Hello all,

Now that I am overcoming my illness I would like to take a little time to comment on the SolidWorks World User Conference 2008.

To start with I want to mention that I ran into several architectural users of SolidWorks.  Hmmmm.  When I asked why they are not using Revit, AutoCAD, Chief architect many of them commented on ease of use and ability to do more.  I wish they could have provided more detail to these comments but I did find them using the SolidWorks Weldment tool for stick framing and structural design.  Then using those models in the COSMOS analysis package to ensure they were meeting code.  When I sold SolidWorks I worked with many companies that designed glass curtain walls, spiral stair cases, and the structural design of commercial building for much the same reason.

I met with educators from around the world and discovered some very interesting things.  In Finland schooling is very vocational even down to the elementary school level.  The instructor that I met from Finland discussed how by the age of twelve their students were not only proficient in designing/analyzing in SolidWorks but also manufactured everything they designed.  That Is a country that is embracing technology and science to increase their global economic standing.  

For the students here, as you enter your chosen profession you need to work hard to make our country change gears and do more to encourage science and technology in schools.  you can do this many ways; mentor students, meet with government representatives, work with your company and encourage them to join organizations like FIRST http://www.usfirst.org/.  This organization gets companies to donate 6 weeks of their time to adopt a group of students from a school to design and build robots for a Superbowl style competition complete with vendors, sponsors, Presidential visits and prizes.  Last year the competition was so big it had to be held in the Georgia Dome.  Check it out.

I also picked up some great quotes.  I will focus on this one : “There is no partial credit in the machine shop”  translation for architecture students : “There is no partial credit on the job site”.

Lets examine this quote - At the end of the day if you have not put all of your effort into ensuring your design, documentation and communication is not 100% accurate with no chance of being misinterpreted your company will have lost money.  IN manufacturing as soon as the machining tool starts the customer owns that piece of material and the time.  If you did not locate all of your features, size all of your features, apply the appropriate tolerances as required for the design to work correctly, etc… or dimensioned your design in a way that can be interpreted as loosely as government laws, gossip or other prominent books that people follow you did not do your job.  This will reflect poorly when it comes time for review.  So, take a little extra time.  Review your work.  Ask your self over and over again “Why will this not work?”.  Have other review your work.  Ask them “Why will this not work?” When you think you are done get up.  Walk around.  Come Back ask one more time ” Why will this not work? and have I missed anything?”.  Then get it approved.  You are responsible for your own actions and work.  Be the best.

More to come

Chris MacCormack

Even though the conference has not officially started yet, I have been incredibly busy.

Beginning @ around 10 am I met with Richard Doyle, who passes his condolences to my semester at NTI.  Actually, he expressed again how fantastic it was that the second semester students are dressed to impress.  We had a great discussion on this point with the theme that in the USA every individual has every right in the world to tattoo themselves, pierce what ever you want and look however you please.  It is nice to be in America.  However, that being said potential employers also reserve the right not to hire you.  If you attend an interview and they feel you do not look the part, no matter how good you are they may pass you over for someone with less talent but more fashion sense.

Next up was alpha testing for the COSMOS group.  Due to the fact that I signed a non-disclosure with my students lives at stake I cannot detail this out for you.  I can say, I know that I am teaching students extremely valuable skills and shortcut that will pay off in industry with productivity increases and more work in the graphic interface.

Finally I closed the night with Vince Adams, Hari Padmanaban and many other COSMOS stars.  It is always very humbling to be in the presence of mathematical genius much like hanging with Mr “D”.   Dinner conversations ranged from product discussions (which went right over my wife’s head) to complaints that the San Diego Chargers should not have to play in 20 degree weather.

Vince Adams, who visited the NTI campus last year, spoke very highly of our program to his associates.  We discussed some opportunities about how our students may help COSMOS and visa-versa.  For those who are not aware the COSMOS group is head quartered here in California.  Several of the gents I was dining with were very excited to here about our program and wished there was something like NTI in CA.  (Mr. Fossen are you listening? Ha ha ha ha.  Cheers!.

Well, time to get more networking done.  Students should check out the SolidMentor blog site.  Much like the yahoo forum this blog can provide tech support within 4 hours by some of the industries best. By the way, I spoke with several of the SolidWorks Bloggers yesterday and they all enjoyed the answer to Wesley’s turning and broaching question as much as I did.  hoo hoo hoo haa haa haa.   Al kidding aside, they are very anxious to help you all succeed not only in school but in the workforce as well.   Keep posting, asking questions and offering up your own experiences.  I t will pay off.

And so the journey begins. 

Commandment 1 - I am your classroom lord and wrathful God of education and I will always lead your from the front, not the rear.

Throughout the past 10 weeks we have worked together to ensure that we are prepared, we research, we solve problems, we engage the team we have created, we make things simple….

Over those same ten weeks I have been preparing for two 1 hour presentation of a worldwide audience.  Your research presentations were based on the style of research that I used to make these presentations.  I triple checked criteria to ensure that I had all of my notes in order, that my presentation would fit 45 minutes and would fully engage the audience.  Throughout both of my presentations I will be the expert, that being said I will use my audience for about 30 minutes of my time.  They will answer questions, they will provide feedback, they will share experiences and best of all they do not even know it.  Knowing that I am going to present 2 topics to anywhere from 50 - 150 people from all over the world I had to do my research.  Oh, and by the way that is 2 hours of being in front of those people.  I need to ensure that I am at the top of my game.  My preparation included research from when I began my career at Northwest Technical Institute.  I listened to and heard the students day by day.  I am using my experience with you all as the premise for my GD&T presentation.

Many of you experienced the pain and suffering I went through to make my presentations come to life.  Commandment 4 - I will punish thy minds because the more thy struggles in training the lest thy bleedest in industry. 

The preparation for this event is grueling, stressful and rewarding all at the same time. 

The stressful part is making sure all of my plans are set.  Hotel room, flight, schedule as well as making sure I do not end up in San Diego with only a pair of boxer shorts. 

Reward comes from some doors that have opened up for me in the last couple of weeks and doors that I am working on opening up to the students and alumni of Northwest Technical Institute.  I am hoping to meet and line up opportunities that reach beyond the borders of the Midwest.  I am hoping to schedule peoples time to visit the school and discuss what their companies do and where student like you would fit into their organization.  Last but not least - the greatest reward is knowing that I worked hard to make a great product that will not only teach something but open up great discussions where everyone can participate and create a moment of exponential knowledge.

More to come from San Diego.

Following the formidable (and very large) footsteps of Mr. John Hartman I have decided to launch the NTI - SolidWorks CAD Lab Evening.  This will be primarily an open night for NTI current students who wish to take a crack at SolidWorks software or  hone their skills.  Occasionally I will do demonstrations of the software and help groups out with modeling problems.

The NTI - SolidWorks CAD Lab Evening will be held every Thursday from 6:00pm until you give up.  If no one arrives by 6:00pm the lab will be closed for that evening.  Depending on the turnout I may have to use a signup sheet.  This will be determined after the first couple of 1st come 1st serve sessions.

The Lab will be closed Thursday’s January 17 and the 24 as I will be traveling to do presentations a the SolidWorks World Conference.

 I invite all students to participate.  For those architecture students who would like to learn another CAD please feel free to come.

Chris MacCormack

Wow,

Over the last 24 hours I cannot tell you all how much I have enjoyed the http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/solidworks/! online group. My 2nd semester class was able to get much needed information on how to spec out a helical gear on a CAD print in a matter of minutes (About 78) and Matthew Lorono–one of the fine person’s moderating the group with me–recently launched the SolidWorks Legion blog site. There is currently a post from him about Design with intent and Horizontal Modeling which I found to be fantastic. I will question him on a couple of his points, but his intent in this post is loud and clear. Use best modeling practices to ensure changeability, ease of creation and an overall stable CAD database for all to use.

Chris

COSMOS? What is this COSMOS?

COSMOS is the fully integrated finite elemental analysis tool for SolidWorks.

Finite Elemental Analysis what?

Finite elemental analysis is a numerical analysis system that calculates the Stress/Strain (among other things) on all of the cool designs you come up with here at NTI and as you enter the work force. In other words, will your design live up to the abuse they will receive in everyday use?
This is one of the ways engineering departments validate designs throughout the design process (From beginning to end). As you begin your designs you may have a concept on which you will pursue. With tools like COSMOS you can begin immediately validating these concepts to ensure that when it becomes time to spend $50,000 on a prototype you will have a good idea that your design will work properly and ultimately ensure a quality product.

So you may be asking why I am talking about this. Well, yesterday afternoon, Vince Adams from SolidWorks Corporation stopped by after an eight hour COSMOSWorks User Group Meeting to tour the school and speak with the students. Vince is the product manager for the COSMOS products at SolidWorks Corporation. In this position Vince oversees the ongoing development of COMSOS products. This includes visiting the COSMOS customers worldwide to understand the FEA needs that these people deal with everyday and incorporate those needs into the next generation of COSMOS products.

For NTI a visit like this means we gain some fantastic insight into the SolidWorks/COSMOS customer base future employee needs. As Vince spoke to the students, he mentioned that knowing how to analyze your designs and incorporate analysis into your design process is quickly becoming a necessary skill set for students like you entering the workforce. Tools like COSMOS will help you all to be able to do this with little knowledge of the mathematics behind it. Although Vince was quick to note that understanding the mathematics involved in FEA will make you better at these analyses.

Vince spoke at great length about many topics of which I will blog more about in the weeks to come. I do want to thank Vince very much for this visit and hope he will return in the future. For those of you how are interested in doing some research about FEA Vince Adams has a book published with Abraham Askenazi of Buell motorcycles called “Building Better Products with Finite Element Analysis w/ NEi Nastran Software and Tutorial”. He noted that this book talks more about the analysis process and less about the mathematics. By the way, Nastran is another FEA package I believe was designed by or for NASA. (Not 100% sure on this)

More to come…

All, Today (Oct 16, 2007) NTI began our 1st CSWA exams. So far I am very impressed with the results both in total score and in broken out categories. In speaking with others that have taken the exam and some inside knowledge of the test the anticipated pass rate ranges between 50 - 75%. As of right now, we are within that rate.

After taking the test myself I truly believe that this test could easily be used with any CAD modeling program out there. The test is geared more to the students’ ability to interpret poor sketches and develop accurate models from those interpretations. Those who will be taking this test next week should abide by these recommendations: take your time - you have 3 hours (use them), pay attention - to the entire problem and question, double check your answers, but do not over analyze them, and finally, , it has nothing to do with your GPA and this time around it is free.