Crewsaver Placement Student Daniel Purnell Wins UWE Faculty Placement Student of the year!

UWE Bristol is a University Alliance university, combining its experience of providing high quality teaching and research with real world impact to shape higher education.  In support of this mission, Survitec, the world’s leading marine safety equipment manufacturer was delighted to recruit Daniel ‘Dan’ Purnell from UWE on a design work placement.   

Following Dan’s successful work placement in Survitec’s R&D design team, Nigel Parkes, design manager for Crewsaver was invited to attend the UWE Bristol Talent awards, a superb evening to celebrate talented individuals at UWE. 

‘The breadth of skills present in so many different disciplines was staggering, and not just in the UK but reaching around the world. It’s great to see UWE supporting both students and industry alike.’ Commented Nigel 

Dan was shortlisted for the Faculty Placement Student of the year award from almost 1000 students, and we are delighted to report that Dan was victorious in this category. 

Whilst on placement at Survitec, Dan was tasked with redeveloping a range of Crewsaver drysuits.  ‘Dan’s eager mind and fresh eyes were a great addition to our team, helping to enhance the overall quality of what we delivered, his influence on this project and our team grew exponentially, a result of his focus and commitment to get things right’ quotes Nigel. 

Dan worked hand in hand with both sales teams and customers to ensure the right result, a task in itself that can be complex. The project was formed of two phases, design and manufacture.

Dan’s remit was to produce two products aimed at different users and price points, this involved working with material suppliers to develop new fabrics and ensure the design and feature set of each product was appropriate and well positioned in the market place.

Dan’s approach was all encompassing, including both the hands-on R & D in our workshop, project managing our sub-contractors for materials and working with our pre-production facility.  He formed a valuable member of the team – his approachable and engaging manner certainly helped to glean knowledge to drive the project forward. 

Finally, as the age old saying goes, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” – so we are very happy to report the “Atacama Pro and Sport” have featured in magazines across the world and have also gained industry acclaim. It’s well done and thank you Dan, from all at Survitec, we hope that you got as much out of it as we did.