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‘Beyond manufacturing’: Engineering students take third in IIE Technical Paper Competition

March 15, 2013

NIU Institute of Industrial Engineers logoIn early March, Northern Illinois University’s Institute of Industrial Engineering chapter attended the regional conference in Iowa City, Iowa.

Chapter members submitted and presented two papers in the technical paper competition: one by Donato Miroballi, the chapter president, and one by senior industrial and systems engineering (ISYE) majors Adrienne Decker and Anthony Zozzaro.

The paper by Decker and Zozzaro earned third place in the competition. These students received a small monetary award and were recognized at the banquet that concluded the conference.

Their award-winning paper was “Taking the Methodology Beyond Manufacturing: Applying the DMAIC Process to Improve the Marketability of Graduation Sashes.”

Front row, from left: professor Richard L. Marcellus, Chad Bushue, Anthony Zozzaro, Adrienne Decker, Donato Miroballi and Bill Grennan. Back row, from leftt: Chris Lloyd and Jake Meyer.

Front row, from left: professor Richard L. Marcellus, Chad Bushue, Anthony Zozzaro, Adrienne Decker, Donato Miroballi and Bill Grennan. Back row, from leftt: Chris Lloyd and Jake Meyer.

Written in collaboration with the Study Abroad Office, the paper documents the examination and improvement of the functionality of the NIU Study Abroad Office in an attempt to increase graduation sash sales at the conclusion of the current academic year.

The paper was based on an industrial engineering project in a Six Sigma course the two authors were enrolled in last fall. The Study Abroad Office has already implemented some of the improvements suggested by the project. These include better data storage and collection processes.

Members of the chapter are actively spreading awareness of NIU’s ISYE program in the hopes that their continuing support, along with backing from the department, will prove conducive to the expansion of the organization and boost their attempt to leave a mark at NIU.