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Friday, March 2, 2012, Dr. Yi Wang, advisor of Pre-engineering program, with members from the pre-engineering club: Steson McCain, Cameron Kieffer, and Eddie Johnson II, visited the Structural Wood Systems, a division of the Harrison Industries, Inc., located in Greenville, AL. The team was welcomed by the chief engineer Pat Levy and the production Manager Steve Bush, and the engineer Andy.

The company makes state-of-the-art customized laminated timber for curveous domes, frames, arches, even ship frames, etc.

The team toured the entire processing workshops including storage, sort, gluing, arch production and steel joint workshops. The team also visited the actual gluing process of two beams, and got to know that two beams are finger-jointed together with heated glue by cutting their ends into finger shape first. The engineer Andy also demonstrated the tension test on the glued wood beams, in which a glued wood beam are pulled from two ends to break.

After the tour, the team had an enjoyable conversation with the engineers accompanied by drinks and chips. On the way back to AUM, the team discussed possible research projects that may be of significance to the industry which was observed during their visiting the workshops. What a great day.