Archive for February 9th, 2009
February 9th, 2009 | 
Author: I attended three technical sessions today. The first one was Sheet Metal. Why I do it like this and like that? , with Wayne Tiffany.
I’m glad I arrived early because the place was completely full. I think this session is one of the most popular ones, and with good reason. Wayne explained to us the different reasons why sometimes we need to take a certain approach when modeling sheet metal parts. K factor was discussed, as well as the use of mitter flanges and close corners, among several other topics. I must say, as a new user of the Sheet Metal functionality, I learned a few things today. I won’t try to go into detail about what was presented in this session, because you can download the presentation from www.kcswug.com , as soon as it becomes available. Also visit the following websites that were offered to us as additional sources of information:
www.tyharness.co.uk/sheetmetal
The second technical session I attended today was No Red Pencil Required. Learning to use SW Design Checker, with Richard Doyle.
This was totally new for me. I must confess that I had seen the Design checker among the add-ins, but I had never actually used it before. It turns out it’s a powerful tool for verification of drawings, parts and assemblies, that compares sketches, fonts, materials, etc. against a standard that we specify in advance. This presentation will soon be made available online, and there may even be a video out there pretty soon.
My third and last technical session was on How to Use SolidWorks to Develop and Deliver Computer Based Training for Products, with Joe Craig and Frank Reiss, from Brand Hydraulics.
These guys came to talk to us about the solution they came up with for a problem they were experimenting. Not so long ago, due to the lack of experience and training of their assemblers, they were getting a great amount of cut O-rings during the process of assembly of their valves. To solve this problem in an easy and affordable way, they developed computer based training that uses PhotoWorks, SolidWorks Animator and a bit of coding in Perl. It’s really neat! The assembler in training gets a realistic image of his/her work environment, with all the pieces and tools that would be available during the process of assembly. From these tools, the trainee gets to choose the ones that will be needed during each step. If the choice is correct, an animation of that particular step in the assembly process will play and positive feedback will be given. If the choice is incorrect, however, the trainee will be prompted to try again, so in a way this is also a test for certification.
They made all this information AND the code needed to create this sort of training available to all that were present during the session. They said it was non-proprietary and we were free to share it, so, if you want it, send me an email or leave a comment and I’ll share with you.
In the afternoon, I headed over to the 10th Annual SWUGN Summit. Why? Well, mainly because I knew that during this particular meeting our dear Richard Doyle would be presented with a very sincere and very well deserved token of our appreciation for all his hard work and dedication to the SolidWorks Community. I don’t think Richard was expecting any of this. He was certainly moved! Same as many of you out there that have met him, I consider Richard a very good friend and I’m certainly glad he’s getting the recognition he deserves. Congratulations, Richard! Keep up the excellent work!
Right after the summit, we were whisked away in a bus and driven to the Great Hall of China in Epcot for the press dinner event. I had never been to Epcot before and all I can say is that the place is absolutely beautiful. Here are a few pictures I took.
After seeking Nancy Buchino’s approval, the other bloggers and I left the dinner early to attend at least part of the CSWP event back at the hotel. She even helped us get transportation! Thank you, Nancy for treating us so well! It was amazing! We arrived when the event was in full swing. I had no idea there were so many CSWP’s out there! The contest had already begun, and everybody was busy having a bite to eat, something to drink, having a great time and, yes, building their rollercoaster. At some point during the night we managed to get a hold of a table and a bunch of pieces and we put together our own rollercoaster. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work the way it was supposed to, and I think we were even made fun of on Twitter, but nevertheless it was lots of fun.
By the way, if you ever wonder who are the guys responsible for your suffering with the certification test… here you got them!
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I had been told by quite a few people that my head would be spinning by the end of the day one at SolidWorks World. Well, I can’t say it’s really spinning, but I actually feel fired up and full of energy after this crazy cool day I’ve had today.
This is a picture I took of the breakfast area this morning. See all this people? This is only a small fraction of all the people present here at SolidWorks World. According to what was said today at the first of three general sessions, a bit more than 4,300 people showed up this year, which is actually more than they were expecting, given that the country is going through a recession and many companies need to cut down on their expenses or let people go (not precisely go to SolidWorks World).
The day started early with the General Session. Jeff Ray, CEO of DS SolidWorks, began the session by commenting on some statistics that talk about the company’s achievements and goals for the near future. In this image here you can see how DS SolidWorks rates itself when it comes to Customer Service, Performance and User Experience. According to Jeff Ray, this ratings come directly from feedback gathered from the users in many different ways and is considered to be accurate and sufficiently representative of the great majority of users. Notice that none of these grades is a solid A or even a B+; the reason for this is simple: there’s always room for improvement, and I think they always keep that in mind all the time.
But Jeff Ray didn’t only feed us statistics, he also shared with us a few stories of ingenuity involving SolidWorks users out there, like the design of the a mini wind powered generator, that could very well be a solution for the energy crisis, and supply clean energy to a household or building for an affordable price. This is a picture of the design.
The amazing efforts from Regenerative Technologies (RTI) were also mentioned among these stories. This company has developed technology capable of cleansing bone tissue without breaking down the cells, making it possible for everything to be used, with next to zero waste. This allows saving hundreds of lives out of one single donor. Amazing, isn’t it?
Another one of these stories shared by Jeff Ray was about this company called Trojan UV Technologies that came up with the idea of bombarding water with UV light in order to purify it. This amazing technology will hopefully provide a solution for the huge problem that affects a large percentage of the human population on earth: the lack of safe drinking water.
Another amazing story of ingenuity shared by Jeff Ray involved a company named Design That Matters (DTM) and their incubators for premature babies made out of salvaged parts from old vehicles. They are building these for third world countries, where the index of mortality is greatest during the first year of life, mainly due to lack of medical attention and equipment. This project in particular seems to have called the attention of Sir Richard Branson, founder and president of Virgin Group, and who was the guest keynote speaker at today’s general session.
Jeff Ray’s interview of Sir Richard Branson went pretty much like a chat. Turns out that Sir Branson is a very easy going and fun person, who, in his own words, can’t say no to a challenge and loves trying to do things that haven’t been done before. This personal trait is probably part of what has contributed to his incredible success. I was surprised by how many different industries are part of the Virgin group, including not only the records company, Virgin airlines and Virgin Galactic, but many more I would’ve never imagine, such as Virgin Books, Virgin Health, and Virgin Money.
Something that he said really touched me, because it speaks of his concern with the individual, rather than the profit. See, Jeff Ray asked him what his advice would be for companies trying to make it in this weak economy. His advice was for the companies was to continue to employ people. He said before laying off their workforce, companies need to sit down with them and try to find other solutions, such as job sharing or cutting down hours.
By the way, Sir Branson didn’t charge a fee for his appearance at SolidWorks World, but rather asked that the “payment” was actually given as a donation for his group of elders, a cause that he supports and strongly believes in.