Ashley Furniture Industries is deploying a pallet stacking machine designed by UW-Stout engineering students, with plans to build six more.
The student team created the machine for a Senior Design Experience II capstone course, and presented it last month during a showcase for faculty and representatives of the Arcadia-based furniture business. That includes Eric Kramer, a manufacturing engineer with the company and the team’s project manager.
“The UW-Stout team built a better system, a better product for us,” he said in a statement. “And with a final product price of about $25,000, their solution offers us a cost reduction of about 60%.”
Ashley Furniture had previously bought a different machine for this purpose, but Kramer and others at the company weren’t satisfied with it, according to the university’s release.
The design project, which took place over two semesters, started with a site visit at the company last spring. After the students created schematics in SolidWorks modeling software and a small-scale model, they gave an initial presentation in May. The company then bought the materials needed to create the prototype and full-scale machine.
The team was asked to build a machine that can lift and hold six-foot-long, 100-pound pallets and collect a stack of a dozen while holding them off the ground. Students also had to use electrical power for the mechanism, instead of pneumatic or hydraulic systems, to make it easier to deploy. The final product can carry 1,800 pounds, which is above the company’s requested maximum weight of 1,400 pounds. It can be operated by a single person.
Students will now submit the 10-foot-long machine and related documentation to the company to be integrated into its operations, according to the university. Kramer says the company’s automation team will use these materials to build the other stackers.
The team included: Luke Mertens, a double major in manufacturing and mechanical engineering; Zachary Morgan, a manufacturing engineering major; and Chase Rodewald and Riley Stiehl, both mechanical engineering majors.
While Mertens led controls and instrumentation, Morgan acted as the CNC machinist for the project and also handled documentation and recordkeeping. Meanwhile, Rodewald and Stiehl did the manual assembly, machining and welding needed for the project.
“We’re no different than a real engineering team,” Mertens said. “Everyone is working together, but we each have niche roles based on our strengths.”
See more on the project here.
Listen to an earlier podcast with Ron Wanek, Ashley Furniture’s founder and chairman.
