Winners have been selected from the University's first virtual Industry 4.0 competition for secondary schools run by a team focused on promoting Waterloo’s management engineering program.
Team Conveyor Belt from Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough placed first, team Avo from St. Francis Xavier Secondary School in Mississauga came in second, and team BCSS1 from Bill Crothers Secondary School in Markham captured third in the one-day event held in February.
About 70 students on 17 teams from high schools across Ontario and Quebec competed in the inaugural competition designed to expose participants to the concepts of process optimization and data analytics, both of which are a focus of Waterloo’s management engineering program.
The challenge took teams through part of the production process of a remote-controlled car. Within an eight-hour period, members created a plan outlining their approach, submitted a written analysis and proposal for improvements, and prepared a short video presentation summarizing their work.
The creation of the Industry 4.0 team was an idea suggested by Ken McKay, a management sciences professor, to increase awareness of management engineering, apply skills students have learned in the classroom and gain experience involved in launching and running a competition.
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