SHREVEPORT – When BENTELER Steel/Tube Manufacturing Corporation technicians begin work in the international company’s new $21 million threading facility at the Port of Caddo-Bossier later this year, they’ll be using an interface designed by an LSUS graduate student.

Sarah Okpe, a computer systems technology student at LSUS, spent her BENTELER summer internship building the human-machine interface that will allow operators to produce seamless steel tubes for clients in the energy industry.

Okpe is one of three LSUS computer science graduate students that assisted BENTELER in the creation of new applications that will improve efficiency and data capture at one of the key manufacturing outfits in Shreveport-Bossier.

“I didn’t realize how huge this project was, and it dawned on me the significance of this,” Okpe said. “These have been the most outstanding set of individuals I’ve had the chance to work with.

Working side by side, Okpe and BENTELER engineers developed an interface where operators can control every facet of the threading facility.

“This application is a client interface in which the operators can communicate with the machines, communicate with the database, and communicate with services,” Okpe said. “The whole idea is that operators can stand in the pulpit with this interface and know if the machines are working, if the threading lines are moving, and if the products are correctly threaded from start to finish.

“I cannot thank BENTELER enough for all the training and guidance – they were always there for me when I had questions about the project,” Okpe added.

Tahmina Anondi, another LSUS student intern, pieced together the framework for a new safety application that will allow the local BENTELER facility to transition to digital forms of incident records and safety data storage.

Quality control is a vital function of any manufacturing process, and LSUS student Mridula Mavuri fashioned an application that not only improves the defect-reporting process but also includes a visual model, where the technician can indicate the type and exact location of the defect on the steel tube.

“All of these applications are very valuable to us,” said Michael Fritz, a process and system optimization manager at BENTELER Steel/Tube who is a central figure in the company’s software engineer internship program. “We provide students an opportunity to get hands-on experience in real life as part of our software engineering team.

“They are working on solutions that we really need, and they are supporting our workforce. It’s a win-win for both BENTELER and LSUS.”

Fritz added that university interns bring new knowledge and ideas to a software engineering industry that’s ever-changing. LSUS students participated as full members in BENTELER meetings and planning sessions, learning the dynamics of a real industrial setting.

The three LSUS students demonstrated their applications to BENTELER officials in August, and all three will continue to refine their applications throughout the fall at BENTELER.

For Subhajit Chakrabarty, the director of LSUS’s computer systems technology master’s program, a close association to a company with an international profile yet a meaningful local footprint has many benefits.

“We want our students to take what they’ve learned in class and apply it to industry-level applications,” Chakrabarty said of BENTELER, which has 86 locations in 26 countries and around 23,000 employees, 350 of whom work in the Shreveport facility. “Beyond the students’ hands-on experience, it’s a chance for BENTELER to review our students and possibly identify future employees.

“These internships also provide feedback on our curriculum to see what’s working and what’s not. Michael (Fritz) and the BENTELER people are incredible partners who provide such valuable experience to our students.”

The partnership between BENTELER and LSUS dates back to BENTELER’s 2015 arrival in Shreveport-Bossier, but the relationship accelerated after the COVID-19 pandemic with consistent internship opportunities.

But the relationship goes deeper than student internships – LSUS faculty and BENTELER officials are also joining forces to explore the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve operations at BENTELER.

“It’s often said that industry and academia don’t really mesh because industry is practice and academia is theoretical,” Chakrabarty said. “But we’re pursuing grants together and aiming to publish our research outcomes in both industry and academic publications.

“LSUS and BENTELER are collaborating across the full gamut.”

“AI is a completely new field for us, but we know there are other industries that are benefitting from it,” Fritz said. “We’re really glad that a partner like LSUS is just five miles down the road exploring this topic, and we hope we can learn and implement ideas from this.”