From May 28 to May 30, Moscow hosted the final of the International Engineering Championship “CASE-IN”, in which our team “660 C”, consisting of students of the Institute of Engineering and Technology became the winner of the student league in field of metallurgy.
More than 300 students from Donetsk to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, as well as 150 representatives from CIS countries took part in the final defense of the projects of the winners of the qualifying and semi-final stages. The theme of the final was the direction of “Lean production”.
The team of the SUSU Institute of Engineering and Technology included students of the department “Processes and machines of metalworking by pressure” Danil Yusupov, Daler Filchenko and Egor Alekseev and student of the sphere “Materials Science and Physical Chemistry of materials” Ekaterina Belyaeva.
“The team was solving a rather serious task from “OK RUSAL”, divided into several stages. The wording of the task was unusual in that, on the one hand, it required thoughtfulness and attentiveness in relation to electrolysis of aluminum; on the other hand, representatives of the enterprise formulated a requirement to offer development options using a very popular direction, the concept of lean manufacturing. The team conventionally performed well. We have been reaching the finals of technological strategy championships for several years, and our University is considered the forge of “engineers in materials technology” - one of the best in training students within the framework of this direction. Innovative approaches to learning are used at the university contribute to such high result. This includes a digital department, and various extracurricular activities such as an accelerator, hackathons, work in fablab and a “Boiling Point”. Our best learners working in this inner kitchen, solving different tasks, show themselves well and then, getting engineering positions at advanced production facilities in the region and the country. And the result we showed last week is very cool,” said Oleg Siverin, the team’s mentor, senior lecturer at the Department of Processes and Machines at OMD.
“The final mission was to find places at the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant where it is possible to modernize or integrate technologies that can increase the efficiency of the enterprise using lean production tools. Based on the visualization of the process, it was decided to use the “Poka-Yoke” – a mechanism preventing errors. Experts appreciated our project, noting the forte of an integrated approach: the choice of equipment, the proposal for import substitution of components, the possibility of manufacturing special thermal protection casing directly at the enterprise, as well as full calculation of the economics of the proposed solutions,” says Danil Yusupov, a student of the Department of OMD.
“The main difficulty in making decisions was the requirement for an integrated approach to the implementation of tools with a step-by-step procedure for their implementation at5 enterprises. To enter the top three in the championship, in my opinion, it turned out thanks to a high-quality study of analysis of hypotheses, solutions, risk assessment and economics. For me, participation in such championships helps to develop teamwork skills, allows you to acquire useful contacts and acquaintances, as well as gives you an idea of enterprises; learn their structure, what processes they have produce, and so on. I would also like to thank the teachers of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (departments of MFPaM, PaMFT, MSaPCM) and the Higher School of Economics and Management for providing direct or indirect support in solving cases,” said SUSU student and team captain Egor Alekseev, studying in the sphere of Technological Machines and Equipment.
It is interesting to notice that the composition of the Institute of Engineering and Technology team for the championship was formed consciously: the students used not only the knowledge gained during lectures at the university, but also the so-called soft skills – “flexible” skills necessary for any engineer and acquired during their studies at SUSU. Danil Yusupov, who is studying in the profile “Pressure processing of materials” in addition to technology research, has become an excellent automation specialist, Ekaterina Belyaeva is not only a first-class materials scientist, but also an analyst, Daler Filchenko, who is studying in the direction of “Technological machines and equipment”, is great in industrial design. And Egor Alekseev, has experience not only in engineering of technological equipment, but can also calculate the economic result of any innovative technical implementation. Thanks to this method, it became possible to raise the flag of South Ural State University high at the final award ceremony in Moscow.