News about Automated Manufacturing & Machining

After a year’s absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Baja SAE team returned to action with a flourish, posting four top-10 results at Baja SAE Louisville.

The recent Society of Automotive Engineers competition – hosted by the University of Louisville – required students to design and build a single-seat, all-terrain sporting vehicle to meet various challenges. Penn College topped several prominent colleges and universities in the 78-car field, including Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Auburn, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

In dynamic events, Penn College finished first (acceleration), fourth (suspension) and eighth (maneuverability) before capping the competition with a third-place showing in the endurance race, considered Baja SAE’s toughest test.

The overall performance was Penn College’s best in the team’s 16-year history.

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In two very different Pennsylvania College of Technology labs, students share a similar focus. Both are using science, technology and the skills they’ve honed to develop new ways to practice their crafts.

In Chef Frank Suchwala’s Introduction to the Modernist Kitchen course, culinary arts students add science and technology to tried-and-true techniques to create new ways of presenting food. In Spring 2021, they added new tools made in a lab two buildings away.

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For Thomas L. Snyder, his graduation at Pennsylvania College of Technology on May 16 will mark more than the end of a rigorous academic pursuit. It will close his family’s chapter at the college, which dates to the Kennedy Administration.

The Weedville native’s lineage is linked to the college’s evolution from a renowned postsecondary technical institute to the second community college in Pennsylvania to its current status as a national leader in applied technology education.

Snyder’s maternal grandfather, Thomas E. Foster, earned a machinist certificate from Williamsport Technical Institute in 1962, and his father, Troy L. Snyder, attended Williamsport Area Community College in the mid-1980s, just a few years before it became Penn College, a special mission affiliate of Penn State.

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An alumnus’s investment in the next generation of innovators, the literal future of American manufacturing, was spotlighted during the April 27 dedication of the Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies Center at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Last year’s $1 million-plus donation from Ward, a 1966 graduate in engineering drafting technology, monumentally reshaped the expansive laboratory – one of the oldest on campus, dating to the benefactor’s days as a student at Williamsport Technical Institute and Williamsport Area Community College, the institution’s predecessors.

“A strong advocate for the future of manufacturing in America, Larry is committed to enhancing our automated manufacturing and machining curriculum, lab space and opportunities to prepare students for successful and sustaining careers,” college President Davie Jane Gilmour said. “It is this commitment that has transformed our machining lab, but Larry’s generosity does not stop there. He has donated materials and equipment, sponsored a commencement award for mechatronics students, and hired Penn College graduates and interns as his business grew.”

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Two retired faculty members at Pennsylvania College of Technology – each with decades of service to the institution – have been granted “emeritus” status.

The Penn College Board of Directors on Thursday authorized the faculty emeritus designation for Eric K. Albert, associate professor of automated manufacturing and engineering, who began his employment with the college in 1991, and Chef Craig A. Cian, associate professor of food and hospitality management/culinary arts, who started with the college in 1985. Both men retired in 2020.

“Eric and Craig’s expertise and selfless commitment have created countless long-term opportunities for our students,” said Michael J. Reed, vice president for academic affairs/provost. “Their mission focus and efficacy, coupled with genuine care and concern, brought out the best in our students and colleagues; we will always be grateful for their efforts and accomplishments. Congratulations, Dr. Albert and Chef Cian.”

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Automotive aficionados reveled among kindred spirits Saturday at Penn College, where a variety of four-wheeled student organizations hosted an expansive Spring Car Show on the Carl Building Technologies Center parking lot. An estimated 130 entrants were on display during the 10-a.m.-to-4-p.m. event, the cooperative brainchild of the Penn College Motorsports Association, PCT 4×4, Penn College Classic Cruisers, Penn College Diesel Performance Club and the Baja SAE team. Lycoming Engines, a longtime supporter of the college – and employer of its graduates – was the “Club’s Choice Award Sponsor” for the day, providing trophies to the winners.

Pennsylvania College of Technology will expose high schoolers to the marvels of manufacturing and the sector’s rewarding career possibilities, thanks to a grant-supported initiative.

From July 18-22, the college will host the Thingamajig Fabricators Pre-College Program for students entering grades 9-12. Participants will learn how everyday objects are designed and fabricated while receiving hands-on experience with 3D design software, machining, CNC automation and welding. Students will use their new skills to fabricate a toolbox, hammer and nail punch.

Penn College faculty will lead individual workshops in the school’s state-of-the-art labs. Sessions will be complemented by guest speakers and tours of regional manufacturing sites.

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Kenneth F. Healy, executive vice president and director of engineering at PMF Industries Inc., received an Alumni of the Year Award during the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce’s 20th annual Education Celebration on Thursday evening.

The event, held this year at the Bald Birds Brewing Co. in Jersey Shore, honors students and educators from across Lycoming County, as well as alumni from Pennsylvania College of Technology and Lycoming College who have made a positive impact on the local community.

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A Haas 5-axis Universal Machining Center (Model 500), poised to take Penn College’s machining curriculum to a new level, was delivered to College Avenue Labs on Tuesday morning. Purchased at an educational discount through a partnership with Phillips Corp. in Bensalem, the equipment adds the versatility of a rotational axis that allows for easier shaping of harder-to-machine parts – picture a jet engine turbine blade, for instance. The equipment will be the focus of the new course, Advanced CNC Multi-Axis Programming and Machining, in which students will be able to insert a piece of metal and produce a finished product with specialized and complicated machining details. Such equipment in industry reduces setup time and increases accuracy for multisided and complex parts, said Richard K. Hendricks Jr., instructor of machine tool technology/automated manufacturing, and greatly boosts students’ marketability. “For students to learn on this technology, it will further enhance their ability to be productive and effective employees the moment they enter the manufacturing floor for their internship or full-time career,” he said. “We can’t thank Phillips Corp. enough for their partnership to help make this possible.”

A Pennsylvania College of Technology student is among 25 undergrads nationwide honored with a scholarship from a foundation that promotes skilled manufacturing careers.

Ethan S. Rhodes-O’Brien, of Mechanicsburg, earned the $1,500 scholarship for the spring semester from Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs, the foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International. Students enrolled in a certificate or degree program leading to a manufacturing career are eligible for the scholarship.

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A partnership with Sodick, a global EDM manufacturing leader, is supporting Pennsylvania College of Technology’s acquisition of innovative electrical discharge machines for instructional purposes.

Through the collaboration, Sodick, a Japanese company with North American headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois, is providing four VL400Q High Performance Linear Motor Drive Wire Cut EDM units for use in the college’s Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies Center.

Penn College students and faculty in the machine tool technology, automated manufacturing technology and manufacturing engineering technology majors will benefit from the new high-tech equipment.

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The largest alumni gift in the history of Pennsylvania College of Technology has manufactured a new machining lab that will benefit students for generations.

A $1 million-plus donation from alumnus Larry Ward financed the revamping of the 14,299-square-foot facility, one of the oldest instructional spaces on campus. The lab features fresh lighting, flooring, fixtures and, most importantly, new equipment in the recently christened Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies Center.

“I have done very well, so I want to give it back for the next generation,” said Ward, a 1966 graduate. “A lot of people helped me over the years, and I just feel I’m paying it forward.”

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Students majoring in one of five manufacturing-related degrees are benefiting from a gift to Pennsylvania College of Technology, featured in a YouTube video. Larry A. Ward, founder of Packaging Progressions Inc., made a donation exceeding $1 million to revamp the college’s machining lab – the largest alumni gift in the college’s history. Ward’s generosity has resulted in fresh paint, lighting, fixtures and 50 new machines for the 14,299-square-foot instructional space. “It’s just completely transformed the entire lab,” says Dakota C. Harrison, a manufacturing engineering technology major from Lewisberry. “And we really couldn’t have done it without Mr. Ward.”

For a few worrisome weeks, three Pennsylvania College of Technology students thought they would join the ranks of countless others whose summer internships were casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the college “engineered” a solution, a favor the students more than returned.

Brian J. Daniels, Lake City; Conner J. Nickerson, Bethlehem; and Levi E. Pomeroy, Dillsburg; spent the summer helping faculty and staff revamp the college’s machining facility and equip a new electronics lab, benefiting their future and the hands-on education of the next generation of “tomorrow makers” at the college.

“I don’t think a lot of work in those labs could have happened without them,” said Stacey C. Hampton, assistant dean of industrial and computer technologies. Hampton devised the internship with Howard W. Troup, instructor of automated manufacturing and machining, and Ken J. Kinley, assistant professor of electronics and computer engineering technology.

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With support from the National Science Foundation, Pennsylvania College of Technology recently “manufactured” a weeklong educational experience for 13 high school teachers and school counselors from throughout the state.

The Manufacturing Externship Camp revealed to educators the promising realities of manufacturing careers through several activities, including a robot-building exercise that they can replicate at their home schools. The camp is one of several Penn College initiatives – funded by a grant from the NSF’s Advanced Technological Education program – dedicated to growing the manufacturing workforce.

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