Engineering projects at MSU benefit sponsors, give real-world experience – Could your company benefit from their innovation?

While some of his Montana State University classmates likely were skiing or studying for final exams, Chad Lucas spent his Saturday installing a machine that he and his teammates designed for Wheat Montana’s flour-processing facility in Three Forks.

The machine, which included electronically activated suction cups, replaced a hand-operated device the company previously used to feed plastic bags into an apparatus for filling the bags with flour and sealing them for shipment to stores.

Lucas’s team met with Wheat Montana staff and toured the facility earlier this year, he said. After that, it was up to the students to come up with an improved design. "They said, ‘Let us know if you need something and when you’re ready to install it.’"

"It was nice to see it up and working," said Lucas, a senior from Michigan who is majoring in mechanical engineering.

Marshall Swearingen, MSU News Service

http://www.montana.edu/news/17326