NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

8/5/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES- Something that started as a challenge for a pair of Northwestern State University students should end up saving time and money for a Natchitoches manufacturing plant.

James Smith of Metairie and Nick Hammonds of Goldonna have been working at the Natchitoches plant of Trus Joist, a Weyerhaeuser business, to develop a computer program for loading flatcars used in shipping. The company ships engineered lumber of various sizes and weights to customers and wanted to maximize what is loaded on each flatcar. A national consulting firm had been unsuccessful in solving the problem.

"We have used pencil and paper to maximize what is put on the car," said Jack Pitcher, shipping manager at the Trus Joist Natchitoches plant. "Sometimes an order would be entered that would be too much or not enough material and different combinations would not work. We asked the students to figure out a program that could digest the information and tell us how to put the different size bundles on the railcar."

According to Pitcher, the program could reduce the time spent in calculating a load by half.

"This has been a positive working relationship between Northwestern and Trus Joist," said Mike Wolff, manager of Trus Joist's Natchitoches plant. "I have been involved in economic development and look at where universities can piggy back on what private industry is doing. Economic development is one of those areas."

Last fall, Dr. Jack Russell, coordinator of Northwestern's computer information systems program, mentioned the project to Smith as a possible internship. Smith soon asked Hammonds to help him. In designing the program, Smith worked on system design and logic while Hammonds prepared the application.

"It's like having some blocks of different sizes and trying to fit as many as you can in a shoebox," said Smith, a computer information systems major in the Louisiana Scholars' College at NSU. "I evaluated the project and knew I needed help. Our skills complimented each other."

Smith and Hammonds are two of Northwestern's top computer information systems students, winning first place in systems design and analysis at the Association of Information Technology Professionals national collegiate competition last spring. This was the fourth year in a row NSU students have won a national title in systems design and analysis.

"Being able to do this project showed that we can compete and be successful in the real world," said Hammonds, who graduated in May. "We learn in a very competitive environment. We compete against other schools and each other. That competitive mode pushes us to learn more and gave us confidence that we could do this."

Wolff said the work done by Smith and Hammonds is a good reflection on NSU's College of Business.

"It's a good program that recruits good students," said Wolff. "They have a good current focus."

Initially Smith had to learn if anyone else had designed a program for this task. Once he learned that no one had, Smith had to see if a prototype could work. He began by spreading out a set of Legos on a table and stacking them. Smith and Hammonds then started to design their program.

"It was one step forward and two steps back," said Smith. "Humans do certain things intuitively, but machines have to be told everything."

Smith said they were assisted by Dr. Jack Russell along with business faculty Dr. William Lomerson and Barbara Russell along with Dr. Margaret Cochran, director of the Louisiana Scholars' College, who teaches a class in linear analysis.

Once Smith and Hammonds completed the program, they gave it to Pitcher, who evaluates the program to determine if it can perform the task it was designed for.

"He (Pitcher) tries to find a better way to do something or look for broken logic," said Smith. "Through this process, we have gotten better at looking for flaws and fixing them."

Once the final version of the program has been implemented, it could be used at other company facilities or throughout the facilities. In addition to the cost savings for Trus Joist, the program could help the company better satisfy its customers.

"This could also save time for our staff in customer service and our customers, which could help us with customer retention," said Pitcher.

The work done by Smith and Hammonds has led to a full-time job at Trus Joist for Smith, who plans to graduate in December. Hammonds is working for Trus Joist part-time.

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