Through Harry Wildblood, Manufactuers Sponsor Engineering Student Projects, Streamline Operations, Save Dollars

Manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to streamline their operations to save money; however, small to medium-sized businesses often don’t have the resources to come up with solutions on their own. Through the years, many of those businesses in and around Illinois have solved those problems through the consultation and innovation of University of Illinois engineering students.

Harry Wildblood is the coordinator of senior projects for the General Engineering 494/495 capstone course. Wildblood, who has been advising projects for 27 years, matches businesses with teams of 3-4 students, who spend the semester analyzing the need and coming up with a solution. Those solutions might include creating a new product design, or making an existing product faster, better, cheaper.  Over time, the U of I students have helped save companies millions of dollars.

“Our goal is to cater to the needs of industry and our students,” Wildblood explained. “Every industry realizes that often the savings are not in what they make, but in the cost of how they make it. The rest of the world is focusing on Lean, which has become a big focus in our engineering project program.”

“Being a midsized manufacturing company, we don’t have the assets and our engineering department is small,” noted Jim Krejci, Vice President of Operations for Lovejoy, Inc., a global leader in couplings, power transmissions, hydraulic components and rubber suspension technology. “Having the opportunity to get willing workers is very positive.”

Count Krejci among the many repeat customers. He has partnered with Illinois engineering students for about 20 projects in the last six years, which has saved Lovejoy in the neighborhood of $50,000 per year per improvement or about $1 million dollars per year overall. This semester a student team has been assigned to help design the layout and flow of a new manufacturing building that Lovejoy has purchased.

The program is a true partnership. Businesses fund and support the senior projects while the students in turn provide ways for the companies to improve their designs, processes, and profitability. Some of the solutions are technology intensive. Some of them are common-sense intensive.

Wildblood is meticulous in finding projects, which can be beneficial to both students and businesses. He personally visits each company so he can understand nature of the problem and determine if it is a good fit for a student project.  He takes a business proposal and turns into a 17-week plan. Of the 20 or so projects each semester, Wildblood personally advises one or two, assigning the rest to other faculty.

“If we take on the project, I want to make sure it’s doable and has the potential for a great success,” Wildblood said. “I also want to make sure the projects are typical of what an entry-level engineer would do in his or her first 3-5 years out of school.  One of the requirements is that students do an economic analysis. Virtually every company is looking for a two-year payback.”

Illinois students are working with 19 companies this semester. These range from Aurora Specialty Textiles in Aurora, Ill., where students will increase the speed of a textile processing line, to Excell Kaiser in Franklin Park, Ill., where students will work on making a powder paint line more efficient, to Stevens Industries in Teutopolis, Ill., where students are helping to improve quality and decrease down time on the company’s $12 million lamination machine.

Students communicate with the company on a weekly basis and receive four feedback evaluations from company management during the project.  Students are encouraged to meet with company tool room personnel to work out details for later prototype production as their designs come to life.

“I try to make this experience for the students similar to consulting with a focus on analysis followed by results,” Wildblood explained. “In industry, which is where 85 percent of our graduates are headed, they work in teams and communicate with management, customers and vendors. I want to make sure my students are not working in a vacuum. It helps them stay focused.”

Illinois student projects have been recognized annually by the Lincoln Electric Foundation Engineering Design Competition, sometimes winning over 50% of all awards in given in a year.

The projects have even won when they didn’t know they were competing. Whirlpool tasked the students to design a residential washing machine that would reduce water consumption by 75 percent. The project was done in two semesters by two consecutive teams.  After the final solution was delivered, Whirlpool gave notification that this was actually a competition among five teams, including two from Michigan State and two from University of Michigan.  The Illinois solution won. 

Of course, the businesses have also considered themselves winners over the years. Some examples have included Kraft, Inc., where students reduced down time on an in-line batch process by 80 percent, saving the company $158,000 per year. For ThyssenKrupp Gerlach, makers of automotive crankshafts, students developed a removable top and bottom bolster plate as an alternative to replacing 50-60 pieces during a press changeover, saving the company about $500,000 per year.

“It’s not always rocket science,” Wildblood said. “Sometimes it’s a matter of just having a fresh set of eyes and some time to troubleshoot.”

Illinois students often end up with job offers at the end of the process. Lovejoy has hired five under Krejci’s watch, for example.

“For us, it’s been excellent,” Krejci said. “The students are committed to what they’re doing. They know what’s expected and have a structure of what needs to get done. We can get tied up with what’s going on every day around here, but the students kind of bring you back. We’re committed to providing them with something on a very rigid schedule, which means we probably get projects done that we wouldn’t if we were left to our own devices.”

Businesses interested in participating in the program in future semesters should contact Wildblood at 217/265-5359 or wildblod@illinois.edu

Harry Wildblood has always had passion for solving problems, although he took a roundabout route to move into the field of engineering. A native of Pennsylvania, Wildblood graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in biology, did graduate work in neurophysiology at the University of Wisconsin and spent four years in the Army.

 “While I was in there, I realized that I had always really been an engineer,” Wildblood said of his military service. “I was always interested in solving problems. I was tutoring people in physics and math. I realized when I got out, I wanted to go into engineering.“

Wildblood preceded current students in the program, graduating with a general engineering degree from Illinois, completing his senior project with R.R. Donnelly. His team helped R.R. Donnelly measure the proper coating thickness for their book covers so that they wouldn’t scratch during shipment.

Wildblood’s team solved it with a technique called spectrofluorometry, which measures the amount of fluorescence that is coming off a material. Donnelley’s coating material incorporated a fluorescent optical brightener, and the team discovered that the thicker the coating, the more fluorescence.

“Creative problem solving is thrilling for me,” Wildblood said. “We aren’t look for pre-formulated, pre-digested problems.  We go into this just knowing they have a problem. It is our job to then analyze, formulate, and solve... profitably.”

Donnelly was so happy with Wildblood’s work that they put him through grad school where he designed a coating thickness measurement tester for the printing operation. Later, Wildblood worked as consultant to industry, a VP of a Chicago manufacturing company, and ran his own computer networking, training and consulting company for four years, all while continuing to the advise general engineering capstone projects at Illinois.

As far as his current role, Wildblood said, “I feel like I stand on the shoulders of giants because this program has always been well managed and has done successful projects with industry.”

Wildblood points to pioneers like Rolland Ruhl, the first from the department to contact industry directly, and to Rodney Hugelman and others for paving the way.

When the senior project coordinator position was vacant, Wildblood was asked to fill the role and jumped at the opportunity.

“This is a wonderful synergy of the University and the real world. We need each other for continued success. We look forward to many more years of successful projects, successful graduates, and satisfied industry partners in our engineering project program.”

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If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Mike Koon, writer/editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-1256.