Three honored in IME 1420 Engineering Graphics / CADKey Competition

Winners of the Engineering Graphics/CADKey Competition, offered to students enrolled in IME 1420 Engineering Graphics classes during Spring 2005, were announced last week in a lecture class led by IME professor Slobodan Urdarevik, who organizes the competitions.

The first-place winner is Justin Hobart, a sophomore in electrical engineering who has already completed an internship with an automotive plant in Oscoda, his hometown, and whose background includes two high school CAD classes. His goal is to put his CAD skills to work in his future career. He described the three-hour competition as “fun.”

Izuan Hazarul, a junior in mechanical engineering who transferred to WMU from Malaysia, earned second-place honors. His career goal is a position in vehicle dynamics in the automotive industry. The Spring IME 1420 has been his only CAD class, so his winning was a surprise. “It was my first experience with computer drawing, so I really didn’t know if I was good enough” he said.

Third place went to Josh Gress, a sophomore majoring in industrial technology and secondary education who plans to be a high school teacher. His experience included four years of CAD classes at Byron Center High School before coming to WMU.

Standing in front of the winning entry of the Engineering Graphics/CADKey Competition are the winners: (left to right) Josh Gress, 3^rd, Justin Hobart, 1^st, and Izuan Hazarul, 2^nd 

IME Chair Dr. Paul Engelmann congratulated the winners and encouraged students in the audience – all members of the Fall 2005 IME 1420 class – to take part in this semester’s competition.

“These guys have done a great job, and maybe the next winner is right here in this room. All of you are headed into disciplines that will require you to use graphics in your careers,” Engelmann said. “This competition allows us to give students recognition for going above and beyond, and it gives those who win a leg up on the competition when they talk to recruiters who want to know what they have done beyond the classroom.”

For the three-hour competition, students were given “a very complicated drawing,” Urdarevik said. “The requirements were to create a 3-D solid model of the part shown on the drawing and to create a layout with the number of views necessary to manufacture the part plus an isometric view with symbols.”

All three winners received engraved plaques acknowledging their accomplishments. The first-place winner also received a $100 certificate. Prizes for the competition were provided by Kubotek (formerly known as CADKey), CIM Solutions, and the IME Department.

Urdarevik plans a similar competition on Saturday, Dec. 10, for the 330 students presently enrolled in IME 1420. Students competing in the Fall 2005 Engineering Graphics Competition will be using AutoCAD, which was introduced this semester.

Urdarevik joined the IME faculty three years ago after teaching eight years at Humber College in Toronto. He earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Skopje in Macedonia.

IME seniors to present design projects at college-wide conference

In the IME department 25 seniors are busy wrapping up seven projects for presentation at the 37^th Conference on Senior Engineering Design Projects, Tuesday, November 29, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Six College of Engineering and Applied Sciences departments will present 35 projects at the Parkview Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The IME projects will be presented in Room D-208 from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

Chairing the IME session is Dr. Betsy Aller, coordi-nator and instructor of the IME multi-disciplinary senior proposal and senior project classes.

Bronson Methodist Hospital is sponsoring a project to increase the amount of time that nurses spend delivering direct patient care. To improve nurse efficiency, the team of Jeff Hills, Josh Maes, Corey Semrow, and Carl Utess evaluated current supply processes and studied innovative supply systems based on time and motion studies.

A project to improve the production system for Stryker Medical’s Stair Chair Pro involves Abdullah Al-Abbas, Maria Candela, Deanna Cunningham, and Daniel Grupp, who used work measurement techniques, statistics, and simulation models to evaluate the current production model and propose a re-design to improve the system.

To find a safe and efficient process for moving a bulkhead (pool divider) in WMU’s natatorium, Megan Lamont, Alejandro Rodriguez (in photo), and Justin Vriezema considered safety, time, and cost in their analysis of the existing system and resulting recommendations.

Using virtual reality simulation, Advisor Pavel Ikonomov and seniors Brad Armstrong and Dana Gronau examine the control unit for a robot they used in a senior project that explores interaction between a virtual robot and a virtual human. The robot is programmed with intelligence to determine what humans are doing. “If a human gets in the way of the robot, the robot sensors go off, and the robot backs away and finds another path to keep working without harming the human,” Armstrong said.

Jeff Leppert, Craig Nelson, Michael Perry, Jason Phillips, and Warren White present the results of their investigation of options to meet international electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements that multiple electrical or electronic systems function in the same environment without interfering with each other, for sponsor Kohler Company.

Adam Ritchie, Luka Bacal, Matt Getty, and Ryan Severns will present a ventilation ducting hole cutter in a project sponsored by EZ Concepts and for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry.

Clint Barnard, Mark Gajsiewicz, and Roger Anthony produced guidelines for using reverse engineering for complex parts.

Advisors for this semester’s projects include Larry Mallak, Steven Butt, Tycho Fredericks, James VanDePolder, Mitchel Keil, Pavel Ikonomov, David Lyth, and Jorge Rodriguez.

UEM student earns Integrated Supply Matrix Management Scholarship

Quentin Witkowski, a senior in the engineering management (UEM) program, was awarded a $2000 scholarship last month for maintaining high academic standards and for having a minor in the Integrated Supply Matrix Management (ISM) program.

The scholarship, designated for ISM minors, was funded by Kellogg’s.

IME Professor Dr. David Lyth, who is the engineering representative in the ISM program, said that Kellogg’s is one of several companies that are actively involved on the advisory board of the Integrated Supply Matrix Management program. “There is a significant group of advisory board companies that support the program,” he said

Witkowski, 21, did not have to apply for the scholarship. “The award is based on academic performance, so no application was required,” Lyth said. “He [Witkowski] is an outstanding student.”

Lyth, who recommended Witkowski for the scholarship, surprised the senior with news that he had won the scholarship in an IME 4120 Industrial Systems Management class taught by Dr. Larry Mallak. “You have been awarded a scholarship, even though all you get today is a handshake,” Lyth said.

The formal award came in a ceremony at WMU’s business college on the first Friday in October.

Developed in 1989, Integrated Supply Matrix Management combines business with engineering; it leads toward a supply management career. “It’s a joint venture between the business and engineering colleges,” Lyth said. “Business students can take it as a major, and engineering students can take it as a minor.”

The ISM focus is on understanding what the supply chain is, from marketing to purchasing to production to logistics.

 

IME Professor Dr. David Lyth (left) with scholarship winner Quentin Witkowski, 21, a UEM senior with an ISM minor.

Engineering and technology minors take a 15-hour set of courses while business majors take that same sequence plus others, including those supporting infrastructure, like engineering graphics, manufacturing engineering, and manufacturing processes and materials. “They understand the processes involved in a supply chain,” Lyth said. “The program is directed by representatives of marketing, management, and engineering.”

Witkowski, who came to WMU from Battle Creek and who plans to graduate in December 2006, said that having an ISM minor enhances his engineering management technology degree. “It broadens your appeal to employers,” he said.

Because of his interest in integrated supply management, Witkowski is presently working with others to start a student chapter of the American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM). The first meeting was held this fall. “We’ve filed all the paperwork,” he said.

ASEM is a professional organization, founded in 1979 and “dedicated to the science and art of engineering management,” according to its website.