Two teams of future metallurgists of IRNTU are in the semi-finals of the CASE-IN championship

Irkutsk Polytechnic University hosted the qualifying stage of the X International CASE IN Championship in the field of Metallurgy. Students from six teams proposed solutions aimed at digitalization of PJSC RUSAL enterprises.

The participants and organizers of the anniversary tournament were addressed by Alexander Kononov, Vice Rector for Scientific Work at IRNTU:  "CASE IN provides an opportunity to participate in serious teamwork and offer innovative, non-standard solutions. The experience gained in competitions will be useful to you in later life, in school or in the workplace. Win, expand your boundaries! The university administration wishes good luck to the participants and thanks the organizers of the international project."

The strategic partner of the championship in the Metallurgy field was PJSC RUSAL, the largest aluminum producer. The decisions of the Polytechnic students were evaluated by representatives of the Irkutsk Aluminum Plant Vladimir Sergeev and Anna Kulikova. In addition, the jury included Nina Nemchinova, Head of the Department of Metallurgy of Non-Ferrous Metals at IRNTU, associate professors Andrey Tyutrin and Sergey Belsky.

Over the course of 10 days, polytechnic students from various courses of the Department of Metallurgy of Non-ferrous Metals were asked to solve cases on the introduction of information technology into production.

According to the results of the qualifying stage, the Dragon tamers team consisting of Tatiana Budko, Dmitry Tsybenov, Vladislav Yakovets and Ivan Dranishnikov became the leader.

According to team captain Tatiana Budko, the students offered three solutions at once.:  "Currently, the Irkutsk Aluminum Plant uses loaders that run on diesel fuel. By using electric vehicles and electric suppliers, the company will reduce the amount of exhaust fumes and free employees from time-consuming work."

The students also initiated the construction of an airmail unit at the enterprise, which is a station for receiving and sending laboratory samples.

The experts of the competition highly appreciated the idea of Polytechnic students to modernize the crane beam. The project will extend the service life of crane wheels, eliminate the deviation of cranes from the path.

The second place of the university stage was taken by the Iron Knights team. Ivan Orlov, Anna Bukharina and Ivan Chizhik presented a project related to the improvement of pneumatic piston sensors.

The Dragon tamers and Iron Knights teams will compete in the semi-finals of the CASE-IN championship. The competitors of the polytechnic students will be contestants from universities of the Siberian Federal District.

Summing up the results of the qualifying stage, Nina Nemchinova stressed that the participants faced a difficult task, but the guys successfully coped and demonstrated a high level of preparation.: "Aluminum production is a labor–intensive activity in which many processes cannot be translated into a "number". In addition, some participants of the tournament have not yet completed their internship, so we have formed teams of students from different courses. The experts gave good feedback. Representatives of IRKAZ invited our guys on an introductory tour of the plant's workshops."

"CASE-IN" is included in the presidential platform "Russia – the land of opportunities". The project is aimed at supporting promising students, creating a talent pool, as well as popularizing engineering and technical education. The partners of the championship are over 140 universities, more than 170 large companies of the Russian Federation.

A source