DEVELOP3D - Technology for the product lifecycle

I just got details through of a new qualification in the UK that will allow 14 to 19 year olds to study vocational courses in a wide range of manufacturing disciplines while still in school and college. The Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design (MPD), which is being introduced in 28 areas around England from September, will allow students “to gain accredited qualifications in disciplines ranging from computer aided design (CAD) and engineering to furniture making and food safety as an alternative to studying GCSEs or A-Levels.”

The choice of qualifications, known as Additional and Specialist Learning (ASL), has recently been released ahead of launch and is intended to complement the study of core principles relevant to all manufacturing sectors by offering clear progression routes into the industry.

Derek Jones, who has led the development of the Diploma in MPD on behalf of food and drink sector skills council Improve, said: “The Diploma in MPD is a response to the long-standing complaint from industry that young people are leaving education without the practical skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the workplace.

“Its main purpose is to give young people a sound understanding of what manufacturing is in an applied, real-life context. The core topics cover product design, materials science, production systems and business and management, and it also pays close attention to ‘employability’ skills like communication, numeracy and ICT, as well as ’soft’ skills such as critical thinking and team work.

“But the intention is also to give students an education they can actually use, which will stand them in good stead in the workplace. So the ASL requirement has been developed to allow students to pick from a wide range of existing, recognised qualifications, be it something specific to a particular sector or to a particular manufacturing theme, or on a different topic altogether, for example a modern language, which could be useful to them. This offers students the widest possible choice of future paths, preparing them for further academic study in college or university, but and giving them the chance to gain qualifications that will be recognised in the workplace if they choose to seek a job or further vocational training through an Apprenticeship or similar.”

The Diploma in MPD has been developed by employers working with the five manufacturing sector skills councils – Improve, Cogent, Skillfast-UK, Semta, Proskills. Employers will play a central role in its delivery, working as part of consortia, or partnerships, with school and colleges. Their role will range from offering work placements to assisting with project topics to assisting with teachers’ Continuing Professional Development.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for employers to shape the education of the next generation of workers,” added Mr Jones. “Not only is this putting manufacturing right at the heart of mainstream education, it is mirroring the way companies train and develop staff in the workplace and giving young people practical skills they require in the workplace.”

Notes: I have just two thoughts about this. the first is “Thank **** for that. What took so long.” And the second is that I seriously hope this isn’t just a temporary initiative and something long term. I’m going to try and get hold of the man in charge and have a chat and see what the plans are. The real challenge I can see is two fold. Firstly, getting kids to engage with design and manfacturing at an age early enough for them to find taking on these course attractive. The other is that the interest is maintained while on these courses. It strikes me that the use of CAD within education can do wonderful things. Kids love tech. If you can tie some of the amazing technology we all perhaps take for granted and expose kids to it at an early enough stage in their career formulation, then it might stick. Because frankly, if we don’t. We’re screwed three ways from Sunday.

#2: Looks like a screwed up a little on the previous post, so after a brief chat with Brian Shephard, Executive Vice President, Product Development at PTC, let’s get a few things straight – and they relate to direct modelling vs real time recaulation of a parametric, history-based model. What the video below shows (despite my initial thoughts; blame jetlag and my old friend Gordon) is the real-time calculation technology that’s being delivered in the Pro/Engineer Wildfire 5.0 release.

This will allow you to grab, drag and drop geometry features within your model, make dynamic edits and such, without the recalculation overhead traditionally associated with a history-based modelling system. According to Shephard, the system respects any constraints applied to the model, allowing you to preserve design intent and intelligence that parametric modelling has always allowed – but gives you a much more dynamic and efficient working environment to work. It doesn’t destroy the feature tree – in fact, it’s very similar to how systems like SolidWorks operate with its Instant3D technology.

What PTC has also demonstrated today is the explicit modelling tools which are planned to be introduced into the Wildfire 6.0 release. This is much more akin to the modelling methodology found in CoCreate and it’ll be introduced into Pro/Engineer in the next release cycle (which working on the basis of the last few releases, will be demonstrated sometime next year and shipped at the very end). This works differently to that described above. Yes, it won’t respect your feature-tree/history, allowing you complete freedom (within the usual topological limitations inherent with all these tools) to edit your geometry as you see fit, in a dynamic manner. What’s interesting to note is that the system doesn’t destroy the history tree either, but rather adds an additional feature for each ‘explicit’ operation at the end of the tree, affording you some control and editability.

#1: It’s June, it’s the annual PTC/User event and this year it’s in a swelteringly hot Orlando. PTC are making a huge noise about its Social Product Development initiative, intended to give a greater ability for those developing products to actually conduct both the formal and informal interactions that occur with a design project, in a managed, but not overly so, environment. There’s going to be a whole host of stuff coming in the next few days and you’ll probably be sick and tired of hearing the term “Social Product Development” (Jim Brown take on the subject is here and also see the note below)

But I thought I’d kick things off with a look at what’s coming in Pro/Engineer Wildfire 5.0 – due for shipping sometime in the near future, presumed to be Q4. After all. That’s what we all really want to know. Isn’t it? And of course, in true DEVELOP3D style, it’s perhaps best done with a bunch of sketchy, shaky videos.

Things to look out for are the new modelling tools for assemblies and mechanisms, the new draughting/drawing creation interface. It’s based on the Ribbon – in itself something I commented about back in January because the stark contrast between this and two UI methods Pro/E already has.

You’ll also see a quick sneaky look at the direct editing tools that PTC are developing for inclusion into Pro/Engineer (no confirmed shipping date yet) – note that it references many of killer things that CoCreate have been doing for many years – particularly the Co-Pilot manipulation widget used to manipulation of geometry. But its the same story of direct editing of feature-based geometry, without the traditional lag that history-based modelling gives you.

Rendering: Now based on mental images rendering engine, Mental Ray and a bunch of new quality material pre-sets. That sees a move away from the LightWorks rendering engine and should see you be able to achieve some fantastic results, particularly if you take advantage of global illumination to get your image quality just right.

Interoperability: There’s a new (no additional cost) import options for working with both SolidWorks and Inventor data models.

One final one I’ve got to find a bit more about is the new Pro/Engineer Spark Analysis Extension is the “only commercially available product that helps analyse and optimise the electromechanical clearance and creepage properties of designs.”

We’ll be covering this in more depth as we get more details. Ken Wong is also doing some wonderful stuff (including the most delightful video voice over ever) over at Desktop Engineering and Josh is doing his thing at SolidSmack.com.

Note: Turns out that PTC has copyrighted the term Social Product Development. Yup. Not exactly in the grand scheme of all things social media related is it? I think that simple fact says a great deal. Mostly about how larger, traditional software vendors (and PTC are by no means the only one doing it) jump on the latest in web 2.0 trends – and completely miss the point by a pretty wide margin.

‘Up and Running with Autodesk Inventor Simulation 2010: A Step-by-Step Guide to Engineering Design Solution’ from simulation consultant and Experience Manufacturing columnist, Wasim Younis, is published by Elsevier and features 352 pages of practical examples and advice covering all the core aspects and capabilities of dynamic simulation and stress analysis.

“Over my years of training and working with Inventor users I have, unfortunately, seen very little adoption of this tremendously powerful simulation technology and its integration within the design process, despite it having been around for several years,” commented Younis on the background to the launch of his book. “In my opinion, one of the key reasons is a lack of confidence when applying simulation technology and techniques within the users’ own product and development environments.

“With this in mind I have written this book using actual design problems which have greatly benefited from the use of simulation technology, but perhaps more importantly, I’ve also attempted to explain the process using a step by step approach, with explanation and tips, trying to answer the questions a typical designer and development engineer may want to ask whilst performing the task. The design problems are carefully chosen as they cover all core aspects and capabilities of dynamic simulation and stress analysis, and their solutions are universal, so users should be able to apply the knowledge quickly to their own design problems with more confidence.”

DEVELOP3D visitors can pre-order the book before 19th June can get a 20% discount off the list price of 68.95 Euro. www.vdssolutions.co.uk