PLM in design and engineering education: International perspectives

Technological advances in the last decade have influenced changes in the design and engineering industries on a global scale. Lean and collaborative product development are approaches increasingly adopted by the industry and seen as the core of product lifecycle management. These trends have created the need for new skilled professionals, and universities should adapt their curricula in response. There is an increased need for academia to work with industry in order to meet these challenges. This article reports on the Parametric Technology Corporation Academic Research Symposium held in April 2011. The topics were centred around understanding the essence of product lifecycle management and its impact on design and engineering education. Furthermore, examples of implementing product lifecycle management and collaborative practices in higher education were presented from the United States and France. This article concludes with a discussion of the recommendations made at the symposium for the future development and support of key skills across university curricula

Project-based collaborative engineering learning to develop Industry 4.0 skills within a PLM framework

Training and learning methods for engineering students, in the disciplines of product design and manufacturing, are becoming more difficult and complex since they have to integrate theoretical technical knowledge, skills in computer-aided applications (CAx) and skills in collaborative work practices. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools support structured collaborative practices and CAx supports engineering content creation. Both types of software applications are key in the Industry 4.0 development. They also evolve over time, incorporate new functionalities, and change their graphical user interface (GUI), adding complexity to the learning process. Traditionally, engineering education addresses the learning of CAx and PLM tools separately, hindering a holistic learning experience to the students. This communication presents a structured integrated vision of these tools and their learning. Project-Based Learning (PBL) is proposed as a learning approach suitable to provide a learning experience that facilitates the development of Industry 4.0 skills and competences

Accelerating the adoption of Industry 4.0 supporting technologies in manufacturing engineering courses

[EN] Universities are one of the fundamental actors to guarantee the dissemination of knowledge and the development of competences related to the Industry of the Future (IoF) or Industry 4.0. Computer Aided (CAX) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technologies are key part in the IoF. With this aim, it was launch a project focused on Manufacturing and partially funded by La Fondation Dassault Systèmes. This communication presents a review on CAX-PLM training, four initiatives already in place in universities participating in the project, the project scope, the approach to integrate with the industrial context, the working method to consider different competence profiles and the development framework.The authors express their gratitude to the other project colleagues and to La Fondation Dassault Systèmes for its funding support.Ríos, J.; Mas, F.; Marcos, M.; Vila, C.; Ugarte, D.; Chevrot, T. (2017). Accelerating the adoption of Industry 4.0 supporting technologies in manufacturing engineering courses. MATERIALS SCIENCE FORUM. 903:100-111. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.903.100S10011190

PLM and early stages collaboration in interactive design, a case study in the glass industry

Product design activity is traditionally presented as a succession of four to six stages. In the early stages of design, during the search for concepts, multi-disciplinary teams are working together, sometimes on the fringe of the digital design chain. But it is during these stages, that most of the product development cost is committed. Therefore, collaboration should be emphasized, and PLM software should contribute to it strongly. This paper first defines the boundaries of the early stages of design. Then, we analyze designer collaboration in this stage and describe the knowledge necessary for efficient collaboration. Finally, we propose and test a concept for a tool to assist the early stages of design, to be integrated in a continuum with other existing digital design tools. A case study is presented in Verallia, specialized in the design and manufacturing of glassware

A Learning Architecture: How Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Drives Innovation in The Curriculum and Pedagogy of Fashion Business

There is a global trend toward improving the student learning experience in higher education. Industry-oriented educational courses must also consider how to prepare graduates for their future professional practice with an awareness of holism and system thinking sustainability, tolerance of uncertainty, knowledge of relevant digital technologies and use of theory. This study responds to these challenges and illustrates an alternative pedagogic approach for the emerging sub-discipline of fashion business. Fashion business is an important and emerging subdiscipline of fashion with limited published educational research. This subdiscipline has particular significance given the cultural importance, economic significance, ethical and environmental impact of the associated industry. The acceleration and influence of technology is significantly affecting industrial working practices through the adoption of knowledge management systems such as product life-cycle management (PLM). This study represents the first implementation of a PLM philosophy and system within an undergraduate course aligned with the retail, footwear and apparel sector. The study aimed to employ PLM to establish a community of learning between students, educators and industry with the intention of creating a participatory learning experience that mimics current practice and supports professional identity formation rather than adding digital transformation to the curriculum. The PLM system was used to update, sequence and connect the subject- and work-based elements more coherently such that engagement in practice is a source of critical and innovative thinking empowering graduates to take the practice of fashion business forward. This action research study involved the implementation of PLM as a way of teaching a global sourcing module in the second year of the course (cohort n=28) over a phased implementation from 2014 to 2018. Communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) is used to understand the learning design and the identity work that students engage in as they develop professionally. Data was collected from students via video and interview, from the practitioner researcher and from external stakeholders. Data from all sources were analysed collectively by using Wenger’s (1998) learning architecture to establish a coding scheme. This thesis describes how the adoption of PLM established a community of learning (CoL) through an educational partnership with the global technology company, PTC Inc. It argues that PLM is a powerful tool of collaboration between students, industry and educators and provides a robust mechanism to establish a community of learning, which also preserves the unique principles derived from design pedagogy. This thesis asserts that a design pedagogy supports students’ professional development and bring coherence and relevance to the curriculum and argues for the preservation of this unique learning experience in order to support the successful transition through education and onto the workplace. Further, this thesis illustrates how the insight and energy of students and graduates, who are at the periphery of practice, have much to contribute to the development of ways of working in an industry in transition. The value of closer collaboration between industry and academia is identified and the thesis makes recommendations for ways that PLM might be developed to achieve this. The study also demonstrates the applicability and value of the methodology of action research to collaborative and change projects in higher education

Web-Based Virtual Learning for Digital Manufacturing Fundamentals for Automotive Workforce Training

Automotive manufacturers are experiencing difficulties in hiring highly qualified workers with ability to adopt new technologies fast. This kind of ongoing need for training is slowing innovation. This problem is related to the difficulty in obtaining consistent training resources and services especially with lack of training for advanced manufacturing practices for specialised industry sectors. More and more occupations require degrees higher than secondary education because of the global need for so called ‘knowledge workers’. An example of an interactive learning programme, developed with the support of narrated presentation technology, podcasts and online access has been shown in this paper. Sixty nine online modules have been developed during the course of a project funded by Department of Labor for automotive sector. These online modules have been developed for lifelong learners to be used and accessed at any time (asynchronously from a website). Curriculum modules, developed for the Introduction to Digital Manufacturing are a part of a certificate programme which expands the pool of skilled workers, enhance the abilities of incumbent workers, and strengthen the entire advanced manufacturing sector

Implementation of Advanced Collaborative Platform for Project Based Learning in Naval Architecture Studies

In the education process it is of utmost importance to adequately prepare the student for the labor market in accordance with current achievements in the professional field. In doing so, the standard educational process is often not sufficiently aligned with the needs of the market, especially in terms of preparation for work in a collaborative project environment, which is expected in nowadays modern design company. Today, the industry uses advanced digital collaborative software solutions that integrate ideas, design, development and follow the product life cycle. Such software needs to be implemented in the contemporary education process. In this paper authors present the implementation of the 3DExperience Collaborative Platform in the education process of naval architecture, based on modeling of a sample ship in order to analyze its global strength. Students are being familiarized with team work, they are able to monitor their work and progress of their colleagues, influence on the execution of the tasks and adjust the course of the project, redistributing and reallocating the resources. All of this actions are comparatively realistic depiction of the real working environment. Finally, the application of VR technology for the visualization of the model of the ship is presented in order to better understand the project challenges, ship structure and control of the performed tasks. At the end of the paper, the authors give an overview of the achievements and also stress out guidelines for further application of the software in the education process. Next milestone in this ongoing process would be to produce a detailed model of the ship and its documentation and other production information

America's Next Manufacturing Workforce: Promising Practices in Education and Skills Building

The promising practices presented in this report demonstrate some of the most encouraging approaches for education and skill building of America’s new manufacturing workforce. These practices have been selected by a panel of experts from business, government, and education who serve on the MForesight Education and Workforce Development Working Group (EWD). This report summarizes a sampling of replicable and scalable promising practices being pursued to ensure that America builds an educated, skilled, and ready workforce. MForesight has not endorsed any particular product or method in presenting these promising practices, and is pleased to invite learning institutions, professional organizations, and manufacturers to submit descriptions of additional programs and initiatives serving similar purposes. In this way, MForesight hopes to build a community of practitioners and learners to help build an educated, skilled, and ready advanced manufacturing workforce. Concurrently, the EWD will continue its work to translate the key characteristics of these promising practices into policy and investment guidelines for government, industry, and educational enterprises that will support efforts to bring such practices to scale.National Science Foundation, Grant No. 1552534https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145154/1/WorkforceReport_Final.pd