On the Job and in the Classroom

This engineering student is putting his skills to work.

As someone who is going to college full-time to become an electrical engineer and working full-time as an engineering technician, Chris Henning has to be creative and skilled at finding efficiencies.

At Hudson Technologies, a JSJ business, Chris puts those skills to work every day, gaining on-the-job experience while earning a Bachelor’s of Science from Daytona State College. One of his current projects is designing and customizing a robot that when installed will convert a manual manufacturing operation into an automated one.

The operation involves a finish process called polishing. Although surface marks are normal to deep drawn metal forming they do not affect the fit or function of a metal enclosure. Polishing removes these marks when a cosmetic finish is required. During polishing, an operator holds a part against a brush to create a smooth and shiny surface. It can be dusty work, and it takes an experienced operator to be able to achieve highly consistent results.

Working with the Hudson Technologies engineering team, Chris came up with a design to integrate the Ur-5 robot into the process. Using customized gripper fingers Chris designed, the robot can pick up deep drawn metal enclosures from one container, complete the work, and place the finished enclosures into another container.

Chris is taking the robot on the road to the 8th Annual Manufacturers Showcase to be held Oct. 2 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL.

This event, organized by VMA, the area’s manufacturing alliance, includes product and service displays by local manufacturers, job placement center, representatives from area colleges and the high school manufacturing academies, CNC art competition, and a robotics competition for area high school students.

Hudson Technologies is one of the event sponsors and also provides mentors to students who attend the manufacturing academy at Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach.

Chris will be on hand in the Hudson Technologies booth to talk to students and their parents about the types of jobs available in manufacturing today and to show them the kind of work he is doing, while he’s learning.

The robot also has a job at the Manufacturers Showcase – handing out promotional items to students who visit the booth!