SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing Competition Winners Announced

SME and Stratasys announced the winners of their cosponsored 2021 Additive Manufacturing Competition, conducted as part of the 57th annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, held virtually for the first time in the event's history.

Three high school and three college teams received top honors in the additive manufacturing competition, created in 2013 by SME and Stratasys. The contest is intended to both educate high school and postsecondary students about additive manufacturing technologies and its design and to provide them with real-world, hands-on experience that they can apply to a commercial product. 

"The skill level and cognitive talents which our student participants bring to the SkillsUSA additive manufacturing competition continue to improve every year," said Robert Willig, executive director and CEO of SME. "Their abilities, coupled with the creative problem-solving nature of the contest, will better help prepare them with the knowledge and experience they'll need to successfully compete in the current and future manufacturing workforce." 

In addition to the additive manufacturing competition, students took Tooling U-SME's Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals Certification exam to test their knowledge of additive manufacturing. This certification is ideal for high schools and colleges as a capstone or standalone achievement to increase workforce readiness in this market.

"Stratasys is honored to partner with SME on the Skills USA Additive Manufacturing contest as we feel it is our responsibility as industry leaders to guide and challenge the next generation of designers, engineers and manufacturing leaders," said Jesse Roitenberg, Americas education manager for Stratasys. "These leaders of tomorrow are experiencing learning in a manner that can't be transferred any other way."

For the additive manufacturing challenge, students were required to design a smart speaker, called a "pebble," using a set geometry that then was printed by Stratasys on one of its commercial Stratasys J55 Prime 3D polymeric printers. The teams were required to leverage color, material and finish in a meaningful way. Bonus points were added for a pebble that was not just beautiful but touched on functionality as well.

Both levels of the winning teams received gold, silver and bronze medals from SkillsUSA, as well as scholarships of $1,500, $1,000 and $500, respectively, from the SME Education Foundation. Both levels also received a one-year subscription for Tooling U-SME classes, RAPID + TCT conference passes, and a one-year SME student membership. Gold-medal winning teams won a professional-grade Mojo 3D printer as well.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.