Sylvania high school students are learning the real world of work deadlines and job specifications by taking on work for Dana Corp., Toledo s largest company.
They build crates for drive trains headed to Japan and for equipment bound for South Africa, as well as fashion countertops needed in the corporation s $70 million Dana Automotive Systems Group Technology Center in Maumee, the new hub for light axle and driveshaft technology.
The work came in part as a result of Dana s Chris Johnson acting as a coach for a Dana-sponsored robotics competition. He said he was impressed with the team s ability to design and build a crate to ship the robotic device, and he remembered that when Dana needed crates to ship the drive trains to Japan.
Chris Johnson s father, Bob Johnson, is an instructor for some of those on the robotics team in his construction technologies program at Sylvania Southview High School.
The classes are taken by students at Southview and Northview high schools and include electrical and plumbing trades as well as civil engineering and design. The senior Mr. Johnson said a class of 16 juniors met to design a crate for the drive trains and began building.
Between 30 and 40 have been built so far, and the senior Mr. Johnson said Dana may ship between 100 and 150 of the drive trains annually. The school now has the forms that the students designed, so constructing the crates to fit the part is a relatively simple task.
Chris Johnson said the drive trains aren t for production cars but are shipped as prototypes to auto companies for testing.
He said that as the quality and timeliness of the students work has been noticed, other departments in the Fortune 500 company s Maumee facility have asked about them.
It led to their making the crates for the machinery going to South Africa and for some countertops that were delivered recently.
Chris Johnson said crates ordinarily are made by Dana s own shipping department, but if that department is busy, people are thinking about contacting the high school to get jobs done.
Standing in a mammoth shipping bay at Dana, Matt Bergfeld, a Northview junior, said it has been a good experience and it feels like something more than a class project when your work is going to be used by a corporation.
The senior Mr. Johnson said his classes often put their abilities to practical use but working on a project for Dana impresses on them that in the real world they learn a timetable is necessary and others will check for quality control.
In addition to the benefits for the students, he noted that the class was paid $60 for each drive train crate. He said the money earned goes into a special fund to buy tools and other items for future classes.
Contact Mike Jones at mjones@theblade.com or 419-724-6096.
First Published March 18, 2004, 5:21 p.m.
