manufacturing

Senior’s Baseball Dreams Lead to Invention Success

What do you get when you mix baseball and engineering? Elijah Taitel, a University of Connecticut senior in the Management and Engineering for Manufacturing program, will tell you, “The ProVelocity BatTM.”

Taitel.Elijah.BatAs a 17-year-old in Short Hills, New Jersey, Taitel was feeling frustrated that he didn’t have many baseball recruiters looking his way. “I was a good player, but not the best, so I knew if I wanted to have a chance to play in college at all I needed to work on my swing,” Taitel recalls. That is why over the summer going from high school junior to high school senior, he decided to invent something to help improve his swing. “There really wasn’t a product out there that I could find that would help me train in hitting,” he said. “Just sheer hours and doing a lot of different things is what people usually relied on to improve their swing.”

After a few months of using his invention, his swing improved enough to turn the heads of some baseball recruiters at smaller colleges. “I was personally impressed with this bat because I had gotten so much better in such a short period of time,” he said. “That’s when I knew it could help other people too.”

During his senior year in high school as he was considering his college options, he recalled a conversation he had had with his sister a few years earlier. She had visited UConn and had told him about the Management and Engineering for Manufacturing program. While he was initially interested in Brown and Northeastern, he soon decided to attend University of Connecticut and says it was the best decision.

While he never did opt to play baseball for the Huskies, he never stopped working on the bat, and after a few years and about 75 iterations of the design, he launched The ProVelocity BatTM and began marketing it. He started by introducing the bat to coaches at prep schools, but they didn’t have much interest. Nonetheless, they connected with him with a recruiter in Tennessee who loved it. He had had his players use it for three weeks that summer and saw a 4 percent improvement in hitting, which was significant for that team. “While it wasn’t exactly scientific,” he said, “it was some great anecdotal data that we could use, and that word of mouth definitely helped get things going.”

Soon after, he was connected with a coach at the Tampa Bay Rays to whom he offered a discount to get them started. While the coach didn’t immediately take him up on that, he later went on to be a major league hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs, and at that point in 2021, he placed an order for 20 ProVelocityTM bats.

Coaches, players, and parents of young athletes are all raving about the improvements they’ve seen and how easy this bat is to implement in their training programs, according to reviews on the ProVelocityTM website.

After graduation, Taitel plans to continue to work on the ProVelocityTM business. “Right now, it is profitable,” he explained. “I used my bar mitzvah money to get it up and running, but now we are turning enough of a profit that I can afford to continue working this business, so I plan to do that for a few years at least.”

While Taitel manufactures some of the smaller bats in a room at his residence, the adult-sized bats, the 32-inch Standard Shaft and the 33-inch Extreme Impact, are both manufactured at a machine shop in New Jersey.

While he initially was just trying to improve his own swing, Taitel landed on an idea that may just change the face of baseball training, and with his education in Management and Engineering for Manufacturing, he has the tools he needs to grow this novel and exciting business venture.

The ProVelocity BatTM can be found at provelocitybat.com where three sizes of bats can be ordered, and interested parties can locate data from a variety of studies on hitting performance improvements.

Tech High School Grads Should Consider MEM

Jonathan Varga MEM Junior, Jonathan Varga, joined MEM the spring of his sophomore year after entering UConn as an ACES student; however, he always knew he would choose Management and Engineering for Manufacturing (MEM) as his major. Graduating valedictorian of his high school, Harvard H. Ellis Technical High School in Danielson, Connecticut, Varga knew he wanted to work in manufacturing and used the unique opportunity that technical high school provided him to prepare him for a degree program.

While at Ellis Tech, Varga studied Precision Machining Technology and gained critical manufacturing machining experience while still a high school student.

The Precision Machining Technology track at Ellis Technical High School prepares students for immediate employment, earning industry credentials and preparing students for entry into the workforce, apprenticeship programs or admission into a two- or four-year college. Students take academic courses as well as career and technical courses in rotating cycles. As a result, Varga gained an enormous amount of hands-on technical experience that most other high school students do not have.

At Ellis Tech students have the opportunity to start working in a manufacturing precision matching role while still in high school. When Varga was 16, he began his experience in manufacturing at Westminster Tool in Plainfield, Connecticut. There, he learned the ropes of the industry while he was in 10th grade at Ellis Tech.

In this role at Westminster Tool, he worked with a mentor and had the opportunity to express interest in learning new things, work with engineers and machinists, and gain more practical manufacturing experience. Varga started as a CNC machinist and got experience in the toolmaking, molding, and engineering departments, while learning more about many machining and manufacturing processes.

Even though he knew he wanted to pursue manufacturing as a career, and was prepared to enter the workforce right out of high school, he was confident that he wanted to go to college. When he graduated top of his class he was offered scholarships at several universities, including University of Connecticut. In the end, UConn’s MEM program, with the unique opportunity to learn both the business and engineering side of manufacturing made it an easy choice for him to attend UConn.

While UConn and MEM don’t see too many graduates from technical high schools, it is clear that students from manufacturing and machining technical programs are well prepared and capable of succeeding in an Engineering program like MEM.

Dr. Craig Calvert, assistant professor in residence in Operations and Information Management, and co-director of the Management and Engineering for Manufacturing program sees this as a positive opportunity for Connecticut manufacturing.

“It is exciting to see that there are dedicated programs like this at the lower educational levels,” Calvert said. “It exposes kids to opportunities that they might not have in a traditional education. Connecticut has a strong manufacturing base with United Technologies and General Dynamics along with all the small businesses that support these larger corporations. Jon is positioned to succeed at any of these and make a big impact upon graduation.”

Varga explains that some courses were very familiar to him, such as Introduction to Manufacturing Systems and the related lab, “I came in ahead of the game in processes,” he said. “Courses like MEM 2211 and 2212 were easy for me since I already had so much experience working with CNC and plastic injection molding. However, I am still challenged in other courses, in topics that require a lot of technical writing or advanced math.”

Varga still works for Westminster Tool while he is an excellent performing student at UConn. He has built a good working relationship with the management there and really enjoys the work. “In the future I plan to stay in the manufacturing industry, in the medical or defense sectors. The level of challenging work in those fields really interests me.”

Varga says he would love to see more technical high school students consider degrees in Engineering or majors like MEM. “A lot of technical high school graduates don’t really think about getting a 4-year degree after graduating, because they don’t see how valuable their existing skills can be when transferred to a degree, but with a program like MEM your technical skills and management ability can really be taken to the next level.”

Management and Engineering for Manufacturing is a four year undergraduate degree program at the University of Connecticut. It is a joint degree between the School of Business and the School of Engineering. MEM students take courses to meet criteria in both schools, developing management skills and engineering skills for today’s technical industries. MEM graduates work in fields such as design engineering, manufacturing engineering, continuous improvement engineering, quality control engineering, project management, supply chain management, and logistics and operations management, as well as countless others.

Buffalo, New York Student Finds His Place at MEM

The University of Connecticut might be a favored institution of higher education in the state of Connecticut, but with the uniqueness of a program like Management and Engineering for Manufacturing (MEM), it draws students well beyond state borders. One example of this is Jonathan Rucinski, UConn Senior and MEM major.

Jonathan RucinkskiThe Buffalo, New York resident said he came to UConn because of the MEM program and because there really isn’t anything quite like it anywhere else. While there are a few similar programs at one or two other universities, no other program balances both business and engineering quite like MEM.

Rucinski reflects that when he was in high school, his STEM background had him leaning toward an Engineering degree, but felt that Business had a strong appeal for him in spite of that. He found himself wondering whether he should focus on business or engineering in his college search process.

“I wanted to lean on engineering because I had mainly done science and STEM, but business interested me, so I did a search for programs that were engineering and incorporated some business,” Rucinski said. “They were mainly 4+1 programs, but I really wanted something I could do in 4 years.”

He doesn’t recall if he found the MEM program or whether it was his mom, but either way, he was immediately interested. “We came for a visit and it was exactly what I was looking for.”

“I thought it would be good to stand out from the pack and diversify myself for my resume and as an individual with a degree that was both business and engineering,” he continued. “With MEM you get the engineering skills, but can talk business and so you get to be a liaison to go between both sides in industry.”

He explained, “The other program was a little more involved on the engineering side and a little weaker on the business side. I wasn’t sure I wanted to lean that far into engineering. Then I visited and spoke to Professor Tang, and he told me about the jobs MEM students look for and how they go both ways, more into business or more into engineering.”

When he saw the benefits and the versatility of an MEM degree, he was sold.

Did anything surprise you?

Now that he is a senior in MEM, he says the one surprise is how his interests have evolved so much. “I didn’t realize I had such a passion for data analysis, but getting to do so much of that really sparked that interest and led me to apply for the MS-BAPM 4+1 program, in which I am now enrolled,” he said. “It has let me dive deeper into data analytics, especially business analytics, and I am really enjoying that.”

Being so far away from home was difficult for Rucinski, he explained. “I am really family oriented, so I still call home a lot, but the nice thing about this being a smaller program, is that you make friends fast because MEM students have a lot of interests in common and study and work together so much, so you really get the small feel with the benefits of a big university.”

What’s Next?

Rucinksi intends to finish his 4+1 program after completing his BS in MEM from both the School of Business and the School of Engineering. After that he said he is considering staying in the area for work since there is such a great network of manufacturing and industry with which MEM has a great relationship.

 

 

Allison Pfahler: Tips for Internship Success

We love hearing about our MEM student’s internship experiences and we love even more when we can share new openings with them. Last September Allison Pfahler received an email from MEM, along with the rest of MEM students, with details of a new internship opportunity at Niagara Bottling. This summer, she spent her summer working there as a manufacturing intern.

Niagara Bottling is a leading beverage manufacturer in the U.S., supplying major retailers across the nation.

When Allison saw the email from the MEM office, she knew she wanted to apply quickly because it aligned so well with her interests that she had developed in the MEM program. Soon, she found herself touring the plant and interviewing as a finalist for the position, and she knew it would be great fit.

“The people at Niagara are a large part of what makes the internship so special,” Allison said. “Everyone from the managers to the production operators were eager to meet the interns and help in any way they could. The plant was always a welcoming environment that encouraged asking questions and jumping in wherever you were interested.”

Allison went on to explain that after shadowing team members in each department, she was given the opportunity to choose which projects she wanted to work on for the summer.

“I picked up a project in the warehouse and was able to start it from the initial steps and implement it with the team in my last week,” she said. “Everyone helped me get the resources I needed to complete the project and taught me everything I needed to know.”

Throughout the summer, the company provided interns with resources to be successful such as professional development seminars and mentors at the plants. Allison was paired with an MEM alumnus who was able to give her advice on different projects and connect her with people and information that she needed to be successful throughout the summer.

Allison offers three key pieces of advice for future MEM interns, no matter where they intern.

  1. Ask questions – asking questions helped her understand the process better and led her to be more successful in what she was working on.
  2. Be available – being available and flexible put her in a position to be able to be used whenever needed
  3. Be flexible – in a fast paced environment such as Niagara, being flexible and jumping into situations where help was needed was the best way to learn

Landing an Internship on the Production Floor – Archana Velathaupillai Shares Her Experience

Getting an internship is something every MEM student thinks about at some point during their undergraduate career. It can help you gain professional experience, apply concepts you’ve learned and develop professional connections that can help you navigate your future career options. Archana Velathaupillai, MEM junior, had the opportunity to work for 12 weeks as a Manufacturing Engineering Intern with Otis Elevator at their manufacturing plant in Florence, South Carolina.

Archana Velathaupillai on the Production Floor at Otis
Archana Velathaupillai performing an internal ISO 9001 audit at Otis Elevator’s plant in South Carolina.

“This was a really unique internship because most of the time interns don’t get to really work on the production floor, but this internship gave me that chance,” Archana said.

Archana had the chance to work in operations on the production floor at Otis where she did time studies on production lines, 5S implementation on the production floor, improved standard work procedures, conducted internal ISO 9001 audits on specific production lines and participated on continuous improvement initiatives. She also spent time observing and seeing how the concepts she has learned in classes at UConn are applied in a real world setting. She enjoyed getting to talk to people in various areas within the manufacturing operation, including supply chain, engineering, and operations which helped her expand her network and career exposure, as she refined her ideas of jobs she would and would not enjoy in her future.

“At first I wasn’t really comfortable, but as time went on, I got better at networking and scheduled appointments in other areas,” Archana said. “As a result, I was able to expand my network, get more familiar with other areas and really refine what kinds of jobs I might want. I learned there were some roles that didn’t suit me and others I may want to try to gain experience in during a future internship.”

Archana says she landed this internship in the traditional way. She attended career fairs, had her resume reviewed by the Center for Career Development, and took advantage of mock interviews. At a career fair, she met and talked with the recruiter from Otis and made sure she maintained contact afterward.

Associate Professor Awarded Grant for Manufacturing Sustainability

Liang ZhangDr. Liang Zhang, Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and MEM Faculty member, was recently awarded a grant that could change the face of Connecticut manufacturing. In a partnership between the University of Connecticut and the University of New Haven, Dr. Zhang will be leading the UConn team as they participate in a massive national research effort to help local manufacturers reduce their carbon footprint.

UConn Today has the full story. Click to read more.