Nestled right in the middle of the UK, a 30-minute drive southwest of Nottingham, TecQuipment operates their facilities on a quaint little street no more than 200m long. Unbeknownst to my cab driver, this facility is directly responsible in aiding the education of thousands of engineers around the world. Jon Chicken, Director of Sales and Marketing, greets me and provides a tour of their impressive facility. All of their manufacturing is done in-house, in that very facility, with strict quality control. Inspections and testing happens several times throughout the manufacturing process of any individual product. Attention to detail is a priority, and the dedication to this craftsmanship is expressed on Jon’s face as he walks me through every process.

AYVA is the proud distributor of TecQuipment in Canada. Just one glance at TecQuipment’s shipping warehouse and it is clear that they are trusted by institutions around the world. Crates were being prepared and labeled for South Africa, Hong Kong, India, the US and many other countries on just that day alone. I was also fortunate enough to be trained on their most popular systems by Dave Gidding, TecQuipment’s well-travelled Installation and Training Manager. Together, both Jon and Dave reinforced and strengthened my confidence in their line of engineering educational equipment. We hope to pass that message on to you. Have a look through TecQuipment’s catalogue and let us know what interests you.

Thank you Jon, Dave, and the rest of the team at TecQuipment for your hospitality.

We at AYVA Educational want to thank our good friend from Pignat SAS, Regis Rodriguez, for helping to support our customers at Durham College and McMaster University – and for educating us on french vineyards!

Last week Max Tinsley and Amie Schellenberg traveled to Pignat’s manufacturing plant in Lyon, France to test and approve the first of 12 Process Control units being custom built for Thompson Rivers University’s (TRU) new Instrumentation program in Kamloops, BC.

Pictured above are Max Tinsley, Instrumentation Instructor with Régis Rodriguez, Pignat’s Product Specialist.

Régis has traveled extensively in Canada to install a broad range of Pignat equipment in colleges and universities, and to train the staff and faculty. But for large projects, we encourage customers to visit the factory to meet the design and engineering team prior to us shipping the equipment. Thank you to Amie for sharing this photo and for her kind words about the trip.

AYVA is pleased to partner with York University to provide state-of-the-art training systems from TecQuipment. Both York’s Mechanical and Civil Departments at the Lassonde School of Engineering have recently been outfitted with a broad range of teaching equipment from TQ including structures and material testing to fluids and aerodynamics.

There are no lecture halls in the new Bergeron Centre at York. All of the courses are being taught in the labs to better foster experiential learning.

Every year, thousands of visitors internationally come together in London UK to attend BETT, the world’s leading educational technology and training tradeshow.

This year AYVA Educational’s Western Regional Sales Manager Jason Peng was lucky enough to attend on behalf of AYVA to experience the latest technologies being employed by teachers globally.

“It was an eye-opening opportunity to see how quickly these technologies are evolving to meet the needs of teachers and students. I am coming home with many new ideas, tidbits of knowledge, and questions about how we can improve our message and products to you—educators in Canada—and I am extremely excited to share what I’ve learned.”

Jason also joined PASCO’s Partner event for hands-on training on new products including the Wireless CO2 Sensor (available summer 2017), Smart Cart Accessories, Modular Circuits Kit, and a newly designed Thermal Expansion System.

We can say for certain that there are some cool things on the horizon. It was an absolute pleasure meeting some of our UK and European partners, and always a great time hanging out with the team at PASCO.

Ask Jason about his experience at BETT and let us know what new technologies you’re interested in!

Last month, Jason Peng from AYVA Educational visited Keyano College’s new Power Engineering Lab in Fort McMurray. The 4th Class Power Engineering Certification lab is designed for students who have completed 4th Class Part A & B theory courses from a recognized post-secondary institution, but do not have the six months steam time experience required to become certified as a 4th Class Power Engineer by ABSA.

Pictured above is the interior of the new power engineering lab.

Burnt Woodlands covered in snow in Fort McMurray.

The Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Waterloo continues to expand their training equipment in the undergraduate labs, providing students with real world hands-on experience.

The left picture is the TUV/3000 UV Disinfection and TOC Reduction Unit, the right picture is a custom designed OTP-ABS Controlled Absorption & Regeneration pilot plant.

As with all training systems manufactured by Pignat and supported by AYVA, a factory engineer installed and commissioned the equipment and provided staff and faculty with the necessary training.

AYVA’s Chief Technology Officer was also present to supervise the electrical inspection and assist with a maintenance plan.

Several members of the AYVA Team recently travelled to England for TecQuipment’s Global Selling Partners Conference. Representatives from more than 50 territories were in attendance and it was a great opportunity to network with other educational suppliers. This past year was TQ’s most successful year to date and we were excited and thankful to receive the Agent of the Year Award for 2015.

Over the course of 3 days the TecQuipment Team outdid themselves with in-depth product demonstrations combined with hands-on training for their full range of trainers. These product sessions ranged from fluid dynamics to thermodynamics to material testing and much more. They also introduced us to their new free and forced Vibration series before taking us on a very impressive tour of TecQuipment’s factory – where they manufacture all of their products in house with unparalleled attention to detail.

In keeping with TecQuipment’s work hard, play hard mentality; we also visited the Donington Grand Prix Collection which was filled with Formula 1 cars and World War II Vehicles. On our last night, we all attended the Medieval Sheriffs Banquet in Nottingham where we were entertained by jugglers and musicians while enjoying a great feast.

All and all, it was a wonderful trip and we can’t wait until the next one.

TecQuipment just announced the release of three new products for Material Hardness Testing, to demonstrate three of the key measuring techniques – Vickers, Brinell and Rockwell.

The products will be complemented with a wide range of specimens and reference blocks, for detailed and accurate experimentation.

Customers can now choose from the Rockwell Hardness tester (SM1015), the Vickers Hardness Tester (SM1016), or the Universal Hardness Tester (SM1017) which allows for measurements of Vickers, Rockwell and Brinell hardness.

The new testers are an exciting addition to the existing materials testing range of TQ, which includes popular items such as the Beam Testing Apparatus (SM1004), the Torsion Testing Machine (SM1001) or the Rotating Fatigue Machine (SM1090).

AYVA Educational was very excited to be invited to National Instruments NIWEEK 2016, an annual conference held in Austin TX for alliance partners, educators, professionals and customers alike. Jason Peng attended as a representative for AYVA to explore NI’s solutions for education. It was an eventful week with new introductions to NI’s core educational products including brand new modules for NI Elvis that expand functionality from power electronics to mechatronics. We were also very lucky to witness the unveiling of Multisim Live—the cloud-based version of Multisim—a software program that instructors and students in electrical engineering should be familiar with for simulated circuitry.

In addition, NIWEEK 2016 provided an invaluable opportunity to learn about NI’s core educational solutions through interactive sessions, examples of academic success, and keynote speeches that provoked new visions for the future of 5G Connectivity and the Internet of Things. NIWEEK 2016 presented a great chance to network and meet members of the National Instruments team including academic partner managers, developers and engineers. AYVA also had the pleasure of speaking with several alliance partners during NI’s Academic Forum, a full day dedicated to the activity happening within their educational landscape. In particular, the NI Elvis platform seems to be a tremendous fit for Canadian Colleges, with expansion boards and modules specifically designed for learning electrical circuits, power electronics, controls and mechatronics. The NI Elvis is supported by an entire ecosystem of attachment boards, extensive curriculum, and integration with Multisim.

Overall, it was a very eventful and fun time in Austin, not only at NIWEEK 2016, but all of what Austin has to offer in summer, with temperatures reaching a scorching 44°C with humidex! Jason had a chance to visit the SoCo (South Congress) district known for its eclectic collection of restaurants and shops, and a chance to watch 1.5 million bats fly beneath his feet (atop the Congress Bridge) as they fly at dusk to feed.

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Once again, KUKA played host to distributors from throughout North America and Dianne Beveridge represented AYVA at this year’s conference. Jeff Burnstein, the President of the Robotics Industry Association spoke to how the skills gap continues to widen with a growing shortage of qualified people to work in Automation.

Jeff Barrett from 3M was another guest speaker who noted that KUKA had been recognized as a preferred supplier and strategic partner for 3M after a six sigma evaluation of different robots.

Of particular interest to AYVA was the update on the success of KUKA’s KORE Cart designed specifically for the education market. It has been widely adopted by schools wanting to give students experience in handling, path tracing, opening and closing a gripper with a real industrial robot. Students who successfully complete the 40hr. curriculum receive a KUKA certificate that will certainly set them apart if they pursue a STEM career.

AYVA had the pleasure of joining PASCO to take part in their exhibit at BETT 2016. The trip to London England featured PASCO’s new Wireless Sensor line including Temperature, pH, Pressure, Force and Smart Cart Sensors.

Check them out in action: PASCO Wireless

The biggest hit was by far the Wireless Smart Cart. Chris Butlin from Physics Education wrote; “We liked your new range of wifi sensors, particularly the Smart Cart which we feel will be a best seller for you.”