Tulsa Tech Wins National Manufacturing Title
By KARA GAE NEAL
Superintendent
PROUD STUDENTS: Tulsa Tech’s Manufacturing Technology class recently won first place at the National SkillsUSA Automated Manufacturing Technology competition.
Courtesy Tulsa Tech
Congratulations to the students and instructors from Tulsa Tech’s Manufacturing Technology class for their recent first place victory at the National SkillsUSA Automated Manufacturing Technology competition!SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. SkillsUSA serves more than 300,000 students and 14,500 instructors annually. The organization has 13,000 school chapters in 54 state and territorial associations.
This year’s competitors were given a rough sketch of a geometrical model and eight hours of production time to complete several tasks; develop a computer numerical control () program, fabricate the initial assembly, then modify both the program and the final assembly based on an engineering change order. Computer Numerical Control () refers to the overall automation of machine tools that are operated by computer programmed commands rather than manually controlling these machine tools with hand wheels or levers. In modern systems, the production of a single component is highly automated and includes several phases.
The Computer Aided Drafting/ Design () operator constructs the part geometry on screen, while the Computer Aided Manufacturing () operator programs a set of instructions for different tool paths, then the Computer Numerical Control () operator utilizes this information to set up a particular machine and manufacture the actual component. Tulsa Tech’s championship team consisted of operator Saroj Bunnorat, operator Joncarl Frost and operator John Cox. The rough sketch which was given to the team at the beginning of the competition included several key dimensions although team members were responsible for determining additional dimensions required for the project.“
This year’s project, a 3-part planetary gearbox, was one of the toughest I have ever seen in competition,” says Rick Huddleston, one of Tulsa Tech’s Machining Technology instructors. “I was extremely proud of our team members who quickly designed, programmed and built the part to the tight specifications required to win the competition.”Like all of the other national competitors, the Tulsa Tech team first had to win their state competition.
Previous teams had won the state event several times but this was Tulsa Tech’s first national championship in the Automated Machining Technology contest. Although this year’s team had just one year of training beyond high school and had never worked in industry, they competed and won against individuals with substantial industry experience.Each team was judged by a group of quality control experts from industry, and each team member had to submit a resume as a process of preparing for work in this exciting career.“
I would like to point out that I’ve only had these students for the last 8 months,” Huddleston says. “Several outstanding instructors, including Conventional Machining instructor Paul Shoun, Advanced Machining instructor Mike Dean, Academic Math instructor Nikki Helsley and Academic Reading instructor Nancy Kirshner all deserve credit for this team’s fine performance.
”If you’re currently looking for exciting classes for both high school and adult students, quality business and industry training, or a just a chance to learn from some of the most talented instructors in the nation, Tulsa Tech invites you to visit today. For more information, please call (918) 828-5200 or visit us online at www.tulsatech.edu.
Updated 12-11-2009
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