Formula Student is the most important international university competition in the automotive field. It will take place from August 7 to 12, 2023, at the Circuit de Barcelona de Catalunya, and in its thirteenth edition will be made up of teams from around the world formed by university engineering students who will compete with their prototypes of electric and autonomous vehicles.
Formula Student is an international educational project that allows engineering students to participate in a real professional experience. We interview Juan Fernández Laporta, one of its managers to know the importance of digitalization in Formula Student Spain.
Journalist: We interviewed one of the managers of Formula Student Spain to talk about the collaboration with Kapture.io in the collection of data from the judges in the different FSS tests. Thank you for joining us.
Juan F. Laporta: It is a pleasure to be here and talk about our experience with Kapture.io in Formula Student Spain
Journalist: This will be the third year in which Kapture.io collaborates with the work of FSS judges. How do you rate this collaboration so far?
Juan F. Laporta: We greatly value this collaboration. It has been extremely positive within our integration process of Kapture.io as a standard tool for all areas involved in the competition. It has allowed us to significantly streamline and improve the collection of data from judges, which has been fundamental for the efficient development of FSS.
Journalist: What is the aspect most valued by the teams participating in the FSS competition?
Juan F. Laporta: The teams mainly value transparency and speed of response in the results. With Kapture.io, we have managed to provide faster and more accurate results, which is highly appreciated by the teams. They also benefit from the traceability and order that the platform provides them. By pre-digitizing internal controls, checklists and leaving evidence of these controls, teams can better prepare before the competition. They can even use incident management or non-conformities to trace solutions and use the problem-solving module. This tool gives them a significant advantage and prepares them for future challenges in the labor market, contributing to their training as professionals.
Reporter: What could we do to give FSS more prestige?
Juan F. Laporta: One way to increase the prestige of FSS would be to give it greater publicity in the media so that more people know about the existence of the competition. It would also be beneficial to seek greater participation and involvement of companies in the sector, both sponsors and those that do not participate directly. For example, we could involve logistics operators, suppliers, R+D+i centers, distributors, dealers, among others. In addition, by digitizing the Formula Student, and making it paperless, we can show that we are optimizing resources and being more sustainable, which also brings prestige to the competition.
Journalist: Formula Student Spain, like industrial environments, needs to adapt to the digital age. How are you living this digitalization process?
Juan F. Laporta: We are in the process of digitization. Although there is a plan in place, it is a path that will take time to complete. We understand the importance of adapting to digital trends and are working diligently to achieve this in the near future.
Journalist: Compared to other Formula Student competitions, at what level of digitalization is FSS?
Juan F. Laporta: The digitalization in the rest of the Formula Student competitions progresses slowly hand in hand with competition initiatives, but they have the challenge that they start mostly from scratch creating their own Applications or Web solutions with great difficulties to advance year after year.
On the other hand, in Formula Student Spain we have the great advantage that we have Kapture.io those who give us a tool already validated in the market, developed by expert professionals in digitalization and from whom we have the support to adapt it to the needs of FSS.
Reporter: What are the usual challenges you face?
Juan F. Laporta: Our usual challenges are focused on the management and general organization of the process. We must be able to resolve incidents in a very limited time and have the ability to react immediately. Judge turnover, attracting teams to the competition and last-minute casualties are common challenges we face.
Journalist: Kapture.io was not designed specifically for Formula Student, but thanks to its flexibility, you have been able to adapt it to your needs. How do you see the future of this relationship?
Juan F. Laporta: We see a promising future for our relationship with Kapture.io. Our goal is to achieve the complete integration of the system as the backbone of all evaluations in all areas of the competition. We believe there is still room to improve and better tailor the platform to our specific needs. We are committed to working together to achieve a final consolidation.
Journalist: How does having information in real time affect FSS? Is it worth the effort?
Juan F. Laporta: Having information in real time is extremely beneficial for FSS. The ability to react immediately and obtain quick results allows us to improve transparency in front of the evaluated teams, which contributes to the prestige of the competition. Definitely, the effort invested is worth it, as it allows us to be more efficient and provide a more satisfactory competition experience for all participants.
Journalist: We welcome your comments about the collaboration with Kapture.io and the digitalization of Formula Student Spain. We wish them every success in the future!
Juan F. Laporta: Thank you very much. We are excited for the future of Formula Student Spain and will continue to work hard to improve and adapt to digital challenges. We hope to reach new goals and contribute to the growth of the competition!
19/07/2023 Kapture.IO
