The most experienced provider of Knowledge Based Engineering and Web Based Design-To-Order™ Systems
Michael Uccello
Business Development Manager
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DAA Continues Growth to Serve You
Better
by John Lambert
Once again, I am pleased to announce that DAA has
added a new team member; Mr. Michael Uccello.
Michael joins DAA as a senior business development
resource to further support your KBE (Knowledge
Based Engineering) and Engineering Services needs.
Mike brings to DAA extensive experience and
background in serving the needs of American
manufacturing companies.
Michael’s 20 years of business development
experience in manufacturing spans various
industries. Most recently Michael spent 11 years
with Mahr Federal where he provided metrology and
manufacturing solutions to solve critical customer
challenges. As a senior business development
professional, Michael places significant emphasis on
joint problem solving in areas where DAA’s KBE
systems, Engineering Services and Technology
Products (PDM & CAD) can add value.
At DAA, Michael’s role will leverage his experience
and no-nonsense approach. He will work jointly with
you to identify your critical engineering process
needs and assess if DAA can help. In cases where
DAA’s products and services align, Michael will
facilitate and coordinate the necessary technical
resources to solve your specific business issues.
Michael's educational background includes a degree in
Science with an emphasis in engineering and
electronics. Mike is also certified as an E-5
Submarine Sonar Technician with the Navy.
As we move into the second half of 2006, please do
not hesitate to contact Michael at 860-749-3832 ext.
204 to discuss your engineering efficiency needs.
Our goal is to provide best-in-class support to help
reduce costs and cycle time in your engineering
operations.
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| Do KBE Systems Eliminate Jobs? |
by John Lambert
On July 19th, 2006, Fed. Chairman, Ben Bernanke
addressed the Senate Banking Committee in Washington
DC. During the session, Mr. Bernanke was asked to
share his perspective as to whether manufacturing
jobs in America were eroding. Mr. Bernanke
indicated in the past 10 years American
manufacturing output had increased by 50% with 6% of
that increase occurring within the past 12 months.
Underlying these strong growth numbers, the Fed.
Chairman outlined some significant considerations.
To offset offshore competition, American
manufacturers have steadily moved to higher
complexity products that require increasing levels
of worker sophistication and skill. Additionally,
American manufacturing workers have continued to
increase productivity. As a result of these
factors, there is an increased demand for high skill
workers while lower skilled manufacturing jobs are
under pressure. The Chairman ended his
comments with the statement “American manufacturing
is alive and well.”
These trends and opportunities leave American
manufactures with the challenge of transitioning
their labor resources away from low-end tasks toward
higher value-add, more sophisticated activities.
This transition must be made without increasing
costs and without jeopardizing day-to-day sustaining
engineering activities. This is where KBE (Knowledge
Based Engineering) Systems can help.
A typical KBE application can automate the
day-to-day product configuration and related
engineering and manufacturing drawing tasks; thus
eliminating the need for these day-to-days tasks to
be done manually. These “newly created” resources
can then be shifted to higher value, more
sophisticated tasks such as new product development
or process improvement; thus enabling further growth
in domestic manufacturing.
In summary, KBE systems do not eliminate jobs,
rather, they enable companies to transition existing
resources to the more sophisticated tasks which are
the life blood of continued domestic prosperity and
economic stability.
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| “Fully Automated” vs. “Partially Automated” Systems as Applied to Control Systems, Electro-Mechanical Systems, and Mechanical Design |
by Benny Federico
The automation of any process can entail the
following two levels of applications: (a) batch
systems or black-boxes and (b) Intelligent Design
Advisors (IDAs) or gray-boxes. Either level, used in
combination or as a stand-alone application,
supports the extensive and varying types of
activities involved in Control Systems
Design, Electromechanical Systems Design, and
Mechanical & Machine Design automation. However,
selecting the appropriate automation level depends
on the
application.
Fully automated batch systems are ideal for
applications derived from clearly defined processes
with sufficiently understood inputs, outputs, and
process logic. These applications contain sets of
user interface menus that capture the system inputs
and describe the range of design themes. The user
populates the input screens and then relinquishes
control to the system. Operating without any further
user intervention or in a black-box mode, the
application executes the necessary steps that
culminate in completing a pre-defined report format.
Examples of batch systems include circuit design,
certain classes of railroad crossings, track
signaling and
monitoring situations, and structural designs of
numerous components.
IDAs are ideal for applications where full
automation becomes inefficient. The inability to
fully automate a process may be due to numerous
factors, including frequently changing design
variations, infinite configurations of design
parameters within a design, or decisions that
require human intervention. Due to the
aforementioned reasons, IDAs work in conjunction
with a user. Although IDAs may appear limiting, they
can automatically perform useful time-saving tasks,
including selecting and configuring appropriate
components, checking and validating compliance to
design rules, and making recommendations. The
measure of successful IDA applications depends on
factors that include design complexity, IDA
complexity, user experience, and the effectiveness
of IDA automation to save design labor while
removing procedural errors. IDA or gray-box
applications benefits include eliminating tedious
and time consuming tasks while increasing the
designer's and engineer's ability to concentrate on
the creative process. IDA applications can range
from desktop to web-driven systems and can
incorporate aspects of the black-box.
The Mini-Spec and Business Value Assessment phase of
DAA’s DTO Pro™ process is the tool that
clarifys and
documents all technical aspects and business
benefits regarding an initiative. During this phase
DAA will work with you to determine, depending on
your current business situation and requirements,
which level of automation is most appropriate for
your process.
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| Multiplying and Transposing Numerical Matrices Using Knowledge Fusion |
by Bill Johnson
This article discusses and provides simple
functions for the transposition of matrices and the
multiplication of matrices using the Unigraphics
Knowledge Fusion rules based language. Manipulating
matrices becomes a necessary consideration during
the development of high-end technology Knowledge
Fusion rules based engineering software. Numerical
matrices need to be transposed and multiplied to
provide solutions relative to spatial relationships
and spatial transformations. A numerical matrix
within Knowledge Fusion can be represented by the
following relationship:
The transposing of a matrix is obtained by replacing
all the elements Aij with Aji. For a second-order
rank tensor, Aij, the tensor transpose is simply
Aji. The matrix transpose, most commonly written
[A]^T, is the matrix obtained by exchanging A’s rows
and columns, and satisfies the identity:
The transposing of numerical matrices can be readily
handled by developing a simple Knowledge Fusion
function called from a base Knowledge Fusion Design
Class. The following transpose matrix function,
called transposeMatrix, is provided below:
The product [C] of two matrices [A] and [B] is
defined by indicial notation as Cik = Aij * Bjk,
where j is summed over all possible values of i and
k. Therefore, in order for matrix multiplication to
be defined, the dimensions of the matrices must satisfy:
where: (a x b) denotes a matrix with “a” rows and
“b” columns. The number of columns of the first
matrix must equal the number of rows within the
second matrix. Writing out the product explicitly
yields,
The multiplication of numerical matrices can be
readily handled with developing a simple Knowledge
Fusion function that is called from a base Knowledge
Fusion Design Class. The following multiplication
matrix function, called mxm, is provided below:
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| Engineering Success and KBE Success; One in the Same. |
by John Lambert
In his newly released book, Product Life Cycle
Management1, Michael Grieves makes a
seemingly obvious, but very astute observation. He
states that what most engineering organizations
define as “processes” can more accurately be
categorized as
“practices”. Mr. Grieves goes on to define
practices as those activities where inputs and
outputs are somewhat defined while the steps of
deriving outputs from inputs are often times ill
defined and lacking standardization.
Reflecting on DAA’s past 12 years of experience we
can affirm Mr. Grieves’ comments. Since DAA’s
beginnings, the single biggest challenge in KBE
systems is precisely the same issue that causes
inefficiency and waste in virtually all engineering
and manufacturing organizations; lack of process (or
practice) definition. As U.S. based manufacturing
companies with engineered products move forward in a
global environment, establishing engineering process
definition is on the critical path to
profitability.
With the value of process definition (standard work,
best practices, lean engineering, etc…) being well
understood, there remains a significant divide
between theory and reality. The reality of
implementing standard work is extremely difficult
for most organizations. The time sensitive and
day-to-day demands placed on engineering and design
personnel to address problems and keep orders
flowing is always first priority. This reality
leaves engineering executives repeatedly asking the
question “how can I create standard work without
diluting day-to-day operations and overburdening my
existing staff?”
This is where DAA has helped many organizations.
The decision to create a KBE system brings
significant commitment, requirements and visibility.
One of the most fundamental requirements for KBE
success, and one of the most valuable exercises for
an engineering organization to conduct, is the
definition and documentation of standard work. DAA
engineers engage directly with your engineering and
design team to fully understand your design
practices. Once engaged, DAA engineers provide the
incentive, knowledge and physical support to
document your processes. In many cases, KBE
initiatives have brought to light the lack of
repeatable processes. In these cases, DAA
Engineering services provided the required design
methodology development and documentation which was
lacking. This results in a clearly defined and
documented design approach which paves the way for
controlled, repeatable and profitable engineering
and manufacturing operations as well as knowledge
based automation.
In summary, design practice documentation is
fundamental to KBE systems and global
competitiveness. Being successful in this step is
an indispensable requirement, which is why DAA uses
only degreed and experienced engineers for this
step. Please call DAA if you have needs in this
area. DAA engineers stand ready to help with your
basic engineering process needs as well as KBE systems.
1Grieves, Michael, Product Lifecycle
Management, McGraw Hill, 2006.
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