Industry News

Machining is a team sport

Oct. 3, 2022

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will host SEC Machining Competition

In July 1933, Wiley Post took off from New York’s Floyd Bennett Field in a Lockheed 5C Vega named Winnie Mae. Just over seven days later, the Native American aviator returned, becoming the first pilot to complete a solo trip around the world. That’s quite an accomplishment for one person, but certainly he received ground assistance from others during his stops in Germany, Russia, Alaska and Canada. Still, the 50,000 people who cheered him on his landing back in New York were in awe of Post’s accomplishment.

That same year, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) was founded. Over the course of almost 90 years, the SEC has amassed a storied past of legendary teams, but this November one SEC school will earn the title as the first SEC Machining Competition champion.

Like aviation pilots, machinists are often considered to be one-person jobs. However, the operator is just one individual that helps to execute the plan. And teams from four SEC universities will meet at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Machine Tool Research Center for the 2022 Project MFG SEC Machining Competition, powered by America’s Cutting Edge (ACE).

“The competition is open only to full-time students at SEC universities and is team-based,” explained Tony Schmitz, professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; joint faculty, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); director, Southeastern Advanced Machine Tools Network (SEAMTN); director, Machine Tool Research Center; and an Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation endowed professor, TU Wien. “Each student on each team must complete the online ACE CNC machining and metrology training modules. Our objective is to raise awareness and provide a fun competition environment. We are not testing individual skills.”

The purpose of the November 18 competition is to convene SEC university teams to promote advanced manufacturing education and training, to learn more about CNC machining and to demonstrate each team’s capabilities. For the inaugural 2022 event, the SEC logo will be divided digitally into four sections and each university team will machine that section from a 12x12x2-inch 6061-T6 aluminum plate. The machined sections will then be assembled with mating features to complete the SEC logo.

“We have a scoring rubric for judging that includes cost, time and part measurements,” explained Schmitz. “My mission is to educate and train the next-generation workforce for U.S. machine tools. My workforce view is comprehensive: machinists to designers to business owners. This agenda informs both my research and education activities. The purpose of this event is to leverage the high-profile SEC university community to promote CNC machining research, education and training.”

The event is a partnership between the Department of Defense (DoD) Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program, Project MFG, ACE, the ORNL Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, SEAMTN, MSC Industrial Supply, Zeiss and the four participating Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities—Auburn University, Mississippi State University, Texas A&M University and University of Tennessee, Knoxville. To attend the 2022 Project MFG event, visit SEC Machining Competition registration.