Four students who recently graduated from Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and a faculty member were recently featured in FF Journal, a national trade publication focused in the fabricator industry. The article was the cover story with extensive interviews throughout the story.

These four students comprised a team that achieved second place in the national 2023 manufacturing competition hosted by Project MFG. Quinn Baughman, Ryan O’Donnell, Matt Mykut, and Nate Robbins, all second-year students during the competition in the spring of 2023, competed with dozens of teams from across the country to make it to the final, four-team national competition.

Each level of the annual tournament involves real-world scenarios, challenging the team to demonstrate critical skills needed to succeed in modern advanced manufacturing. Quinn, Ryan, and Nate majored in Computer Integrated Machining, while Matt majored in Metals Fabrication and Welding. During the national competition, known as ‘Clash of the Trades,’ each team was tasked with creating parts for a hip replacement based on actual medical equipment. Teams used CNC mills and lathes to fabricate a medical sterilization device called an autoclave. They were scored on programming, machining, welding, assembly, and testing.

The experience was captured as a video competition TV show, which you can watch here: https://tinyurl.com/clashofthetrades. You can read that article in FF Journal here: https://tinyurl.com/CoverFFJournal