Rich Township, IL-(ENEWSPF)- Students from Rich Township High School recently competed in the PACK Challenge which occurred at McCormick Place in Chicago from October 24 to October 26. The competition included six Chicago area schools tasked with designing a machine that would fill containers with a product in a mock production line.
In July, Rich Township received pre-crated kits that contain components necessary to build the machine. The students designed, built, and programmed a filling machine that would fill small and large bottles with marbles in an average of 8 seconds a bottle.
The PACK Challenge is a real-world, end-to-end competition, at PACK EXPO International that requires collaboration, creativity, conception, processing, designing, building, programming, debugging, marketing, as well as field installation knowledge.
At the onsite competition, students were required to build their filling machines and conduct multiple presentations as part of the competition. Teams were judged in a variety of areas, including design, operator training, changeover, and sales/marketing.
At the conclusion of the event, Rich Township High School won third place for Best in Show and second place for Filling Performance.
While at the Expo, students also met companies and colleges that want to bring them on as interns as well as attend their universities.
“Mrs. Freelain (RTHS Tech and Engineering teacher) and I are very proud of the work they have done and look forward to participating in this event in the future,” said Mike Wilson, RTHS technology and engineering teacher and Manufacturing, Robotics, and Engineering (MER) sponsor.
This article was provided by Rich Township High School District 227.
