Students Get Early Packaging Industry Exposure at PMMI Foundation Summer Manufacturing Camp

Budding engineers enjoyed first-hand exposure to packaging robotics fundamentals and applications at the Legacy Christian Academy Summer Manufacturing Camp.

Summer Manufacturing Camp attendees and supervisors, including Todd Kruse (right), pose for a group photo at Legacy Christian Academy.
Summer Manufacturing Camp attendees and supervisors, including Todd Kruse (right), pose for a group photo at Legacy Christian Academy.
PMMI

Pint-sized engineers left no case unturned as they explored packaging robotics at the Legacy Christian Academy PMMI Foundation Summer Manufacturing Camp in Andover, Minnesota.

The camp, which took place in early June, taught 5th to 8th grade students the fundamentals of robotics and offered hands-on experience with packaging machinery applications, courtesy of PMMI member equipment manufacturer and event sponsor Delta ModTech

That industry connection can spark an interest in these kids in ways that a classroom cannot replicate, according to Todd Kruse, Delta Modtech electrical engineer and laser specialist, and Legacy Christian Academy Robotics Camp director.

“I think too many times we just show videos and there’s none of the application side of it,” Kruse says, noting that hands-on participation changes the students’ outlook on machinery. “[When they] build something and then see it in a manufacturing plant, it’s a whole different story.”

At the camp, teams of students built small robotics projects, learned electrical and mechanical principles, and competed in building challenges where tasks mirrored those seen in modern packaging and processing operations. All this practical learning summited with a visit to the Delta ModTech manufacturing plant to solidify the real-world connection.

From education to application

Kruse says the direct industry correlations at this camp and at programs for older students like the FIRST Robotics Competition can be a pipeline to the industry, with robotics skills already baked into these young professionals.