I’ll never forget the first time I went to go see a real engineer work. During the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college, I worked for a technology transfer program at school. Our job was to visit various local manufacturers and assist them with their designs by applying the latest technology, which …
Mechanical Design
Knovel: Modernizing the Engineering Library
When it comes to enabling technology, it seems as if all the talk is about CAD, CAE, PDM and PLM. Just based on that, you might think that all engineers do every day is build geometry, run simulations and manage it. But if you’ve been in an engineering office, you know that reality is far …
Turning a Blind Eye to the Creativity in Engineering
A few months ago, I wrote a post here at engineering-matters that talked to multiple intelligences and how they relate to the engineering field. That topic struck me as important because it acknowledges the fact that engineering requires multiple types of technical skills and knowledge. It’s not all just about book smarts or visualization. A …
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Let Your Engineers Engineer
For quite some time, I’ve been mildly horrified at little time engineers actually get to engineer products. There are a billion and one distractions, all very real distractions, but ones that could be avoided. The folks at Cadalyst reached out to be to see if I’d be willing to write an article that talked to …
Mitigating the Engineering Brain Drain Threat
The impact of the retirement of Boomer engineers is something I have been tracking for some time. It poses a serious threat to productivity in engineering organizations. While there are process and organizational changes that can be made to address that threat, there are also some technologies that can make an impact as well. The …
Let’s Play A Guessing Game: Who’s this Engineer?
Here at engineering-matters, we’ve taken on some serious topics. And rightfully so. There’s a lot going on with the engineering profession. But as we approach the holiday season, I feel like we should maybe lighten the mood a little bit. I still want to take on a serious topic but have some fun along the …
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The Devil Must Be Cold: Autodesk Launches PLM Product Nexus
I remember the day Carl Bass went on his “rant.” While what Carl was saying was eyebrow-raising, I distinctly recall finding the reactions of those around me just as interesting. The foreign press and analysts, listening to Carl’s words being translated through their headphones, exchanged quizzical looks that spoke volumes: “is this translating correctly?” The …
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How Many of Today’s Products Are Truly “Engineered?”
Curious question, right? For those that are in engineering and have been exposed to the development of various types of products, you might have pondered this question before. It’s hard not to see other design and engineering processes and wonder what is the same or different. But for me, it’s a little different. In the …
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Low Spatial Intelligence as an Impediment to 3D CAD
If you’ve been following the engineering-matters blog for a while, you know I’ve written a good bit about CAD over the past year or so. And why not? It’s an industry that’s been re-energized by a number of big shifts in technology during that time. Several old and new software providers are trying harder than …
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