Manufacturing Students Win Top Award for Mountain Bike Chain Guide

The Sustainable Manufacturing Program at California State University, Chico won the Grand Prize for the 11th time at the prestigious 2011 Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) for their mountain bike chain guide and bash guard. The challenge was held on April 5 at the AeroDef Manufacturing Convention in Anaheim.


The team of students in the Chico SME chapter designed and manufactured the tooling and full production system for the mountain bike chain guide and bash guard. Two things made CSU, Chico’s project stand out at the competition, said Daren Otten, coordinator of the Sustainable Manufacturing Program and adviser to the team: the attention to detail by the students for defining and documenting the complete manufacturing process and an emphasis on sustainability.


CSU, Chico has also won the Grand Prize in this competition in 1987, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

The details in the team’s project included not only the design, analysis and fabrication of the chain guide and bash guard, but the tooling and fixtures for mass production and the project management plan for the entire project. The materials used in this ready-for-market product were chosen with an emphasis on sustainability; they included recycled plastic components and cardboard package inserts, as well as a fully compostable plastic package.


“This project was a year-long project and was completed as an extracurricular activity on students' own time," said Jason Teixeira, chairman of the SME student chapter. “In this time, we took an idea through design, prototyping, testing and production. Our planning and documentation of the whole process matched industry standards. The project demanded a huge time commitment from all of the team members, and their dedication and talent made it possible.”


Twelve students in the Sustainable Manufacturing Program from Chico made the trip to the manufacturing challenge this year, though many others were involved in the project. All are members of the Chico SME Chapter S139. Tony Arena, Cody Leuck, Jason Teixeira, Alex Ward, Louk Hendricks and Oliver Hayes presented the project.

“We are all very pleased with the recognition we have received, and proud of our work.” said Teixeira.

Group members Cody Leuck and Tony Arena are looking into possibly creating a business plan, and hope to eventually take a product to market.

This was the first bi-annual AeroDef manufacturing trade show, and it was extremely successful. The Manufacturing Challenge is sponsored by the international SME, which has more than 400 professional and school-based chapters worldwide.

For any interest in either the Sustainable Manufacturing Program, or the Student chapter Contact:
Cody Leuck
(951) 775-0902
Cpleuck@gmail.com