India Engineering Students Win Big at BWIR Design Ace Competition

Engineering students from southern India were challanged with BWIR(Barry Weymiller International Resources) Design Ace Competition. The exciting finals took place last week in Chennai, India and I was fortunate to be a judge. Why? because I got to see first hand the engineering design talent in India and how important skilled engineers and designers are to our SolidWorks customers.

The big surprise, BWIR offered the first 3 place winning teams not only prize money and a trophy, but also a job. What a way to start a young career!

Congratulations to the mechanical engineering students:

1st Prize:K.Sudheesh & P.J Vivek, Sree Sastha Institute of engineering and Technology,
2nd Prize:Govind Mohan & K.Kaarmuhilan, Sri Venkateswara College of engineering,
3rd Prize: Sree Ram Raj R & Sourabh Banerjee, Sri Venkateswara College of engineering,

From 165 teams in southern India, the semi finals got down to 35 and then finally 10. If this contest is representative of the mechanical engineering product design talent in southern India, then we will see more in the near future.

The contest was divided into two projects. First, the teams had to design a new product over several months, using SolidWorks they created the 3D CAD models, 2D drawings, stress analysis, kinematic studies, flow analysis, photo realistic rendering, sustainability analysis and then build a prototype. From this first round, the 35 semifinalists were selected. On Friday, the students were given project 2, BWIT engineers presented the finalist with a design challenge to work on before Saturday morning's final presentation. Simple – design a fixture for testing two links of a roller chain, frequency of 20 cycles per minute, duration 1,000,000 cycles. BWITprovided the students SolidWorks images, drawings, spec sheets – and scoring criteria.

20 Concept Development
20 Modeling Skills
20 Manufacturing Drawings
10 Simulation/FEA
10 Sustainability/Green Concepts
20 Design Calculations

From here 10 finalists were selected and they faced three judges presenting their 1st project and the 2nd project in 10 minutes. Next they spent 10 minutes answering questions by Mr. Christopher Hric, Business Development Manager for US, Barry Wehmiller International Resources , that asked question from a venture-business viewpoint, Dr. P.V. Mohanram – Head of Mechanical Engineering Department, PSG College, Coimbatore, he asked engineering and analysis questions, and me, I asked questions on the validity of the model, animation, simulation, and drawings.

All the teams were highly skilled in answer engineering analysis questions on the fly – but in some cases the demise was timing and presentation skills. I will put together some tips on what I saw – because I think all students can learn to be better presenters, especially when you only have 10 minutes to sell your idea.

I learned a great deal from this experience. P.J Vivek thanked his friend, Karuvan Sudheesh, for getting them successfully through the contest, Karuvan Sudheesh sent me the model images above; they were in my in-box before I got home. I was honored to receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers, but knew they wouldn't survive the plane ride home. I gave the flowers to Karuvan to give to his mother. You always have to thank those who help you achieve your goals. Marie

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Marie Planchard

Senior Director, Early Engagement, 3DEXPERIENCE Works at Dassault Systemes

Marie Planchard is an education and engineering advocate. As Senior Director of Education & Early Engagement, SOLIDWORKS, she is responsible for global development of content and social outreach for the 3DEXPERIENCE Works products across all levels of learning including educational institutions, Fab Labs, and entrepreneurship.