By Monty Siekerman
How do you mix several flavors into many buckets of popcorn?

You ask ONU mechanical engineering students to invent a process that will save time and money and results in less waste.

As a senior capstone project, four students took on the challenge last fall at the request of Pete Suter, the owner of Shirley's Popcorn in Bluffton.

They designed and built a system for measuring and dispensing the ingredients into small packages which are sealed for use on demand.

Previously, an employee had to scoop a small amount of each ingredient, weigh it, then put it in a package and seal it, all by hand.

The system the students developed can mix several ingredients in varying amounts to make different flavors. It takes only 30 seconds to create a finished package of seasoning.

The system is controlled by a microprocessor which the students programmed for this particular purpose.

With the student's invention, a correct amount of each ingredient is dispensed from a hopper onto a scale that measures the correct amount. The ingredients are sealed between two sheets of packaging material, which are heat-sealed and then cut to form a package for a storage or shipping.

The cooperative effort was a good learning experience for the students, and their end product was helpful to a small business owner in nearby Bluffton.