{"id":576,"date":"2026-02-02T21:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/?p=576"},"modified":"2026-02-05T13:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T19:45:27","slug":"case-study-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/2026\/02\/02\/case-study-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering Capstone Delivers High-Impact Pallet Stacker for Ashley Furniture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>UW\u2013Stout seniors design a safer, efficient pallet-stacking solution ready for employer deployment <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Business Need: Improve efficiency for heavy, nonstandard pallet stacking <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>UW Solution: Custom engineered stacker built through applied capstone design <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Impact: ~60% cost reduction; scalable design for six additional units<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Employer &amp; Market Need <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Ashley Furniture needed an efficient, single-operator system for lifting and stacking 6-foot, 100-pound nonstandard pallets, replacing an underperforming third-party machine. This reflects broader automation and throughput needs in manufacturing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What the University Delivered <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>UW\u2013Stout\u2019s senior engineering team reverse-engineered existing equipment, conducted site visits, and designed a custom steel stacker supporting 1,800 pounds\u2014exceeding requirements. The solution lifts and holds pallets until 12 are collected, then lowers them for removal via electric pallet jack, with a maximum 40-second cycle time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Results &amp; Evidence <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>~60% cost reduction (approx. $25,000 final build). <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>125% load-capacity increase above requested spec. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Replicable design enables creation of six more stackers. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Single-operator workflow improves efficiency and usability. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Employer quote: &#8216;The UW\u2013Stout team built a better system, a better product for us.&#8217; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why It Matters <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The project demonstrates how applied engineering talent delivers measurable operational benefits while preparing students with hands-on, industry-relevant experience. It provides Ashley with a scalable automation tool supporting manufacturing competitiveness in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like what you see? Please <a href=\"#\">subscribe <\/a>to receive regular updates from our office on our economic efforts across Wisconsin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UW\u2013Stout seniors design a safer, efficient pallet-stacking solution ready for employer deployment Employer &amp; Market Need Ashley Furniture needed an efficient, single-operator system for lifting and stacking 6-foot, 100-pound nonstandard [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6468,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":611,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions\/611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/tech-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}