SkillsUSA awards automated manufacturing student winners
KANSAS CITY, MO June 25 The winners of the annual SkillsUSA Championships in AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY were announced Friday evening, June 25, at the Awards Ceremony of the National Leadership and Skills Conference. The Conference was held June 21 - June 25, 2010 at the Municipal Auditorium, the Kemper Arena, H. Roe Bartle Hall, the downtown Marriott and the downtown Crown Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. Over 5,600 outstanding career and technical education students joined in the excitement of hands on competition in ninety-six different trade, technical, and leadership fields.

Working against the clock and each other, the participants proved their expertise in job skills for occupations such as electronics, technical drafting, precision machining, medical assisting and culinary arts. There were also competitions in leadership skills, such as extemporaneous speaking and conducting meetings by parliamentary procedures.

SkillsUSA is the national organization for students in trade, industrial, technical and health occupations education. It sponsors the SkillsUSA Championships annually to recognize the achievements of career and technical education students and to encourage them to strive for excellence and pride in their chosen occupations.

The contests are planned by technical committees made up of representatives of labor and management and are designed to test the skills needed for a successful entry level performance in given occupational fields. Safety practices and procedures - an area of great concern to labor and management alike - are judged and graded and constitute a portion of a contestant’s score.

The Automated Manufacturing Technology contest evaluates teams for employment in integrated manufacturing technology fields of computer aided drafting/design (CAD), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), and computer numerical controlled machining (CNC). CAD operators construct the part geometry; the CAM operator generates the tool paths; and the CNC operator sets up and machines the part. Plotting is not a scored event, however, the contestants must be able to generate a plot file that will beused to send their data to the plotter.

The national technical committee for automated manufacturing technology includes Chair Rob Clarke, intelitek, Inc. (N.H.); Terry Graham, DEPCO, LLC (Kan.); Dave Holloman, DEPCO, LLC (Kan.); Stephanie Holmquist, Holmquist Educational Consultants (Fla.); Terry Johnson, Holmquist Educational Consultants (Fla.); Rick Knisely, AZTECH Educational Resources (Ariz.); Dick McManus, AZTECH Educational Resources (Ariz.); Angela Miner, intelitek, Inc. (N.H.); Jess Mooney, Honeywell, Inc. – FM&T (Mo.); Dan Newby, Mastercam/CNC Software, Inc. (Wash.); Mike Ogilvy, intelitek, Inc. (N.H.); Brenda Quinn, intelitek, Inc. (N.H.); Ben Richardson, Learning Labs, Inc. (Ga.); Matt Selter, Honeywell, Inc. – FM&T (Mo.); Rob Smith, DEPCO, LLC (Ohio); Dustin Spieth, CNC Software (Kan.); and, Jeff Stone, intelitek, Inc. (N.H.)

A national education team assists the national technical committee. Members include Chair Don Block, Rolla Technical Institute (Mo.); Samuel Dolson, Manteca High School (Calif.); Jeffrey Fischer, South Central Technical College (Minn.); Rick Huddleston, Tulsa Technology Center (Okla.); Jonathan Morgan, South Central College (Minn.); and, George Skena, Norfolk Technical Center (Va.).

Other supporting organizations include Autodesk Inc.; CNC Software; DEPCO LLC; Holmquist Educational Consultants; Honeywell, Inc. – FM&T; intelitek Inc.; IRWIN; Industrial Tool Co.; Kobalt Tools; Kubotek USA; Learning Labs, Inc.; MasterCam; MSC Industrial Supply; River Valley Technical Center; Rubbermaid Home Products; Sanford; and, SolidWorks.

Source: SkillsUSA

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