Manufacturing Students Win Top WESTEC Award Fifth Year
in a Row

A 16-member team from the CSU, Chico student chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) has won the Grand Prize for the fifth year in a row in the WESTEC (Western Tool Exposition and Conference) Manufacturing Challenge held on March 30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The winning project was the production of a solid hardwood machinist’s tool chest based on a 100-year-old classic design. “What made this project stand out at the WESTEC competition,” said Leonard Fallscheer, faculty advisor to the SME team, “was the attention to detail by the students for defining and documenting the complete manufacturing process.”

The WESTEC Challenge is an annual event sponsored by SME to showcase manufacturing programs at colleges and universities in the western states. CSU, Chico competed against a field of 11 other institutions that included Brigham Young University; University of Colorado at Denver; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; CSUs at Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Northridge; and North Dakota State. This is CSU, Chico’s sixth Grand Prize win in the last seven years.

“This project was started in late September and completed as an extracurricular activity on the students’ own time,” said Fallscheer. “Their planning and documentation of the whole procedure was professional, and their presentation to the judges was flawless.”

The students on the WESTEC team are enrolled in courses in the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management. The team presenters were Tony Arena, Hobie Stevens, Mike Rincon, Scott Vanni, and Oliver Hayes, with support from Grant Douglas and Wesley Brandon.

You are invited to a presentation of the award-winning project on Thursday, April 9 at 2:30 pm in Plumas 121.