University Engineering students are hoping to learn more about their disciplines by cutting costs at manufacturing firms as auditors in the University's Industrial Assessment Center.
Students involved in IAC travel to manufacturing firms located throughout southeastern Michigan and northern Ohio to conduct one-day, on-site inspections to ensure that industrial equipment is being used efficiently.
At the end of the inspections, students give initial recommendations to the plant managers, which are followed by 40- to 50-page detailed reports eight weeks later.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the IAC has performed more than 75 audits of regional automotive plastics, food processing, printing and chemical firms since it started at the University four years ago.
Thirty other universities participate in the program nationwide; the University center is the only program of its kind in Michigan.
"The objective of the project is to help small- and medium-sized companies, which don't have in-house expertise, to reduce energy consumption and pollution production," said mechanical engineering Prof. Arvid Atrea, director of the center.
Atrea emphasized the importance of students getting practical experience in the business world to complement their academic education.
"It's quite exciting to come up with ideas on how to save money and then realize it," he said. "In the long run, the students get educated in this area - they get practical experience so when they go out to work, they are conscious of these aspects. It's a big multiplier."
The undergraduates, who receive hourly wages for their involvement in the program, are supervised by faculty during the inspections, but Sridhar Kaza, chemical engineering senior, said he was given more independence than he expected.
"As an undergraduate engineer with IAC, I was given a great deal more responsibility than I had thought," he said. "It is very interesting to visit the local plants. I see the many problems that these plants encounter and usually don't notice."
David Reid, chemical engineering senior, agreed and said the program is an excellent opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to real-world technical problems.
"You get a chance to use the things you learn in class. It gives you valuable real-world experience," he said. "You have a lot of freedom to work as long as you can come up with ideas and use calculations to prove them."
Atrea said the demand for the inspections stems from a lack of experienced technicians employed at small firms that receive orders from large firms that choose to outsource their production.
"Jobs in little companies are going up because that is the most efficient way of operating for larger firms, but the problem is that the little companies don't have the expertise the big companies do," he said.
Atrea said one explanation for the recent concurrence of low unemployment levels and large corporate layoffs is that many of the workers are actually transferred from larger to smaller firms.
"Unemployment is going down, but big companies are laying people off," he said. "This is because big companies don't want to do little jobs and they farm them out to little companies."
Mechanical engineering Prof. Michael Chen, IAC co-director, said the DOE fixes the number of IAC inspections at 30 per year, and that while most of the businesses the group audits are sought by the IAC, certain firms that have heard of the IAC will request to be audited.
"At the beginning of the year we write letters to companies who fit the profiles," he said. "Generally, we solicit them or they find out about us and ask to be audited."
According to DOE statistics, the IAC program saves individual firms between $40,000 and $50,000 each per year. Typical sources of inefficiency are poor usage of compressed-air powered equipment, faulty calibration of furnaces, using chemical solvents to wash parts when water could be used and allowing excess heat from furnaces to escape without being utilized.
Chen said the savings gained from the IAC inspections are especially significant in today's cost-cutting business climate.
"It's gotten very competitive," he said. "Right now, $40,000 to $50,000 comes into the balance sheet."
But Chen added that because many firms are so busy, they don't have the time to seek inspection or consulting services and implement the group's recommendations.
"Business is booming," he said. "They're (the regional small and medium-sized businesses) so busy that they can't afford to spend time with us - they can't even afford to save money."
Atrea said positions in the IAC are open to all Engineering students, but preference is given to those with good grades and strong communication skills.