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Meet Andy Dahnke

Meet Andy Dahnke, a high school senior from Jenison, MI, who has just won the Dimension-sponsored “Extreme Redesign: 3D Printing Challenge” award. He was walking his dog one day, and all of a sudden came the Eureka moment that later helped him design a retrievable dog leash model using the Inventor CAD. “A simple solution for a simple problem that is marketable,” said Pete Van’t Hoff, the contest judge for the high school division and Department Manager at Artic Spas, who decided to give Andy the $2,500 award.

Encouraged, Andy told me at the National Manufacturing Week that he’ll likely go to the Grand Rapids community college and then pursue an engineering degree at the Baker College. These are heartwarming words as we’ve seen a decreasing number of students enrolling in engineering programs. They are particularly worth-pondering now that the key issue American manufacturing faces is how to groom the next-generation design engineers.

If you look at the anecdotal achievement of Andy, it’s not hard to see how many elements must be at work to cultivate an engineering mind. First is the competition sponsor, Dimension 3D Printing Group (www.dimensionprinting.com), which motivates students from the pre-college level to participate in real design challenges. But without the right tools, these students won’t get much hands-on design experience. So there also came along the Autodesk Inventor CAD, which Andy has used for two years. Educators also played a key role. Without the right mentor at school, Andy wouldn’t even have heard of the contest, let alone winning it. And the judge was essential too. Hoff was there at the NMW to give face-to-face comments and advice to Andy.

But this is just a start. Don’t forget that Andy still faces at least four more years of engineering education to be able to call himself a true engineer. During the coming four years, he’ll need more sponsors, more tool providers, more mentors, and more guidance on how to become a designer who is equipped with an innovative mind that can help revive American manufacturing.

It’s easy to stand outside the classroom and point fingers at the educators on failing U.S. manufacturing. Let’s take the hard path instead. March into the classroom today and see what you can give to the future of U.S. engineering.

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–Wai Li