College students helping Idaho cheese plant expand offerings

A group of mechanical engineering students at Brigham Young University-Idaho are helping the owners of a local cheese plant renovate existing equipment to produce new products.  The five students, working under Alan Dutson, the university’s mechanical engineering academic outcomes and assessment director, are working to upgrade the Nelson-Ricks Creamery for their “capstone” project — which offers a real-world challenge in lieu of writing a thesis. It’s among several projects either in the works or in planning to increase the old cheese plant’s profitability, production and visibility within the Eastern Idaho community.