Students are long-term asset, says MD

University students in engineering and design departments receive little help or encouragement from industry, according to the Managing Director of Bighead Bonding Fasteners, Ken Stanley.

University students in engineering and design departments receive little help or encouragement from industry, according to the Managing Director of Bighead Bonding Fasteners, Ken Stanley.

His company, which has been providing invisible fastenings for a huge range of industries in the UK and overseas, always supplies free samples for schools and universities.

It also produces a guide for customers to illustrate the types and uses of its fastenings - the "Bighead book of brainwaves" - which is produced in English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

"We always sponsor universities and educational establishments", says Ken Stanley.

"We regard them as a long-term asset if they become interested in using our products in their prototypes, they might order them later".

Bighead also sponsors the most promising students at Bournemouth University's design, computing and engineering departments who compete for "The Bighead of the Year" prize.

As a former academic himself, Stanley is always keen to help.

He originally wanted to be an architect, but left school at 14 and worked first as a messenger with the Post Office and then as a farm helper.

After winning a scholarship to the London School of Economics he gained a BSc degree in economics.

Two years later he took his first entrepreneurial step when he bought a stud welder and visited factories offering a welding service.

Around this time he invented the Bighead bonding fastener.

For nearly 40 years Bighead fasteners have been used to join plastic, metal and many other materials and as an integral part in engineering structures.

They are used in almost every conceivable construction including Madame Tussaud's wax models, sewerage treatment tanks, high-speed locomotives, truck tailgates and cars.

Easily Incorporated into all types of structures and moulded products, Bigheads provide strong, concealed anchorages.

BigHeads, and the new BigRings and BigStrips, are ideal for use with prefinished materials, as they require no expensive "making good", drilling or filling.

They are either bonded into or stuck on a component during manufacture, and are undetectable when assembled.

Some 2000 different types and sizes of Bighead, BigRing and BigStrip fasteners are available from stock, all providing load distribution capabilities unmatched by other fastener systems.

Around two hundred new designs are added each year, as well as specials designed for customers' specific fastening problems.

Orders are despatched within 24 hours, and the company makes up prototypes free of charge for delivery within two or three days.

Back to top