黄色直播

Mild temperatures and a rather green end to the month of January may have led many to believe that we鈥檇 escaped winter this year. Those people were wrong. 聽Back to back snowstorms have pounded the Maritime Provinces over the past week, and there could be more bad weather on the way.

When the snow comes down, the snowplows come out, and amid the group of hard working companies who work tirelessly to clear the snowy streets in Halifax is Dexter Construction, Company Limited.

Unfortunately, when productivity is dependent on the whims of Mother Nature, the snow plowing industry can be a tricky business.

This year however, Dexter is getting some help from a group of Industrial Engineering students at 黄色直播. They call them themselves the Dexter Construction PII Team. As part of their senior year Capstone Design Project, they have been asked to perform an evaluation of various areas of Dexter鈥檚 operation processes and make recommendations for improvements based on their educational training and skills.

The PII team, which consists of Tate Linzel, Angus Nelson, Matt Shannon and Matt Lyttle are looking for innovative solutions in areas such as scheduling, shift change processes, routing and resource utilization. And while they hope their results will help Dexter efficiently run their snow plowing operations and reduce production costs, they also hope they can positively impact the community at large.

鈥淲hether you get a parking ticket during the parking ban or you鈥檙e complaining because your street has not been plowed, everyone is affected by the snow plowing industry. But no one understands what happens behind the scenes,鈥� says Linzel. It鈥檚 interesting to see how much work goes on. The amount of equipment, time energy and cost is enormous.

The PII Team has spent months framing and modeling various situations and solutions to challenges they believed Dexter Construction had not yet considered. They say when working with unpredictable weather, and shift schedules that run 24/7, it was complicated designing models and solutions that would have a significant impact on Dexter鈥檚 operations.

"Snow plowing is an important part of Dexter's business, and the snow ops team runs a very good operation. They effectively deploy a large amount of resources in a very complex and dynamic environment to meet their contractual obligations,鈥� says Linzel. 鈥淎s a team we realize that we have the unique opportunity to perform a cold eye review of their operation and present some new ideas, that could potentially lead to improvements that adds value.鈥澛�

Capstone Design Conference聽

The PII Team will showcase their work at this year鈥檚 Capstone Design Conference. The annual event is taking place on March 30^th, 2017 at the Westin Hotel in Halifax. Each year, the conference gives senior year students in Dal鈥檚 Faculty of Engineering the chance to present their design projects to the public.

The Capstone Project is a course that all engineering students take in their 4^th year of study. As part of the year long course, students take on industry or community based projects and work with clients to solve real world challenges and offer innovative and impactful solutions.

鈥楶eople like snow plowing issues, so it鈥檒l be interesting to hear what the mechanical, chemical and other聽disciplines聽think of our project this year,鈥� says Linzel. 鈥淭he event is also open to the public and media so it鈥檒l be great to see what type of feedback we get from that.鈥�

The PII team says the Capstone Design course is a great chance for engineering students, especially those who have not done co-op, to work with industry professionals and apply what they鈥檝e learned in school to challenges they鈥檒l someday face in the workface. 聽

Industry Collaborations聽

This is the first time Dexter Construction has collaborated on a Capstone Design Project with Dal, and so far, Michael Parrott, a Project Manager at the company, says he鈥檚 impressed with the development and potential outcomes he鈥檚 seen from the PII Team.

鈥淚 find the students very professional in their interactions and they are excellent communicators.聽They seem very comfortable with mathematical methods such as linear programming or coding using VBA,鈥� says Parrott. 鈥淚n my opinion they have demonstrated the ability to be positive contributors in the work force.鈥�

Parrott, who鈥檚 also an Industrial Engineering Alum from Dal, has been working with the PII Team since last fall. He says this type of student to industry collaboration is always beneficial for both parties involved in the project, and contributed to his employment success when graduating from University.

鈥淭he organizations get to see, firsthand, the abilities of students, and gain from their innovative thinking and sharp skillsets with minimal cost or risk,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he opportunity is equally beneficial for students to contribute and gain experience on a real world project as they prepare to enter the workforce as junior engineers.鈥� 聽 聽