The Purdue Small Business Engineering Club (SBEC) is an organization focused on providing low-cost engineering solutions to small businesses in the Greater Lafayette area. You can learn a bit more about the club here: sbecpurdue.com.

This upcoming semester, they will be working on a project with a local apple orchard, Wea Creek Orchards, to implement a system that aims to significantly improve their process of planting trellis poles. These poles are used to help keep trees sturdy in the face of harsh weather conditions. The key goals for this project are to devise a solution that can save the business 2-3 years in total post-planting time and improve functional safety. They aim to do this by designing a portable scaffolding that can improve the efficiency of the hydraulic pounder used to install these posts, and separately by identifying systems-level opportunities for minimizing unnecessary post placement.

They are currently looking for a project lead to head a team of about 10 Purdue undergrads on this project. They looking for someone with an interdisciplinary mindset who has taken ME 270 (statics) and ME 274 (dynamics) – and who’s excited to contribute to a meaningful challenge for a local small business!

If you are interested or have any questions, please reach out to: sbec@purdue.edu.