2008 Woodie Awards
Stout students partner with medical device company
Maggie Meixl
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: News
University of Wisconsin-Stout boasts numerous internship, cooperative experience and industry collaboration opportunities for its students. Healthy relationships with business professionals allow students to practice business before leaving the university.
The “hands-on, minds-on” approach of the UW-Stout manufacturing engineering program has imparted students’ skills to the industry in the past through partnerships with companies including Hormel Foods, Toro and Polaris.
Lexion Medical of St. Paul, Minn., teamed up with manufacturing engineering majors last semester to automate a manufacturing system for producing a medical device, allowing students to apply book-learned engineering skills through real world experience while in school.
The patented and FDA-approved medical device is used to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) injected into the body during an invasive operation. CO2 opens the body cavity, allowing surgeons to work but has been known to bring about a long and painful recovery. The device manufactured by Lexion carefully warms and humidifies the CO2 gas, providing patients the luxury of a quicker and less painful recovery time.
Automating the manufacturing process of the medical device increases the quality of the product by minimizing the risk of human error. UW-Stout students designed and built a prototype to manufacture the devices more effectively.
Projects of this kind are usually doled out over two semesters and two separate classes; the first is used entirely for research and design while the actual building is completed during the second. A capstone 2 engineering course made up of six students completed the assignment in a single semester
Professors Mike Lorenzen and Lin Stradins, the manufacturing engineering program directors, acted as co-managers during the venture. The students answered to them on deadlines and budget, just as they would in the industry.
Students were responsible for the job from start to finish. All designs were scrutinized and improved upon. Schedules, resources, budgets and quality assurance were undertaken nearly entirely by the classmates. The students were able to work with Lexion’s procurement office and purchasing agents, an opportunity that college students typically do not have.
“The project becomes a passion for them,” Stradins said. “By the time students graduate from UW-Stout, they will already have built something and seen firsthand the repercussions of their work”
The device the students made is a prototype. It is a proof of design that Lexion will make improvements on before putting it to work.
Two graduates who worked on the project are now employed by Lexion. Lucas Dudzik and Steve Williams went to work with the company after completing the project.
Students in the manufacturing engineering program can look forward to one of the highest average starting salaries of UW-Stout graduates. Creativity and the ability to “think outside of the box” are necessary attributes of any engineer.
“If you like solving puzzles and working with people and you take great pride in your work, then engineering is the major for you,” Stradins said.
The university-industry partnership of automating the medical device assembly gave UW-Stout students the opportunity to apply their skills in a real world setting while allowing Lexion to harness the creativity of UW-Stout students.
The “hands-on, minds-on” approach of the UW-Stout manufacturing engineering program has imparted students’ skills to the industry in the past through partnerships with companies including Hormel Foods, Toro and Polaris.
Lexion Medical of St. Paul, Minn., teamed up with manufacturing engineering majors last semester to automate a manufacturing system for producing a medical device, allowing students to apply book-learned engineering skills through real world experience while in school.
The patented and FDA-approved medical device is used to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) injected into the body during an invasive operation. CO2 opens the body cavity, allowing surgeons to work but has been known to bring about a long and painful recovery. The device manufactured by Lexion carefully warms and humidifies the CO2 gas, providing patients the luxury of a quicker and less painful recovery time.
Automating the manufacturing process of the medical device increases the quality of the product by minimizing the risk of human error. UW-Stout students designed and built a prototype to manufacture the devices more effectively.
Projects of this kind are usually doled out over two semesters and two separate classes; the first is used entirely for research and design while the actual building is completed during the second. A capstone 2 engineering course made up of six students completed the assignment in a single semester
Professors Mike Lorenzen and Lin Stradins, the manufacturing engineering program directors, acted as co-managers during the venture. The students answered to them on deadlines and budget, just as they would in the industry.
Students were responsible for the job from start to finish. All designs were scrutinized and improved upon. Schedules, resources, budgets and quality assurance were undertaken nearly entirely by the classmates. The students were able to work with Lexion’s procurement office and purchasing agents, an opportunity that college students typically do not have.
“The project becomes a passion for them,” Stradins said. “By the time students graduate from UW-Stout, they will already have built something and seen firsthand the repercussions of their work”
The device the students made is a prototype. It is a proof of design that Lexion will make improvements on before putting it to work.
Two graduates who worked on the project are now employed by Lexion. Lucas Dudzik and Steve Williams went to work with the company after completing the project.
Students in the manufacturing engineering program can look forward to one of the highest average starting salaries of UW-Stout graduates. Creativity and the ability to “think outside of the box” are necessary attributes of any engineer.
“If you like solving puzzles and working with people and you take great pride in your work, then engineering is the major for you,” Stradins said.
The university-industry partnership of automating the medical device assembly gave UW-Stout students the opportunity to apply their skills in a real world setting while allowing Lexion to harness the creativity of UW-Stout students.
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