Burroughs headed for Germany as part of Purdue team

The Purdue team for the xplore New Automation Award 2012 includes, from left to right, Derek Andrews, Jason Wintz, Aaron Burns, David Burroughs, Mike Harrington, George Hinote and Ryan Streu. All are seniors studying manufacturing engineering. (Purdue University photo/Andrew Hancock)

By Rusty Nixon
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs

PLYMOUTH - Plymouth grad David Burroughs will be taking a "spring break" trip Monday to Germany but it won't be for relaxation.

The Purdue engineering senior is part of a team of students from the University that will be competing against five top teams from around the world for the Xplore New Automation Award. The contest is one of the most prestigious in the world and previously has been limited to teams from just Europe. This year the competition went international and Purdue's team rose to the top of hundreds from around the world competing in the "Factory Automation" category.

"This year my major (manufacturing engineering) will graduate 12 seniors. We're a pretty small tight knit group," said Burroughs. "In the past the competition has been limited to European teams, but a Purdue grad went to work for (Phoenix Contact, a leading manufacturer of electric connection and industrial automation technology) and when it came open to teams from all over the world he contacted the school to say we should get involved. We got a team together and we were able to get to the finals."

International teams were allowed to submit ideas for innovative automation - using Phoenix Contact products - in six categories. Burroughs and his team are specialists in engineering in an industrial setting. Their entry is in the "Factory" category.

"We look at approaching automation on the assembly line," he said. "A lot of that work is still manual work - putting small parts together and that sort of thing."

Burroughs team put together an idea that would meet the criteria of the competition and allow Purdue to generate excitement for the course of study.

"Our professors encouraged us to do something that would generate excitement about our program," he said. "We wanted to create something we could have in our laboratory to show prospective students. We've got 'Purdue Pete' and his hammer making all those boilers so we designed a machine that could make that hammer in several different versions."

Not only create it, but literally create it from almost anywhere.

"The machine is designed to be a highlight at something like a trade show and we incorporated as many Phoenix Products as we could," said Burroughs. "We have a touch panel that people can choose their options and we've incorporated wireless technology so that someone can place an order from anywhere on their iPad and the machine will make it for them."

All the teams were given $4,000-$5,000 in Phoenix Contact automation equipment to help implement and execute their designs. The Purdue team earned a trip to Bad Pyrmont, Germany to present their final project to the panel of judges on March 23.  The other four teams competing are from India, Slovakia, Belgium, Sweden, and Germany.

After the presentations the judges will announce a single winner in each category.  These winners will be invited back to Germany to be recognized and present their projects at the Hannover Messe technology and automation trade show in Hannover, Germany on April 23rd.

"We liked the creativity of the ideas a couple of the teams had but we really focused our project on execution of the task," said Burroughs. "It all kind of depends on what the judges are looking for. If its a really creative idea or the execution of that idea. We feel we have a really good chance to win."

The bad news is that Burroughs will have to take some vacation time from work to be involved. David is currently commuting between Purdue and Plymouth as he works for ITAMCO while finishing his degree.

"It has taken some pretty severe time management skills," said Burroughs of his wild final semester. "ITAMCO is a really great company and a great opportunity for somebody in my field."

ITAMCO has been very supportive, not surprisingly realizing the opportunity for their company.

"I'm really taking away some skills that I will be able to use," said Burroughs. "Something that I think sometimes get's lost is making a machine easy for the operator. We can incorporate all the latest and greatest technology but if it's too complicated or difficult for the operator to use easily it's no good. We don't want to just make a great machine, we want to make one that's easy to use."

You can see David explain the team's project on YouTube at http://youtu.be/IOoTg-tQJBk