Technology Strategy Consultants (TSC) is a UK based company that aims to address technology needs of manufacturing companies, with a focus on the aluminium industry. TSC consults to Hulamin Rolled Product, and through the long-standing research relationship between UCT CME and Hulamin, a collaborative relationship developed between TSC and CME. This collaborative relationship come in two forms: human capacity development in the area of aluminium metallurgy taught content and research collaboration.
Hulamin sponsors the presentation of an annual week-long course on “Wrought Aluminium” that is presented by Paul Evans and Ricky Ricks of TSC. The wrought aluminium course forms part of the BSc Honours Programme in Materials Science but is also opened to invited industry participants. The course allows for the presentation of metallurgy basics in the context of aluminium metallurgy rather than the traditional approach, which is through steel metallurgy. The course uses industry related problems and manufacturing processes as the context for the taught content. This course is essential for the generation of human capacity in the area of aluminium manufacturing, which is a focus area of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in South Africa.
The research relationship between TSC and the CME has developed over years of collaborating on Hulamin based research projects on the honours, masters and doctoral levels. The research has also developed through projects utilising the Gleeble 3800 Thermo-mechanical processing simulator at UCT, which is ideal for simulating aspects of the hot rolling process for aluminium. The collaboration is stimulated by the link with Hulamin, but in recent years has extended to more fundamental research topics as well. The industrial expertise of Rick Ricks and Paul Evans has been an asset and we look forward to continued collaboration.