MAGMA University Experience
On Friday February 1st, MAGMA offered its first ever University Experience event. One of our goals was to gather University Students from the schools with MAGMASOFT® licenses to help them see new and exciting ways to use our software. The other goal was to get them excited about manufacturing, specifically the foundry industry.
We had 17 students register for the event. In spite of the polar vortex and record setting low temperatures in the Chicagoland area, 15 of the registered students were able to make it for the event. University of Northern Iowa, Trine University, Iowa State University, Pittsburg State University, Michigan Technological University, Kent State University and University of Wisconsin-Platteville all sent students to participate.
We gathered at Gameworks the evening before the event to get to know each other, relax and have some fun. In the morning the students were introduced to some of the MAGMA staff who participated in the program. First, the more experienced employees introduced themselves and talked a little about their journey to the position they currently hold at MAGMA. Some started their journey as far away as India and Bulgaria, while others were closer in Terre Haute, IN and right here in the Chicagoland area. The students enjoyed hearing about their different life experiences, schooling, and various life circumstances which took them to where each of them are today.
After the background stories, the students broke into smaller groups to work on a hands-on project competing with each other to see who could be the best foundry engineer. They had to set risers and chills on a particular casting after debating the size and positioning of the risers, and whether chills needed to be on or off. Then it was time to go to the computer lab in the training rooms and plug their design into MAGMASOFT®.
In the labs they discussed how to set up an optimization using Autonomous Engineering. The student’s designs where essentially run alongside each other’s and compared with the best designs the software determined based on the objectives and variables that were entered in the setup process. We gathered back in the conference room to review and discuss all the results and how they compared to each other.
We ended the day with some of our younger engineers discussing their backgrounds and how they ended up at MAGMA. They then walked the students though a real-life case study they worked on. It was interesting for the students to see how the steps they took earlier in the day while working on their hands-on project, were applied in actual castings the MAGMA engineers worked on.
The day was a success and the student’s feedback was positive. We are already looking forward to next year’s event. Thank you to all the schools who let us borrow their students for the day. We enjoyed having them.
