B&R hosts Rutgers University winners of PACK Solutions Challenge

As a sponsor of the 2013 PACK Solutions Challenge, B&R Industrial Automation invited the winners to its North American headquarters in Atlanta, GA in late November. The contest winners are a team of four young Packaging Engineering Program students from Rutgers University – Miles Borgeson, Diane Jones, Marie Misterio, and Diana Cristina Mayorga. The students competed against five other PMMI partner universities in the PACK Solutions Challenge to recommend a packaging solution that provided an upgraded clean, accurate, drip-free filling system for mouthwash packaging that can handle the rigorous changeover demands of a private-label environment.

Marc Ostertag, President of B&R Industrial Automation, explains “B&R sponsored the PACK Solutions Challenge because we see a skills gap in packaging as the rapid-fire expansion of automation and information technology capabilities creates a steep learning curve for engineers and technicians. The packaging community faces an education imperative, and we all need to step up to the plate.  This is about investing in the future of packaging innovation.”  To further support this effort to foster a more skilled workforce in the packaging community, B&R flew the Rutgers students and their professor, Professor Wong Jon Rhee to Atlanta to have face-to-face discussions on the important role of industrial automation in packaging and to share ideas on considerations for integrating the needs of end users, and machine builders into the design process.

“This is a great vehicle to introduce bright young minds early on to the Packaging Industry, as well as machine builders and users to the talent pool,” says Marc Ostertag, president of B&R Industrial Automation. During the visit, B&R also introduced the students to its unique engineering camp program, a comprehensive training program that provides new team members with 19 weeks of theoretical training and developing practical application projects. Live demos for applications in packaging controlled by B&R’s automation technology were presented and evaluated to facilitate further discussions. Student Diane Jones remarked "spending time with the B&R team really helped us to see the importance of automation and its widespread applications across many different industries.  We really enjoyed the hospitality, warm atmosphere and the knowledge we gained in the time we were there."

>>For more information on the packaging engineering program, please visit http://soe.rutgers.edu/oaa/packaging.