Xaar celebrates 10-year anniversary of student program

Since its inception in 1996, Xaar's student program has made a valuable contribution to the practical education of over 80 engineering graduates. To mark the program's 10th anniversary the company is hosting a reunion at its facility in Sweden on July 6-8 2006.  Nearly half of the students employed over the past ten years will be attending the event, where some of the former 'young engineers' will deliver presentations on their subsequent experience and current roles.

During six-month internships, students from some 15 European universities work within Xaar's Advanced Application Technology (AAT) Group to gain relevant experience for their diploma or PhD. The micro-systems, software and chemical engineering students mainly work on the development of new inkjet applications and related printhead projects.

Three of the students now have permanent contracts at Xaar, while others have joined major corporations such as Bosch, Infineon and IBM.  Most students have gone on to work for small to medium high-tech companies, or R&D institutions such as the Fraunhofer Institute, where they are using their inkjet know-how to make important contributions to development projects.

Xaar's AAT Group has access to a dedicated lab equipped with various print rigs for application work, including XY-printers; drum printers and a rail printer for high-speed testing. Tests can be performed using the company's comprehensive range of piezoelectric inkjet printheads, enabling the measurement of drop formations and the creation of waveforms to identify the optimized printhead/fluid combination for the customer. Printing can be done under cleanroom conditions where necessary.