Bronze in Automated Manufacturing Technology event at 2023 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference
South Adams Machine Trades had another successful trip to the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. This year, the contest was held in Atlanta, Georgia from June 19-23.
This is the first time any students from Indiana have competed in the Automated Manufacturing Technology team competition at any level in SkillsUSA. This event consists of a team of 3 students. Each team gets a part drawing from judges with detailed instructions and a list of deliverables the contestants need to complete.
During the competition, Wednesday morning the team had to work together to come up with a strategy on how to effectively complete the part. The CAD Designer, Mark McKinley, drew up the solid model and recreated the blueprint for the part. Next, the CAM Programmer, Keaton Bush, created the tool list, set-up sheet, and created the CNC program for the CNC Mill using the solid model Mark created. Finally, the CNC Machinist, William Mawhorr aligned the vise, set up and located the part, touched up tools and ran the CNC code that Keaton created to cut the part. Instead of waiting on a CNC program (like most of the other machinists were doing), William was beginning to complete the required paperwork. Many of these steps were happening concurrently. Even though each team member had their own speciality, they were able to assist each other when help was needed. When the team was done with their part, they finished any required paperwork, including a quality inspection report, and turned everything in to the judge.
When the first part was complete, they were given a second part to complete the same steps; Plan/Process, Design, Program, Manufacture, and Quality Control. This was a mating part, so Mark, Keaton, and William used what they practiced at South Adams Machine Trades and modified the geometry from the first part to complete the second part quickly and effectively.
After the first two parts were completes, each team could then receive a “bonus” Engineering Change Order (ECO) if they had time left. Only a handful of teams, including college level, even made it to this step of the contest. At this point, Jerod Dailey, who is the South Adams Machine Trades instructor, observed from a distance what would have been impossible for an individual. The Indiana Team received the ECO with only 32 minutes left in the competition. At this point, William, Mark, and Keaton kicked everything into overdrive! They had an entirely different part with 3D machined geometry completed in time to turn in before running out of time. They even had time to complete the assigned math problems before the cleanup/math time even began. The math problem was a three paragraph story problem with ten questions.
Another amazing accomplishment about the contest and team…Tuesday was the first time that anyone in the group had ever touched an Intelitek CNC Benchmill, and less than 24 hours before the contest began. For anyone who has ever run a CNC milling machine, this may not seem like a big deal, but the Intelitek software does not use Work Offsets like any other CNC machine. The students had to figure out what the machine could handle machining wise, with material they have never cut before, and try to figure out Intelitek’s weird way of doing their version of “work offsets,” all in three hours of practice time.
On Friday night, the team of Bush, Mawhorr, and McKinley learned backstage while waiting as one of the top three teams of finalists to go on stage that the other two teams had the exact benchtop CNC machine that was used in the contest at their school and have been practicing on them in preparation for the contest for months. South Adams does use real industry level machines in their shop. The students also learned that the other two teams are all Seniors. One team placed 5th, the other 9th at the 2022 SkillsUSA National Automated Manufacturing Technology Contest. Knowing all of that, the students were extremely happy with their bronze medals, only to be beaten by previous top ten finishers on their first try.
In addition to their bronze medal, each student received over $2,600 in cash and prizes from The Gene Haas Foundation, Starrett, Kennedy, Autodesk, and MasterCam.
The team would like to thank everyone who supported the team financially and with tools to make the trip to Atlanta possible, to include: The Gene Hass Foundation, The Don Wood Foundation, O&R Precision Grinding of Berne, Essex Greenhouse (Paragon Products) of Bluffton, FCC Adams of Berne, Micromatic LLC of Berne, FCC Indiana of Portland, Joyce Dayton of Portland, Star Engineering & Machine Company of Bluffton, Hoosier Pattern of Decatur, and The Machinist Group of Northeast Indiana.
South Adams Machine Trades, part of the Area 18 CTE program, supports students from all schools in Adams, Jay, and Wells Counties, along with home schooled students as well. If you know any Sophomore, Junior, or Senior that is interested in becoming a Machinist, Engineer, Designer, or anything manufacturing related, have them contact their guidance counselor today. There is still time to sign up for the 23-24 school year.