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BIG WINS for Engineering
Heavy-Civil team wins national competition

CSU, Chico’s Heavy-Civil team from the Department of Construction Management won first place at the national competition of the Associated Schools of Construction, held in Dallas, Texas, April 2–6.

The Associated Schools of Construction annually holds construction competitions for students to provide them with scenarios that mirror the real-life construction process. CSU, Chico’s Heavy-Civil team won first place at the regional competition in Reno on Feb. 15, which qualified them for the national competition.

In the national competition, the students were assigned a construction problem, which consisted of building two freeway frontage roads, including asphalt paving, grading, and two structural concrete bridges. The problem was assigned between 6:00 and 6:30 am, and each team was allowed 16 hours to produce a cost estimate, construction schedule, budget, cash flow analysis, concrete formwork design, and pile driving analysis.

The team with the bid that was closest to the sponsor’s actual bid was allowed to pick their choice of times for making a bid review presentation. Chico’s team was within $8,000 of the sponsor’s bid, which was $2,086,086. The next closest team was Oklahoma State University, which was $42,000 higher than the target bid value.

On the following day, the team presented a 25-minute project overview and fielded questions for an additional 15 minutes. The following night, the CSU, Chico team was presented with the first place trophy at an awards ceremony. Out of 14 categories, CSU, Chico was the winner of 11. Oklahoma State won second place, and the University of Cincinnati won third place.

This is the first time that the Heavy-Civil team has taken first place in the 14-year history of the event. This year’s team, consisting of four graduating seniors and two juniors, included Clark Gardner, captain, Jeff Farr, Matt Gates, Ryan Edson, Randy Baylor, and Quinn Hennig-Hance. These students have a combined total of more than 25 years of industry experience.

The team selection process began in early September of 2002. The team met each week after that for two hours, receiving instruction and coaching from advisers Rich Holman and Matt Byrne. As part of the preparation, the team prepared two full 16-hour practice problems.

“This year’s team was the epitome of teamwork,” said Holman. “They not only possessed the skills and experience, they thrived as a team. It was a pleasure and honor to work with them.”

Kathleen McPartland

Grand prize for trailer hitch design

Manufacturing technology students from the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology took the grand prize in the WESTEC Advanced Productivity Exposition in the Los Angeles Convention Center, March 24, 2003.

WESTEC (Western Tool Exposition and Conference) is North America’s largest annual metalworking and manufacturing event. The competition, sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, is titled the “Manufacturing Challenge.” The challenge consists of designing a product that can be manufactured, including the design, prototype, tooling, and programming for all the components; assembly, which can include robotic assembly; marketing and economic considerations if the product were to be produced in quantity; and management of the project.

Student team leader Dave Loogman, Rick Parsons, Stacey Olsen, Robert Murillo, Joel Millard, and Ryan Grant won Best in Show with their design of a trailer hitch insert. Their hitch is designed for a 2X2 receiver (Common to most pickup truck and SUVs) that contains a light, a red lens, and a logo mask. These are assembled into a cast aluminum housing that plugs into the trailer hitch to activate the light with the running and brake lights.

A unique characteristic of the trailer hitch design is that custom logos can be displayed and lit when wired to the running lights and/or brake lights of a vehicle.

The project included the design and computer numerical control manufacturing of the pattern for the cast aluminum body, the injection mold tooling for the plastic lens, and the fixtures and end-of-arm tooling for three Adept robots. The robots are connected to a conveyor system and control the assembly pallets between them.

Leonard Fallscheer, Department of Manufacturing Technology, was the adviser to the students and accompanied them to Los Angeles. “This type of competition is invaluable in preparing students for work in a decision-making position with a manufacturing corporation. It gives them great practice in presentations,” said Fallscheer.

Kathleen McPartland