Industrial technology class presents manufacturing operations plan for local invention
Ashley Richardson
Daily Egyptian
arichardson@dailyegyptian.com
When Russell Bailey won third place in the Southern Angels Business Plan Contest for his duck decoy invention, he had no idea how he would go about manufacturing it until he met SIUC professor Bruce DeRuntz and his manufacturing policy class.
DeRuntz, an assistant professor in the department of technology, and his class of industrial technology students presented their manufacturing operations plan for the Bailey Bobber Decoy Co. yesterday in the College of Engineering Dean's Conference Room.
Broken down into four teams ˜ design, manufacturing processes, facilities and safety and quality ˜ the students analyzed every aspect needed to turn the project into a fully functioning company.
Matthew Charles, who served on the safety and quality team, said he enjoyed the experience the project allowed him.
"I learned how to take a product from an idea to an actual product," Charles, a senior in industrial technology, said.
Bailey, a University photographer and avid duck hunter, said while he loves the sport, he dislikes the tedious, manual labor that goes into the deployment and retrieval of the decoys used to attract ducks to the hunting site.
The "Bailey Bobber" is a duck decoy that mechanically deploys and recoils with the wind of a crank.
"I'm a lazy hunter," Bailey said. "I knew there had to be a more efficient way to deploy and retrieve the decoy."
Bailey said his design would make the sport of duck hunting more enjoyable and efficient by drastically reducing the amount of time spent on deploying and retrieving the decoys.
"I solved a lot of problems with a simple design," he said. "If I had a dozen of these [his design] and a dozen of the old style, the old style would never leave the house."
Bailey, who has a patent for his design pending through a St. Louis patenting company, was given the chance to have his invention manufactured through the Southern Angels Business Plan Contest.
Sponsored by the SIUC Office of Economic and Regional Development's SouthernTECH program and Carbondale businessman Peter Gregory, Southern Angels is an initiative dedicated to furthering the development of local inventions.
Funded through a $375,000 state grant, the program awards winners of the contest with cash prizes ranging from $7,500 to $5,500 to help obtain patents and begin manufacturing plans.
Bailey, one of 34 contestants, said he was excited to win the contest, being that his invention was simple in comparison to some of the other entries.
"I was very surprised," he said. "I've never done a business plan at all before. There was a lot of great competition out there, and my idea was probably the least high-tech idea that was on the table."
Bailey also said his win increased his optimism about the marketability of his product.
"It also confirmed my beliefs that I possibly did have a good idea," he said.
According to DeRuntz, the manufacturing policy class is the capstone of the industrial technology program, combining all of the foundation courses and applying them to a real life project.
He said while the class does a project similar to this one every year, they come up with plans for products the students think up themselves and have never had the opportunity to work hands on with an actual product.
He said he plans to offer his future classes the same opportunity by hooking up with the SouthernTECH program.
Bailey, who hopes to have a sellable product completed within the next year, said he is appreciative of the Southern Angels Program, DeRuntz and his class.
"This would not be a reality without the Southern Angels Business Plan," Bailey said. "Bruce DeRuntz's class has been extremely helpful. There is no way that I could have even remotely got this thing to the point that I'm at without the help of Mr. DeRuntz and his students."
|
Daily Egyptian Spring 04 
