#Community Newsletter #Engineering
SIT student Josh Clarke was awarded the national prize in the New Zealand Diploma in Engineering (NZDE) “Best Engineering Project” for his Meat Tubing Machine Design Project. Having worked in a meat processing plant prior to studying, Josh had industry knowledge about its equipment and wanted to improve the safety of how the offcuts are handled and processed.
The Meat Tubing Machine takes meat offcuts and presses them safely and cleanly into bags. In the process of designing a safer machine, the other benefits of the design included: a more ergonomic design for the operator, and making it easier to clean, repair and maintain, he said. Josh’s Meat Tubing Machine is already being used at BX Foods in Oamaru, where he formerly worked.
Carlo Gabriel, SIT course tutor, who worked with Josh as supervisor for the full duration of the project, provided guidance regarding research methods, analysis and report writing, as well as designing and manufacturing the product. He said, “ I am very proud of Josh for winning this award and this is a momentous event for SIT”.
Josh competed against entries from other institutes all around New Zealand. He is continuing with his studies at SIT this year and is studying towards a Bachelor of Engineering Technology (BEngTech)