Explore the New Manufacturing is pleased to announce the Outstanding Northern Region Award for the Explore Manufacturing Innovation Challenge was presented to Brooke High School for their project with Marsh Bellofram Corporation. The company challenged the students to improve the testing method for one of their fastest-moving liquid level controllers.
Next up for the team is the state competition, where they will represent the Northern Region to see who will be named the Manufacturing Innovation Challenge 2023 State Champion. Brooke High School will be competing against three other regional champions. The winner will be announced on May 10th as part of Explore the New Manufacturing's Virtual State Awards Ceremony.
Participating Brooke students: Julia Anderson, Will Cruny, Jeg Hilt, William Kreider, Steven Miller, Sam Mockbee, Christian Packer, and Nick Sagan. Students were able to draw support from the Marsh Bellofram team including engineers, process improvement personnel, and management to help reach their goal.
The Marsh Bellofram team was represented by Tyler Katich (Continuous Improvement Manager), Tabitha Adkins (Mechanical Engineering Manager), Dan Williams (VP of Marketing and Information Services/Technology), Sam Tate (Senior Marketing Specialist), and Noah Flowers (Marketing Specialist).
“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 Brooke High School and Marsh Bellofram 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 of 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.
