Working with a team of UWindsor engineering students to help his business find ways to be more efficient was an opportunity Angelo Fallone would recommend to any company looking to improve its operations.
“I’d give it a nine out of 10,” the finance administrator at a Ruthven agricultural packaging company said when asked to rate the experience. “We need to be innovative and efficient. A lot of skilled labour has made its way out of the automotive industry and in to the agricultural industry.”
Fallone (Honours BCO – 2008), works at Clifford Produce, a local packager and supplier of such agricultural products as cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. He worked with fourth year industrial engineering students David Impens, Thomas Flood and Melina Portillo on ways to improve the capacity and speed of the company’s cocktail tomato packaging line.
The team was working on its capstone project, an annual rite of passage for upper-level undergraduates which pairs them with industry partners to find solutions to operational problems. Students get valuable field experience while their partners get fresh sets of eyes examining their most pressing issues. Projects were presented last week to fellow students, academic supervisors and industrial partners who were on hand to question them about the validity of their solutions.
Some of the projects showcased included a floating, solar-powered pump and aerator to help remove algae and improve oxygen levels in ponds on golf courses, parks and other recreational areas; changes to an assembly system to help a local nutraceutical company polish its capsules, cut down on dust accumulation and improve ergonomics; ways for an automotive fuel tank manufacturer to improve its cycle time; and a feasibility study for a packaging company to reclaim rain water.
The Clifford team conducted a research literature review, did time and motor studies and collected data about the inventory and amount of available floor space at the facility. They designed a bracket on the packaging machine that substantially increased production by reducing changeover time, while improving the ergonomics and safety of the operations.
In fact, if all the recommendations the students devised to improve the facilities overall operations were fully implemented, they’d save the company a total of $107,000 a year, Impens said. He realized however, that developing solutions and putting them into practice are vastly different, which he said was one of the projects most valuable lessons.
“We learned that it’s so easy to change things on paper but a lot harder to make changes in a real facility,” he said.
Fallone said his first contact with the university was at a meeting held last year in Leamington by the Office of Research Services. Sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the “connector” event was held to help foster new relationships between local businesses in need of assistance and academics seeking out opportunities for research collaborations. He met with Horst Schmidt, the university’s business development and research commercialization officer, who eventually connected him with Hoda ElMaraghy, the engineering professor who oversaw the students.
He said the changes the students suggested will ultimately improve the working conditions for the company’s employees.
“It helps make their life better and that’s the biggest thing we’ve seen,” he said.