Now in its eighth year, the PneuDrive Challenge is going from strength to strength, with UJ, Stellenbosch, NWU, NMMU, TUT and Wits universities participating. SA Instrumentation and Control spoke to some members of the PneuDrive team to find out how things are going. This year’s theme is Greener Warehousing Logistics. Sponsors SEW-Eurodrive and Pneumax have changed the rules slightly so that each university can now have three submissions. Four of the universities have made the PneuDrive Challenge part of their curriculum.
The PneuDrive team starts each year with a series of roadshows to each university, where the principles of the challenge are explained, products are demonstrated and students are invited to participate and submit a design report. In essence students need to show in their report an outline of their idea, explain what the machine will do on a practical engineering level and calculate a basic budget.
“We have introduced various touchpoints in order to keep in contact with the students,” says Andrew Rose. “After the roadshow, the first touchpoint is a follow-up workshop where students are introduced to the products, their functions and the electronics used to control components. Another touchpoint is software selection workshops where we touch base with students and take them through the software accessible to them.” SEW and Pneumax have their own software where the students can build 2D and 3D CAD models. This is linked to the products and from the software they can request a quote.
Site visits are also very important as they give the students an idea of what it’s really like in the workplace. Students are used to theoretical problems, not practical ones. This is often their first time in a factory and they have to identify and analyse problems with retrieval, conveying, placement, packing, palletising and loading in a warehouse and come up with a solution. They have to demonstrate how their design could improve the problem, as well as how it has taken the environment into account. They also have to consider safety aspects, as well as labour issues. This year students visited companies such as Consol Glass, IMP Automation, Bühler and Compact Disk Technology.
A final touchpoint for students before completing their entries is an option to submit a business and design concept to a mentor who can then offer some basic advice on the direction and feasibility of their concept. Previously students were given specific products to use but the team felt this limited their ideas. This year the product choice is open-ended. They are given a list of SEW and Pneumax products and they can choose any, although the PneuDrive team is available to help with suggestions where needed. All relevant information is put up on the PneuDrive website.
Participants are mainly second and third year students. “Lecturers love our programme and buy-in from them has been fantastic,” says René Rose, SEW-Eurodrive’s marketing and communications general manager. “Completing a project of this nature is a huge achievement for the students; and from our side we see a nice synergy between business, students, customers and judges – a combination of raw engineering spirit, creativity and cool engineers with enquiring minds.”
In the past students have been found to commit up to 500 hours on a project and the sponsors felt this was too much. A suggested project plan has been created for students which now breaks down into 160 hours and gives the students some structure along the lines of one semester. One of the keys to success is to get the right team together and the students often partner mechanical and electronic disciplines.
The sponsors choose a theme that ties in with their business focus and highlights products that are difficult for customers to grasp, and then they find a synergy. They benefit by getting creative ideas back and seeing new opportunities for their products. Another of the benefits for the sponsors is the potential for future customers, as well as employees. Students who have done the challenge know all about SEW and Pneumax and their products.
The PneuDrive team has perfected the process over the years and now it is quite simple and is run by a small, lean team. “Looking forward, we are looking at expanding into Africa as we have had a number of enquiries from universities,” adds Andrew.
“This is an amazing project and could be done in any business sector. Government says business needs to get involved in skills development – it needs to come to ground to see what’s actually going on and how small companies are getting involved despite the obstacles placed in their way,” René concludes.
For more information contact René Rose, SEW-Eurodrive, +27 (0)11 248 7000, rrose@sew.co.za, www.sew.co.za
| Tel: | +27 11 248 7000 |
| Email: | info@sew.co.za |
| www: | www.sew-eurodrive.co.za |
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