A
productive relationship has flourished between Neoteric and Rose-Hulman in the
decades since then. Scores of Rose-Hulman students find employment, internships
and involvement in special engineering projects at Neoteric. The first World
Symposium on Hovercraft Rescue was held at Rose-Hulman as a part of World
Hovercraft Week 2002, chaired by Fitzgerald.
Last week,
20 Rose-Hulman Master’s Degree students came to Neoteric for an introduction to
hovercraft and our manufacturing process, accompanied by Dr. Diane Evans,
Professor of Engineering Management and Dr. Terry Schumacher, Associate
Professor of Engineering Management. Their department has a seminar for its
graduate students every quarter and, as Dr. Evans explains, “I decided that I’d like this seminar to be an opportunity to show
the students some companies that practice quality in the workplace. I had been
to Neoteric before during an American Society of Quality (ASQ) tour and I knew
the students would really appreciate what Chris is doing right in the middle of
Terre Haute.”
Watch a video clip of Chris Fitzgerald discussing
Neoteric’s manufacturing process …
How did the students react to the tour? According
to Dr. Evans, “They loved it. The
students couldn’t believe that this awesome facility was in Terre Haute. They
were amazed at how the hovercraft works and how much Chris knew about the whole
process. They thought he was incredible – they enjoyed listening and learning
from him. They also loved the actual demonstration of how the hovercraft works
with the smaller tube-like one.”
Dr. Evans is referring to the company’s
Hovering Billiard Ball, one of many Neoteric developed for Gallagher, the U.S.
comedian. Here, Fitzgerald uses the Hovering Billiard Ball with the ball top
removed to demonstrate hovercraft lift, daylight clearance and cushion
stability to the students …
Even the wintry weather didn’t hinder
the students’ fascination with hovercraft and Neoteric’s production processes.
Here, outside the manufacturing facility, Fitzgerald demonstrates how the
company’s skirt flagellation text rig assures Neoteric’s high-quality, durable
hovercraft skirts …
Dr. Evans was also quite pleased with
the visit. She said, “This is one of the
best tours on which I’ve taken students. There were so many aspects of the
visit that pertained to what I teach – for example, the Kanban system and the
Toyota Production System process. Chris’ dedication to continued learning and
growing is inspirational.”
These feelings are mutual. We at
Neoteric, as always, enjoyed our visit with the students, Dr. Evans and Dr. Schumacher,
and look forward to continuing our valuable relationship with Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology for years to come.
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