AETAP Success Stories
AETAP has successfully helped many Alabama businesses in the thirteen years since its inception. Below are a few businesses willing to share their experiences with AETAP.
Capital Vial
Visit company at www.capitalvial.com
"The program itself is phenomenal. It seems to provide a wealth of learning experience for the students, and it helps us because when you are in a manufacturing environment, you can't spend a lot of time on one thing. We will definitely utilize this service again."
Located in Auburn, Alabama, Capitol Vial is the sole producer of the M & M Minis candy product. The plant produces 1.2 million vials a day. Transporting small plastic vials from one part of the plant to another doesn't sound like a problem, but at Capitol Vial, where 1.2 million are produced each day, efficiently moving vials from one place to another was a gargantuan task.
After touring the facility, Dr. Jerry McCreary, Dr. David Beale, and Dr. P. K. Raju, Director of AETAP, formed a team of students and professors from Auburn University's College of Engineering to study the problem and propose a solution.
The Auburn University team and Capitol Vial came up with a number of ideas. The idea that Capitol Vial managers felt would be most efficient was a pneumatic conveyance system that sends the small plastic vials through a 300 foot pipe to the rear of the plant. The design and mockup included a feeder used to collect, orient, and dispense the vials to a venturi feeder. The venturi feeder was custom designed for this system. A blower was then used to propel the vials through a statically grounded tube to its desired location. Previously the vials were placed in bins and moved by hand cart. In the new system, the product is transported via a pneumatic piping system. Auburn University students played an important role in the development of the system. Involved in the development process were two professors and six students-two of which were under-graduates and one post-doctoral student. The team worked for about two months developing and building a model of the pneumatic system. This system was tested and modified to make sure that it would function in accordance with Capitol Vial's specifications.
Everyone at Capitol Vial was happy with the team's work and said that they would utilize this resource again in the future. According to Mark Ostrowski, "The program itself is phenomenal. It seems to provide a wealth of learning experience for the students, and it helps us because when you are in a manufacturing environment, you can't spend a lot of time on one thing."
Ostrowski added that seeking outside assistance helps to solve a problem quicker and with more refreshing solutions. "People working around a problem will become tolerant. Sometimes outsiders, like these students, do not have the tolerance and they can see other ways to solve the problem. It's refreshing."
Creative Display
Executives from the Mars Candy Company were visiting Capitol Vial.Along with these executives, the management of Capitol Vial decided to creatively display the utility of their vials for purposes other than packaging candy. AETAP, through the use of Auburn's Art and Engineering students, came up with some creative and fun ideas in order to better market their product among kids.
Citation Foam
Visit company at www.citation.net
Located in Columbiana, Alabama, Citation Foam is a manufacturer of cast, forged, and machined components for the capital and durable goods industries. Citation utilizes the "Lost Foam Phenomenon." Employees had to accurately position and glue each casting to the runners by hand. It was very expensive and tedious. AETAP was asked for assistance in automating this process. The project was to provide a complete and functional machine that would automate the foam preparation for casting. The machine had to accurately position and neatly glue the foam cores to the pad. AETAP and Dr. David Beale then used senior students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering to assist in the design process. AETAP worked with Citation Foam to finalize a design that was appropriate for this process. The students then fabricated the machine for a total cost, including design, of $35,000. With support from the Department of Mechanical Engineering's machine shop, the machine was brought to full production quality by the students and is now in full operation. This machine increases productivity and will allow Citation to effectively compete in the international markets.
Resource Innovations
Resource Innovations is a chemical company that manufactures specialty chemicals and works with local plastic companies. They partnered with AETAP to implement a new project with BP's BACA product; three project proposals were derived from a site visit with a student ambassador. 1. Computer Driven Plunger Pump for improving heat transfer; 2. Use of Cuccolini Vibrating Screen Filters as approved for centrifuge; and 3. Evaporating waste water in boiler. Partner would like a rough design for a condenser/decanter system.
SMC South
Visit company at www.smcsouth.com
This project received the "Best Project of the Year, 1999" award from the National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers.
Located in Auburn, Alabama, SMC South is one of the country's largest wire fabricators and is widely known for producing a high quality product. The Auburn location, a 105,000 square foot facility which employs 125 employees, has achieved tremendous success in the production of lawn mower parts, point of purchase displays, and display racks for the snack food industry. One of their products is a control bail, or "kill-switch", for lawn mowers. Machine operators previously fed each unbent part into the bending machine at the correct orientation and location. This process was laborious and time consuming. AETAP was asked for assistance in automating this process. After working with SMC South, the concept of a gravity feed dispenser, using robot hands to drop one rod at a time, was selected. Rao Oleti and Dr. David Beale then designed this process while undergraduate AETAP employees fabricated the parts. Before this automation, these machines produced 250 parts per shift per machine. After the automation, the production was more than 800 parts per shift per machine. The observed annual benefit was $180,000. The cost of implementing this project, including design and materials, was approximately $20,000.
Uniroyal Goodrich
Visit company at www.uniroyal.com
Compressed Air Line Modifications at the Uniroyal Goodrich Plant
Located in Opelika, Alabama, Uniroyal Goodrich, a division of Michelin North America, is an international distributor of automobile tires. The Opelika location covers 1.6 million square feet and employs over 1500 people. Associates from Uniroyal Goodrich approached AETAP about a problem they were having with the compressed air supply to a number of tire-producing machines. After an initial analysis by AETAP personnel, the problem was identified as follows: over many years, many modifications were made to the existing compressed air header, thus overextending the delivery capacity of the existing piping network. Under the direction of Dr. Jay M. Khodadadi, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, a project was initiated to accurately model the existing compressed air piping network, verify its predictive capability, and make recommendations for modifications. The pipe diameters, locations of bends and valves, etc. were carefully mapped and a detailed layout of the existing network(click to view) was produced using AUTO/CAD software. A comprehensive piping network analysis was then performed. This analysis involved development of a computer code that uses the piping layout and solves a system of inter-coupled nonlinear equations, which describe the flow distribution in the system and the system's energy losses. The resulting flow rate and pressure drop information for each pipe segment was then computed. This information (click to view) clearly indicated which pipe segments and associated pieces of machinery performed poorly. Given this valuable predictive capability, modifications of the piping network, i.e. enlarging pipe diameters, shortening pipe segments, were suggested to Uniroyal Goodrich management and associates.
