L'Atelier d'Apprentissage de Gorge de Loup is a privately run mechanical school based in the French city of Lyon. It uses a 3D printer developed by Sintratec from Brugg in the canton of Aargau in two contrasting albeit connected ways. Firstly, apprentices use the device as part of their training for future occupations in line with the school’s overarching philosophy of encouraging the students to learn by doing things themselves, which secondly means that pieces are manufactured by the students as part of customer orders. According to a press release issued by Sintratec, this generates a revenue stream for the private school to help cover its operating costs. Unlike most other private schools that charge fees, tuition is completely free at the Atelier Gorge de Loup for students between the ages of 15 and 18 who complete their four-year program there.
“The slogan of our production school is ‘make to learn’”, explains workshop instructor Denis Brude, adding that: “Clients approach us with their projects, and our students manufacture the pieces which we then sell and subsequently fund the school with”.
During their apprenticeships, the budding technicians have access to a wide range of traditional manufacturing machinery such as lathes or milling machines, with which they can produce plastic and metal parts. In addition, the school recently purchased a Sintratec S2, which is a compact selective laser sintering (SLS) system, from Sintratec’s French partner KREOS. “Modern technologies are important because we are preparing our students for professional life, where they also need to know how to work a 3D scanner or a 3D printer”, Denis Brude concludes. This means that pieces for customers can be produced in addition to internal parts and production components.
