Nîmes University Institute of Technology (IUT)

News from the GMP Department

Tour of the Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant and the NTN-SNR facility in Alès

This year, students from the GMP department in Nîmes visited the Tricastin nuclear power plant and the NTN-SNR facility in Alès as part of their training.

Students with a passion for mechanics and production systems had the privilege of visiting

  • The entire vast machine room of a power plant, allowing students to observe and learn about turbines weighing several dozen metric tons that spin at nearly 3,000 revolutions per minute to generate a voltage of over 2,400 V. Students return with a thorough understanding of the most widely used power generation system in France.
  • SNR-NTN, a leading company that designs, develops, and manufactures bearings—a topic we cover in our training program. The purpose of this visit was to gain insight into how a manufacturing company operates, to understand the manufacturing, upkeep, and maintenance processes, and to address technical issues related to automation, surface treatments, and production in general.

Inter-IUT Challenge for GMP Departments

Proudly representing Nîmes, Baptiste Broudard, Manu Godefroy, and Mickael Ergen participated on March 28, 2019, in the 2019 final of the inter-IUT challenge for GMP departments’ walking robots at the IUT of Saint-Étienne. The goal of this challenge is to design and build a mechanical walking robot capable of picking up and moving three ping-pong balls onto a target. As the only department participating in this challenge for the first time, the GMP team from Nîmes and its robot, RBM, successfully completed this ambitious project!

There's no doubt about it: for a first try, it was a victory! A rewarding experience that gives us extra motivation for the years ahead!

A wonderful morning focused on additive manufacturing

On December 7, the GMP department organized a morning presentation session on additive manufacturing (AM) with the support of the Aerospace Valley competitiveness cluster.  The various industry speakers specializing in the field of Additive Manufacturing were: T. Balzeau (Poly-shape: one of Europe’s leading providers of metal AM services), L. Demoulin (HEXCEL, composite AM), M. Ledreux (ESI Group), M. Rigal (Assytem Technologies), and M. Hesse (Safran Helicopter Engines).These specialists came to share their experience and expertise regarding this new method of metal production, which offers new possibilities for designers and enables numerous innovations. They successfully piqued the students’ curiosity through numerous examples drawn from fields as varied as space, aeronautics, and auto racing:“We hear a lot about 3D printing these days, and it’s clear that there is great potential for innovation.” The presentations helped illustrate the challenges associated with additive manufacturing in an industrial setting. “The morning’s presentations were packed with information on this topic,” commented a student from the GMP department. Students from the IUT and POLYTECH MSI were thus able to explore this process through these applications and reinforce their knowledge of design, sizing, and manufacturing. The various speakers highlighted the many advantages as well as the limitations of metal additive manufacturing in an industrial setting. The event was broadcast on the University of Montpellier’s web TV channel.

Eco Challenge in Valenciennes: GMP students shone!

On March 22, the Eco Challenge, a national mini-motorcycle competition, took place in Valenciennes, bringing together 60 participants from all over France. This year, the race was organized by students in the DUT GMP program at the Valenciennes IUT.
This inter-IUT competition pits student teams against each other in a race featuring mini-motorcycle prototypes built and prepared specifically for this event.This initiative allows students pursuing a DUT in Mechanical Engineering (GMP) to work with an innovative and fun educational tool—the Pocket Bike—and enables them to participate in a friendly competition with other IUTs. The project engages students in the design, fabrication, and improvement of an electric or gas-powered Pocket Bike (mini motorcycle).

Congratulations to the students in the GMP DUT program at the IUT in Nîmes, who won both the endurance challenge and the design award!

Watcha video featuring students from the IUT in Nîmes