Pictured (from left to right) are FHSU President Edward H. Hammond; Kim Stewart, assistant professor of technology studies; Jeremy LeDuc, Assaria senior; Keith Aubert, St. Mary's senior; Tommy Perez, Lakin junior; Kris Munsch, Ness City senior; Matt Dunning, Plainville senior; Tim Rector, Johnson senior; and Kenny Rigler, Callaway senior. Kurt Beyers/University Relations.
"The 'Black Shirts' are back," Kim Stewart, assistant professor of technology studies, said. "We (the Technology Education Collegiate Association) started this trend a long time ago where we have been wearing our black polo shirts to the competitions. People coming to the competition will walk in and ask 'where are the black shirts.'"
These "Black Shirts" returned home from the annual International Technology Education Association's Conference and National Technology Education Collegiate Association's Technology Competitions as national champions.
There were 22 TECA schools competing in six different events March 13-15 in Nashville, Tenn.
"Our students have gained national recognition at this event by performing consistently well over the past 17 years," Stewart said.
The team brought home two national championships in the Live Manufacturing Competition and the Live Communication Competition and a third place finish in the Problem Solving Competition.
The students were honored yesterday morning at a press conference, which took place in the Field Conference Room of Sheridan Hall.
Only four teams were able to compete in the live manufacturing category. Indiana State University finished in second place, Wayne State College (Neb.) finished in third and California University of Pennsylvania finished fourth.
The competition's goal is to both encourage and reward the study of production technology. The emphasis on this contest is not on the product itself but rather on the process to manufacture the product.
The team had to design, document, fabricate and implement a continuous manufacturing system to produce an assigned product using only the tools and materials provided by contest organizers in a limited amount of time.
The manufacturing production line system included 1) a flow process chart for each part of the product, 2) operations process chart for the product, 3) dimension tooling plans, 4) tooling the jigs and fixtures to make each part, 5) dimensioned inspection gauge plans, 6) inspection gauges, 7) plant layout drawing and 8) a safety system.
"To win, the team had four hours in which to construct the most efficient assembly line and manufacture five toy airplanes," Stewart said.
"I learned a lot of teamwork from the manufacturing competition," Perez said. "In a group we had five people. That's a lot of people with a lot of different ideas. So we had to learn how to communicate with each other and express our ideas in the four hours that we had to complete the project."
View the footage of the Live Manufacturing Competion in Nashville. (Note...requires QuickTime player...free and simple download of player here.)
Kenny Rigler, Callaway senior, Perez, and Munsch had to produce a 30-second video commercial related to Nashville and the conference/competition.
They received a description of the product, service or organization plus the essential marketing or demographic information to help them produce the video.
Stewart said the video was the ninth of the 12 shown . "Many were given golf claps," Stewart said, "but when it came to Rigler's and Perez' video, there was a whole lot of whoopin and hollerin."
View the 30 second Live Communication Commercial that highlights Nashville as the country capitol of the world. (Note...requires QuickTime player...free and simple download of player here.)
The purpose of this competition was to test the skills of the team members to work together using the provided information and materials to develop and construct a solution to a specific problem.
By Bryan L. Valentine
Site created by Kenny Rigler
FHSU TECA Member
Created Using Adobe GoLive
IRC 5/22/03
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