CAD programme but Mr Inglis mentored him through the process having built the 3D printer the team were using.

“I wish everyone had got involved in the operations side, there’s so much you can try. If you have enough people who can design in CAD you could make a lot of money.”

As well as learning how to use this technology, Rory also had the opportunity to train the rest of his team in salesmanship and also identifying other people’s strengths.

“The rest of the team had no retail experience but I’ve worked in Dobbie’s and Waterstones so I was able to share my knowledge about salesmanship. I wrote a script for the rest of the team to use. I found out Daniel was really confident at the trade fair so made sure he was talking to people after that. I learned about people’s strengths through the process.”

Intellicase’s experience highlights the numerous possibilities available to any Company Programme team who have access to a 3D printer and the potential to make money from it.

There is a full suite of support available to all Company Programme teams from Young Enterprise Scotland as well as local training events for the young people and teachers.