Global technology group Siemens is supporting engineering students in skills development and technological innovation through its 2014 Cyber Junkyard competition, at which the College of Cape Town took the top award.
Siemens corporate communications manager Keshin Govender said that the competition stimulated the practical application of engineering theory, as students had an opportunity to competitively apply and develop the skills they had been taught in a real-world setting.
“The future of the manufacturing and process industry will depend on these individuals and their ability to use cutting-edge automation, simulation and control technology to engineer the right solutions for the future,” he stated.
Participants could choose their own projects under the theme Innovation: The Future of Manufacturing, which allowed participants to think of a solution to an industry problem or create new business opportunities.
Siemens industry sector CEO Raymond Padayachee said this year’s business element in the competition was in line with the tertiary sector’s emphasis on producing graduates who not only had the knowledge and skills for their specific engineering discipline but could also operate as business owners, entrepreneurs and experts in the working environment.
The College of Cape Town won first prize at the awards, which were held last month in Johannesburg.
The team manufactured an automated coffee bean roaster, which has already secured commercial attention.
The RGB52 full-bed roaster is fitted with Siemens human-machine interface colour touch panels to monitor the process, as well as a Siemens S71200 programmable logic controller with proportional-integral-derivative controls.
The College of Cape Town received R100 000 in Siemens products and the students won R14 000 in Siemens training, as well as GoPro Hero 3 Silver Edition cameras.
Second place went to Durban University of Technology (DUT) for its fully automated cocktail machine.
DUT received R50 000 in Siemens products and the students received R12 000 in training, as well as a Pebble smart watch.
Third place went to the Central University of Technology (CUT), of Bloemfontein, for its semiautonomous toolbox, which follows a worker around the factory floor and plays instructive | videos for the installation of parts, analyses faults and troubleshoots problems.
CUT received R25 000 and the students received R7 000 in training, as well as a Polaroid Induction speaker for each team member.
Judges assessed problem-solving skills, marketability, adaptation of the projects to the given theme, efficiency, form and function.
The competition also aimed to foster an ongoing developmental relationship between industry and education and to address the skills shortage in Southern Africa.
The National Scarce Skills list, published by the Department of Higher Education and Training earlier this year, ranked electrical, civil and mechanical engineering as the top three skills shortage areas in South Africa.
“The competition provided an exciting, modern and real-world platform for the development of young, technically skilled people and the empowerment of the engineering faculties of education institutions,” Govender said.