This semester we have been working with the company Chapco to help update documentation, engineer a new product, and make improvements to their manufacturing process. Chapco is an engineering, manufacturing and assembly company based in Chester, Connecticut. They specialize in metal fabrication, prototype to production, product assembly, welding and finishing and also the engineering and development of products for customers worldwide. The engineering challenges for the ECE team this semester are mainly related to the new product design which specifically entails designing a 12V or 24V battery operated soldering iron. The other objectives either don’t require much engineering or are mainly being handled by the MEM portion of the group. The main engineering challenge associated with designing the battery powered iron has been designing a heating element that can be manufactured using their current process that will meet the desired voltage requirements.

Our team collaborated with Management & Engineering for Manufacturing 4 on this project.