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PneuDrive Challenge Sponsors

After a very successful competition in 2008 and 2009, sponsors SEW Eurodrive and Festo once again committed to sponsor the PneuDrive Challenge engineering student competition.Very creative ideas were submitted in 2008, In fact the winner designed an automated dart throwing robot! However, feedback from the majority of the institutions was that it took too long to come up with a concept. For 2009  the sponsors took a different approach and asked students to design within certain limits.

SEW Eurodrive

“In 2008 we gave students carte blanche to design whatever they wanted. The only restriction was in the products they had to use, which was limited to certain SEW Eurodrive and Festo products. The 2009 competition placed emphasis on energy efficiency with teams having to include an energy calculation as part of the project. I think this is going to be standard procedure in light of the limited energy resources we are facing not just in South Africa, but in fact, all over the world”.

Ute Bormann (GM Sales & Marketing SEW Eurodrive)

      

Festo

“As sponsors of the competition, SEW Eurodrive and Festo recognise the importance in partnering with higher education institutions to help address the enormous pressures they are under to prepare engineering students for the labour market. We hope that projects like these contribute to developing highly-skilled and creative engineers for future achievements in technology.”

Brian Abbot (Product Manager - Mechanical - Festo)

pneudrive@sew.co.za

www.sew.co.za

  

pneu_drive@festo.com

www.festo.co.za

Judges - 2011 PneuDrive Challenge

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Giving students a platform to be able to explore how to bring theory and the realities of industry together is becoming increasingly relevant in these economic times. The designs that were submitted for the "Food and Beverage" theme this year prove that South African students can indeed make significant contributions to "how business is done" in South Africa.

Tobias Nittel -  SEW Eurodrive - Technology Field Manager Food and Beverage
Stefan Molenaar – HG Molenaar – Managing Director
Chris Oliver -  Festo Didactic - Sales and Development Engineer
Jacques du Sautoy – Nestle – Automation Specialist
Andreas Keller – Festo Sales Manager Europe West - North

Judges - 2010 PneuDrive Challenge

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"The PneuDrive Challenge offers a valuable bridge between the theory and practice of mechanical engineering and makes good business sense for industry to be involved in the education process. Challenges of this kind can establish a useful platform for industry to influence the education of future engineering resources” - SAIMechE CEO – Vaughan Rimbault.

The PneuDrive Challenge Judges for 2010:

* Chris Oliver - Didactic Consultant - Festo
* Dale Oosthuizen - Technical Director - Abtech Enterprises
* Ken Nixon - SAIEE representative and Senior Lecturer (BSc(Eng)(Electrical), MSc, PhD (Wits), SMSAIEE, MIEEE)
* Norman Maleka - Electronics Manager - SEW Eurodrive
* Antonie le Roux - Bateman (Project Engineer / PR Eng B.Mech)

Judges - 2009 PneuDrive Challenge

Ute Bormann, the GM of Sales and Marketing for SEW Eurodrive, felt that the PneuDrive Challenge did in fact bring to light some of the engineering talent that is currently moving through our tertiary education system. The aim of the competition was to show innovation in mechatronic engineering using the SEW Eurodrive and Festo products and the judges certainly felt that this was achieved.

The PneuDrive Challenge Judges for 2009:

Chris Oliver (Festo Didactic - Sales and Development Engineer)
Dale Oosthuizen (Abtech - Technical Director)
Andre Badenhorst (SAR Electronics SA - Project Manager)
Paul Strzalkowski (SEW Eurodrive - Electronics Product Manager)
Richard Spath (Bateman - Project Manager)

“It is our aim to expose our young engineers to business practices by including judges who are currently active in business. We often hear that students find the difference between university classrooms and the corporate world as daunting. So part of the thinking is that we have someone who is active in high-level business to judge the designs, and in doing so they are able to give the students valuable feedback which will assist them in their future career” - Adrian Buddingh, Engineering Manager FESTO and member of the PneuDrive team.
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