Material handling design contest winners announced

The College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) has announced the winners of the 2017/2017 Design Competition.

Teams had to design a solution to a material handling problem, which were then evaluated by seven independent judges from industry and academia.

First place was awarded to a team from Montana State University, consisting of team members Andreas Arvidsson, Quinn Hanson, Dominik Schmelter, and Drew Shanafelt, led by advisor Durward Sobek. A cash prize of $2,000 will be split among the team and $500 will go to the department.

The second place prize went to Rochester Institute of Technology’s team, made up of team members Marissa McCarthy, Alec J. Greenspan, and Benjamin Bruns, and Robert Mejia, advised by Anthony DiVasta. Second place in the competition is awarded $1,500 to be split among the team members with $500 for the department.

A team from University of Missouri took third place, with team members Keith Schonhoff, Rohith Madhi Reddy, Roderick Timmons, and Austin Laramie, guided by advisor Mohamed Awwad. The third place prize is $1,000 to be split among the team members plus $500 for the department.

The next competition will be for 2017-2018. The 2017-2018 design competition case overview and judging criteria files are now available in the links below. The full design case and data files are now available to faculty advisors upon request. As in recent years, faculty advisors will need to request the associated case information from CICMHE at cicmhe@mhi.org.

Since the first design competition was offered during the 1994-1995 academic year, student design teams have developed material handling system designs for a variety of manufacturing and warehousing operations. Design problems are drawn from the case files of designers and manufacturers of material handling equipment and their end users.

CICMHE is co-sponsoring the 2017-2018 competition with the Order Fulfillment Solutions (OFS) council. In addition to CICMHE’s existing cash prizes, support from OFS has boosted the payouts to $2000, $1500, and $1000 to the first, second, and third place teams, plus $500 for each placing department.