The impact of a new addition to the engineering technology program labs at The Ohio State University at Lima will radiate out far beyond the walls of the Engineering Education and Manufacturing Center.
Ohio State Lima has received a Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills (RAPIDS) grant for $105,487 to buy a specialized 3D printer for advanced manufacturing training.
Engineering technology students will gain design and production experience with additive manufacturing while building high-tech training aids for medical education at Mercy Health-St. Rita’s.
“Initially, the largest benefactor of the output of this printer will be the medical training community. We will also be investigating how the materials that this printer is capable of utilizing could benefit our industry partners in the traditional manufacturing sector,” said engineering technology lecturer Jim Rieman. “Once the students learn the skills to utilize this 3D printer, those skills will translate to other types of 3D printers.”
According to Rieman, the skills necessary to effectively utilize the 3D printer translate across the manufacturing landscape and include designing 3D models, analyzing material properties and utilizing additive technology to create the desired end item. The projects students will be undertaking for Mercy Health will also reinforce operations management skills engineers need every day like scheduling and running production to meet a customer’s demand, receiving raw materials and shipping finished goods, analyzing production processes for future improvements and ensuring the quality of products.
“Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is a very important technology that is becoming more and more prevalent in industry. To date, it has been widely utilized for prototyping and creating end item tooling and fixturing,” Rieman said. “As the technology continues to advance, it will become a viable option to replace other end item manufacturing processes. It is important that students be exposed to and prepared to implement this technology.”
With the expansion of its graduate medical training program, Mercy Health was already investigating ways to economically produce the learning tools necessary to effectively train medical professionals. When Ohio State Lima’s dean and director Tim Rehner approached Mercy with the opportunity that would benefit students on both sides of the equation, Mercy signed on.
“To assist with learning and skill development in the hospital, we utilize simulated scenarios, high-fidelity manikins, molds and models, and task trainers to mimic real clinical situations and human anatomy. To purchase and provide these tools and equipment is incredibly expensive. To help control these costs, we had just started to explore 3D scanning and printing. At that exact moment Dean Rehner contacted us with this amazing opportunity to collaborate,” said JJ Sreenan, MD, director of graduate medical education at Mercy.
Models built with the 3D printer will improve patient care in the area. The Stratasys J5 MediJet the engineering technology students will be using will allow them to plan and make bio-medical items for training and surgical planning.
“Providing 3D printed molds of various structures of the human body will allow our Simulation Center to create, using special gelatin or silicone, an eyeball, nose, ear, neck, bones, rib cage, or even larger structures like a knee or foot and ankle. These models can then be utilized to practice hands-on skill development of a variety of different procedures that our residents are required to perform,” said David Faulkner, director of simulation at Mercy.
The addition of the engineering technology students utilizing new technology to build important training tools adds one more layer to the partnership between Ohio State and Mercy Health that already includes a community medicine track, an advanced anatomy lab and an affiliation through The James Cancer Network.