December 01, 2025
Project MFG SEC Machining Competition showcased collegiate engineers representing their programs at the highest level.
From left: Anthony Michael, Ryan Dodson, Griffin Sanderson and Brett Dineen.
The Mizzou Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) team of Brett Dineen, Ryan Dodson, Anthony Michael and Griffin Sanderson brought home a second-place finish from the Project MFG SEC Machining Competition Nov. 13-14.
Four Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools gathered at Texas A&M for the two-day event, which provided a platform for teams to showcase their expertise in computer numerical control (CNC) programming, machining and other areas.
For this year’s contest, teams were challenged to manufacture a hand-cranked eccentric gear box to precise, narrow specifications. Teams received design files and drawings to make some parts in advance and completed the rest at the competition.
The Mizzou team spent four to eight hours a week preparing for the contest by practicing machining parts from previous competitions.
“We put in a huge amount of time preparing for this competition,” SME President Ryan Dodson said. “This year’s result shows how much we’ve grown. More than anything, we hope this momentum helps bring manufacturing back to Mizzou and shows what our program is truly capable of.”
The team’s instructor, Garrett Robison, a research assistant in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, took a hands-off approach as coach, offering encouragement to facilitate the students’ learning and inspiring them get excited about manufacturing.
“This team also took a lot of ownership and committed to teaching each other new skills,” Robison said. “It was truly a team effort, and each member was very committed to the process.”
CNC machining plays a central role in modern manufacturing. Mizzou SME has hosted CNC machining training sessions every Thursday since 2023 to give students hands-on experience in Mizzou Engineering’s manufacturing lab.
“Our SME student chapter has been doing an amazing job,” said Assistant Professor Yi Wang, the SME advisor. “Preparing for this competition gave them a deeper understanding of what they learned in our manufacturing course and valuable machining experience that will help them in their future manufacturing or machining careers.”