Forging a career path is the goal of every student who enters post-secondary education.
When those choices amount to career successes, the individuals and their employers are able to share the many great stories that emerge from those achievements.
Every year at the College of the North Atlantic, graduating students must complete capstone projects that showcase the skills they’ve developed through working on an industry or community problem requiring a unique solution.
The Business Solutions Student Showcase is designed to highlight the real-world solutions that college students are regularly providing for industry and community partners through course projects, capstone projects and college-managed applied research and development co-op placements.
Several examples of these successes were showcased during the College of the North Atlantic's Innovation at Work event held Tuesday at the Prince Philip Drive campus in St. John’s.
The event was a day-long innovation showcase highlighting novel projects and applied research and development at CNA that is having a real impact on businesses, communities and post-secondary education throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
Those students who highlighted their successes included Corey Drover from the mechanical engineering program, Rafael Fernandez and Ashley Wynn from industrial engineering technology.
Drover was charged with finding a custom design to manufacture a robotic-controlled ultrasonic cookie cutter to make peanut butter balls at Chatman’s Bakery in Charlottetown.
He worked on the collaborative project with Proax, CNA and Chatman’s to develop a machine to produce its peanut butter balls.
The current system was manual, labour intensive and inefficient, as items had to be mixed in a large bowl, lifted by two workers (weight of around 80 pounds) and scooped out by hand into the cutting machine.
“This was a very hands-on process that showcased the many deficiencies in the system. We tried four solutions that were still inefficient,” Drover said.
”I am working on a new, more efficient system now using a linear lift system that reduces manual labour and increases the efficiency of the operators. It will make the job easier, save money, operate with fewer employees and help to achieve continuous production.”
Because of a dwindling population and with youth leaving the community, the company is facing hiring challenges, making the need for automation more critical.
The company needed a machine that would cut the cookies, automate the process and cut down the number of tasks current employees do.
The use of an ultrasonic blade would eliminate sticking. The blade, which is robotically controlled, is reprogrammable. Its use will standardize the size of the product through a repeated cutting control system, eliminate the repetitive stress of the operator and increase the cutting capacity and overall efficiency of the process.
“There are no specific skills required to operate the machine, thus all employees can be trained to use the device,’’ Drover said.
Skills lead to organization
Fernandez used his skills learned during his time at CNA to develop a Real Time Inventory Management system for Kool Rite Ltd.
The locally owned company was established in 1992 by Garry Greeley and services a wide range of commercial refrigeration equipment.
The company was facing challenges monitoring the use of inventory stock, as it does not have a system to track parts as they come and go from inventory. In short, it lacked organization and inventory control.
To find a solution, Fernandez set out to:
• Implement a 5S system by sorting and organizing inventory.
• Collect data on all parts and use it to make bar codes.
• Create a bar code scanning system using ProntForms software.
• Develop an information management system based on a database that enables real-time inventory control.
“They had a messy warehouse. I found there was a need for them to be able to store data more efficiently in order to control the inventory,” he said.
“I created a bar code scanning system to be affixed to all the parts and then developed a database system to control the inventory.”
Comprised of the Industry Innovation Challenge, the Student Business Solutions Showcase, dozens of applied research and development sessions, and tours/demonstrations of key equipment and facilities that enable innovation with its partners, Innovation at Work was the CNA’s first public event showcasing how more than 1,200 faculty and more than 9,000 students contribute to innovation throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
Had a vision
Wynn’s insight and innovation, and not taking no for an answer, led her to full-time employment at Lester’s Farm in St. John’s.
As an intern, she assessed the hydroponic system at Lester’s Farm. She found deficiencies in the way its watering system worked and devised a plan to streamline it. When she started looking around during her early days there, she realized there were several other areas where she could help them improve the way Lester’s does business.
“I have a passion for working with smaller companies,’’ she said.
“What is the difference if you use a robot to make cookies or to plant flowers,’’ she said, noting how technology can help enhance agriculture in the same way it does other forms of production.
Wynn said she worked on a number of projects through her time at CNA, not just in a classroom setting, but hands on, working independently and collaboratively with her mentors. She said they were only a call away if she encountered an issue.
“With them having backgrounds in these areas, together it helped with my education,” she said.
Those skills and confidence came out right away when she approached Lester’s.
“When I went to my job interview, I sold myself to them when I explained what I thought I could do to help … and they hired me. I have helped to standardize a host of practices across the board at Lester’s Farm,” she said.
“There is now a workplace culture of continued improvement in a lot of areas. Continuous improvement comes from continuous learning, and this has helped them in a lot of areas. It has also helped save money.”
