Explore the New Manufacturing is pleased to announce that the Outstanding North Central Region Award for the Explore Manufacturing Innovation Challenge was presented to Monongalia County Technical Education Center (MTEC) for their project with FCX Systems, Inc. The team’s challenge was to develop a design for a shipping crate for their power units. Both MTEC and FCX are first-time participants.
MTEC team members include Ethan Brunet-Bailey, Kaleb Busselberg, Fructuoso Cano, Summer Johnson, Tyler Keaton, Nathaniel Lakatos, Robert Lyons, Robert Miller, and Brady Nestor.
FCX Systems, located in Morgantown, is an industry leader in providing frequency converters and diesel ground power units for customers around the world. Their products meet strict quality control standards for maximum reliability, durability, ease of operation and performance. “Being able to share with students what FCX Systems does as a small manufacturing facility producing converters that are shipped all over the world for the Department of Defense and educating the students on different areas for future career paths was very rewarding to me,” stated Christine Murphy, president of FCX Systems. “The students were very engaged and asked a lot of questions, which made it enjoyable to share our facility with them.”
“Today’s high school students will be tomorrow’s manufacturing workforce in West Virginia, said Program Director Monica Cross, who oversees the Explore the New Manufacturing Program on behalf of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association Educational Fund’s efforts to create student awareness and excitement about careers in manufacturing and the training opportunities for these positions in their local areas. “We are excited to have MTEC and FCX Systems team up for this year’s challenge. The real-world experience provides insight into a modern manufacturing environment that uses skills in technology, problem-solving, creativity, and communication that they have been developing in school.”
Explore's Manufacturing Innovation Challenge is designed to allow high school student teams to solve real-world manufacturing problems faced by West Virginia manufacturers. Each challenge is unique and can come from a variety of aspects within the company's operations. Students learn how problem-solving skills are a critical element to job performance. The challenge concludes with a formal team presentation, after which students and manufacturers discuss the feasibility of implementing the solution. The experience illustrates how teamwork, adaptability, and communication skills are used to implement the industry's solutions.
