Everett, Washington — A team from Northwest Iowa Community College has been chosen the national winner of the Fluke Connect™ Student Contest.
Last fall, students Tory Schmidt, Joel Groeneweg, and Eric Berneir, and advisor Mark Bohnet designed a project to increase the efficiency of troubleshooting in ethanol production.
Bohnet tells us how it all got started.
He tells us how they chose the ethanol industry.
Since they could not perform measurement in an actual ethanol plant, the team simulated the process control system of a diverter gate and distillation column used in grain handling during ethanol production. Their project demonstrated a significant improvement in troubleshooting and preventive maintenance as a result of capturing and sharing measurement data using the Fluke Connect system.
He says the contest tested the skills, innovation, and business application of the team.
The winners of the Fluke Connect Student Contest were determined by which team made the biggest impact using the Fluke Connect system, with 75 percent of the decision based on the evaluation by the panel of six industry judges and 25 percent on the public vote on the Student Contest website.
The Northwest Iowa Community College team and Bohnet receive a paid trip to Fluke headquarters in north Seattle in May to spend a day meeting with Fluke executive and engineering leadership, tour Fluke engineering and manufacturing, and see the Boeing manufacturing facility and Future of Flight Aviation Center next door. The school’s department receives $1,000 worth of Fluke tools, and the Fluke Connect tools used in the contest submission, worth approximately $2,500.
