Those are Kevin Devine’s hands showing a tool changer rack his students designed. Kevin, an associate professor at Illinois State University, presented last week at PLM Connection on using NX in project-based design and build courses. As he notes in our video interview:

“Our students learn best by doing.”

One recent project students completed was the tool changer rack you see in Kevin’s hands above. He notes the students created all the tooling for the robotics automation lab. The lab is a good example of collaboration with industry. The Caterpillar Foundation provided major funding for the Integrated Manufacturing Lab.

Hear more about how he has integrated projects in his courses and find out how he was inspired to go into engineering from his father and farm life.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more detail on Kevin’s courses, here are his slides:

What projects did you develop in school? What would you challenge these students to create next semester?

- Dora

Click here to view the embedded video.

Local Motors and the Tacoma group decided to do some specialized parts during the open house.   They stared out with an introduction to Solid Edge Design1 which you can get through Local Motors for about $19 a month.

They then got some volunteers from the audience to do the design.  “Hi, you have never used this software before but we want you to step up here and make this design in front of this crowd of people!”  Brave guys… and both looked like real experts up there.

After the design was complete, it was taken over to the water jet machine for fabrication.  This is a device that shoots out a jet of water and sand to cut metal.  From here, Local Motors and some of the Tacoma folks did some prep work, welded the pieces, and created one very cool trailer hitch.

I compressed the whole thing into a  2 1/2 minute video that shows it going from art to part to art for Jeff’s Tacoma trailer hitch.  Best to turn your speakers up to full volume when you play it

EVS26 was a conference and exhibit event for electric vehicles and the electric drive industry. The topics covered included; Electric Cars, Electric Vehicles, EV Charging and Refueling, Auto Marketing, Environmental Policy, and Transportation Policy. The event included:

• Presentations, workshops, seminars and keynote speakers.
• A Ride, Drive & Charge event, where the public and registered attendees could test the latest battery, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell electric drive vehicles, bikes and scooters.
• Exhibits from EV automakers, technology developers, manufacturers, infrastructure companies.

Now that everyone is back home, I wanted to give you a brief recap of the show.

First of all, the booth;  Wow!    As you can see, it was gorgeous, and packed with Siemens technology.

Siemens Displays included:

• Drive Technology solutions: Information on Siemens’ motors and inverters.
• Private Charging solutions:  Showcasing VersiCharge line of products
• Commercial charging solutions: Showcasing variety of public charging solutions
• Electric highway technology (eHighways), showcasing the new environmental way heavy duty trucks can transport items from ports to metropolitan areas.
• Industry Automation solutions: optimal and sustainable battery manufacturing process.
• EV design software solutions
• An electric car that is an electric conversion performed by local engineering students utilizing Siemens PLM software during the EcoCAR competition.
• Siemens Smart Chopper. An all-electric chopper built by the famed American Chopper group.

Siemens also had a large number of speakers at the conference, including Daryl Dulaney CEO, I&C Sector.

How the Smart Grid will power Electric Cars – Video

Click here to view the embedded video.

As an EV/Alternative fuel enthusiast, I was extremely excited to see this glimpse of the future.

If you want more information on Siemens at EVS26  Click here.

Jerry

Click here to view the embedded video.

Joe integrates NX in the classroom through real-world projects. He says ”being able to apply a real-world application to your curriculum is going to be the best thing for a student to learn the material.”

That is a universal theme I hear from all the folks I talk to regarding academic programs in our industry. What real-world application would you recommend schools integrate in their curriculum?

- Dora

With more than 1800 attendees at this year’s event, we continue to see new faces show up at #PLMCONX. Check out these two stories from first time attendees:

Tony Valenti from Pratt & Whitney Aircraft speaks about connecting with other NX & Teamcenter Users:

Click here to view the embedded video.

PLM World Board member, Social Media Chair and Boeing employee, Richard Meager, caught up with a new Teamcenter user.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dig out your plaid shirt, buy a new pair of spiffy boots and a cowboy hat. We will see you next year in Dallas, TX!

Little did Octavio Heredia know when he was doing software engineering for distance learning years ago that one day similar work would take him all the way to Vietnam. He is pictured above getting an award of excellence in the academic track at PLM Connection. (That’s PLM World board member Bob Chalou to his left and Siemens PLM’s Hulas King to his right.)

Octavio is associate director of Arizona State Universities School of Engineering’s extended education program. That means global extensions through programs like the Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP). We  granted software to the organization last year. HEEAP was developed in collaboration with the government of Vietnam, the U.S.  Agency for International Development (USAID), the ASU, and Intel Corp. The goal is to develop a highly skilled technical workforce to attract and sustain high-tech manufacturing. HEEAP  works with top Vietnam technical universities to advance their Electrical and Mechanical Engineering curricula.

See my interview with Octavio and view the slides from his presentation below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is my interview with John where he shares highlights the technology programs at MichiganTech and some of the CAM work summer campers do:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The goal of the program is to develop interest in STEM careers. The school is also working toward increasing the diversity in their Mechanical Engineering Technology program. If you’d like more information, here are John’s slides:

What is your dream summer camp?

-Dora

P.S. UPDATE: John just let me know he’s teaching a “Green Technology: Sustain the Future” summer camp (think solar, fuel cells and wind power). Check it out on the link provided under the Science & Technology category.

We completed the Tecnomatix Track this morning with three sessions.  We typically boil these sessions down to the technical details but this time, marketing took a spot.  A good change-up if you ask me, but I’m from marketing so take it for what it’s worth.

Once again, we heard from Vodela Venkata, Product Manager for Manufacturing Process Planner.  He went into the details of leveraging enterprise bill of process (BOP), how standard practices are propagated to local processes through product BOPs and plant BOPs, allowing maximum reuse of your corporate practices.  This drives efficiencies and is especially valuable when new best practices are defined yet it allows for each individual plant to leverage its local diversity.  Global production means one facility can have very different machinery or automation to labor ratios from another yet still make the same or similar mix of products.  By utilizing your best strategies, you reduce unique solutions and improve quality and efficiency even with complex model mix production.

The next session was mine; How Tecnomatix software supports operational excellence.  I won’t bore you with the details but I did want to mention one thing.  It takes the entire organization to become operationally excellent.  It’s not just about waste on the shop floor.  If 80% of a product program’s cost is defined when you’re 20% through design engineering, what’s the actual cost to manufacture when design problems are discovered when you try to manufacture the product?  Today, operationally excellent organizations don’t simply call that the cost of doing business… they attack it.  (Want to learn more?  See my blog series here).

The final session of Day 4 was delivered by Kekin Sheth from Tata Consultancy Services.  Kekin showed the audience the details of how collaboration contexts leverage the Teamcenter data model.  This functionality allows collaboration between the data model and the analytical tools we use to simulate, validate and optimize process.  The context structure is extremely flexible and is built by deep references to the data model through structure and configuration contexts.  It’s a valuable tool as it provides the ability to leverage only what you need from the process data model yet still maintains the relationships necessary to assure alignment when you’ve completed your analysis.

That’s it from PLM Connection Americas 2012.  I do these blogs for those who couldn’t attend so I hope you found my updates of the Tecnomatix track useful and informative.

“What I heard from the business people was that PLM was the connector…technology has enabled us to build partnerships that geography stood in the way of before.”

Here is our video interview:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jane emphasized the role community colleges play in closing the technical workforce gap:

“The community college system is everywhere.  They are much more flexible in adapting their curriculum. I believe they speak more fluent business… I think they are going to be the go-to people…It’s not about courses alone but how you put them together to gain the right credentials to have buying power in the workplace.”

“What Siemens is doing as such an incredible corporate citizen, a $65 million investment… the difference that is going to make to the Iowa economy. The idea of making this best practice and seeing where it can go to scale, I think it is amazing…(the curriculum) is exactly the right thing. The right mix of academic courses…but then the reality of that project -based learning…That work-based learning was there… I think the employers will jump at that.”

Jane used to be a teacher in the Boston and Philadelphia public schools. She has done research in human development and education. She has a bachelor’s of arts in education from Boston College, and an master’s of education from Arcadia University. I also found out she is a speed reader – having taught speed reading over the summer teaching vacation. I asked her what she would say to encourage students to consider STEM-related careers:

“Understand that the things that you like to do like gaming and simulation are real jobs. Look for them…there is not a person in the world who would not be intrigued by that.”

She pointed out that we’ ve got to listen to young students who might be thinking a little farther out of the box than their teachers. High school science teacher Lisa Harding noted this in our interview. It was one of her students who pushed the school to start a science club and get into robotics competitions.

While Siemens PLM works with academic institutions to grant software licenses, there are still costs for space and hardware. Iowa Western has raised $1.4 million so far through outreach to the local community. Jane encourages community colleges to apply for DOL’s multi-year assistance grants .

If you want to hear more details on the Design Technology program at Iowa Western Community College, stay tuned, I interviewed instructor Joe Vanstrom and will share that shortly. In the meantime, remember you can download the white paper and curriculum we’ve made available.

- Dora

We kicked off the afternoon sessions with an update from Todd Bengtsson, Director, Manufacturing Business Group – Automotive.  Todd presented a Robotics and Automation technology update.  Faced with increasing complexity in product and process, automation is a critical enabler for flawless launches and greater flexibility, so the importance of these solutions is growing along with their capabilities.  From single-robot offline programming to entire line simulation with full device behavior is the trajectory these products have taken.   We are now able to provide the tools and collaboration for multiple disciplines to commission systems well before they are built and ramped-up on the shop floor.  Smart components, event-based simulation and actual connection to physical hardware such as PLCs, HMIs and safety interlocks means launch time is reduced, having a direct impact on time to sellable product.

 Next, Bryan Carr, Solution Consultant, walked us through the advances we’ve made by tighter integrations for layout and optimization of the plant floor.   Bringing layout information into a single data model where it is fully associated to product, process and resource information increases collaboration and delivers the results necessary for optimizing the efficiency of your capital investments.  Plant Simulation, the discrete event product for Tecnomatix, can now leverage the rich information in Teamcenter, including the 3D layout in JT, drastically reducing the time it takes to build a simulation model.

Kishan Chalumuri from Caterpillar then showed us how CAT is using virtual factory technology from Siemens under a CAT specific framework for standardizing workflow and data requirements.  Combining both, CAT has been able to reduce build issues by 60%!  To achieve these results, CAT implemented a gated process that starts with the voice of their internal customers, performs meta and 3D data analysis, execution and feedback for continuous improvement.  The extent to which CAT is using the 3D factory tools was amazing.  The 3D information is leveraged at multiple immersive systems sites to increase collaboration from Peoria to India.

The final three sessions of the day started with Unur Olgen of Production Modeling Corporation (PMC) who took us through a fascinating case study of a metal stamping plant.  Using a combination of our Plant Design and Optimization toolset, PMC extracted over $4 million in cost per year for their client.  Starting with static analysis of material flow to gather basis calculations of required material movement equipment and anchor points from factory layouts, they moved to our dynamic tool, Plant Simulation to dig into the details of indirect labor activity and material flow for current and future state operations.  The dynamic simulations allowed them to model fluctuations in material handling utilization, press availability and changeover, including scenarios of resource contention (which popped up quite often within a shift).  The result was significant not only in dollars but in efficiencies within the press and assembly operations across the plant.

Then Dr. Ulrich Raschke presented some of the latest enhancements for our human simulation solution Jack and talked about role Jack is playing in PLM.  From occupant packaging, to product design, through manufacturing and service operations, Jack gets around.  Ulrich highlighted a new feature just released; human fatigue analysis based on the Garg energy expenditure equations.  Now Jack can account for stress load, length and recovery which is important in repetitive tasks that fatigues workers.  It wouldn’t have been complete without a live demonstration of the MS Kinect integration with Jack.  Yours truly stood in front of the Kinect device and flew around the virtual environment, then stopped and performed some activities while the screen showed Jack’s eye view and stress on joints and back.  The cameras in the room came out for that one, but not for me!  Ulrich ended by showing us movies of motion capture by the latest technology which includes accelerometers which stream more robust information for life-like movements.

We finished Day 3 with a cool session from Rick Kozycki from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.  They utilize the Jack human model for simulating the warrior’s workspace.  You can imagine the challenges they face as they must accommodate a human model with all of the equipment the modern soldier requires to operate in-theater.   From ingress and egress from armored vehicles to operational requirements based on stringent military standards which must be met by contractors before they’re given the go-ahead.  It’s been an evolution for the Research Laboratory and there are more limitations to overcome.  Standards established by the military are now out-of-date because the modern soldier now has much more equipment to carry; armor, hydration packs, ammunition and medical supplies. However, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory knows that the sooner they can capture issues, the less costly military programs become.  Jack is a world-class soldier.

That’s it for tonight, more from PLM Connecction 2012 in Las Vegas tomorrow.