Appendix Appendix A Selected Case Studies: Summaries . —

The following section includes summaries of five heavily industrialized areas of southeastern case studies of instructional programs designed to Michigan. develop skills that are presently associated with ● Instruction~ deliverers. —The case studies in- the use of programmable automation (PA). These clude programs operated by primary schools, five are part of a group of 14 such studies devel- high schools, community colleges, universi- oped for OTA. Instructional activities described ties, and 4-year colleges, a union/management- in the case studies summarized here include: 1) a operated training center, and industries that robotics and computer-aided drafting program for produce and use PA equipment. high school students, operated by the Oakland ● Type of programmable automation train- County School System in southeastern Michigan; ing.—Programs chosen provide instruction in 2) the undergraduate and graduate degree pro- computer-aided drafting and design systems, grams in Engineering Technology offered by Brig- robots, programmable controllers, computer- ham Young University, Provo, Utah; 3) CADAM ized numerically controlled machines, auto- Inc. ’s* customer training in computer-aided de- mated vision systems for factory inspection, sign; 4) the International Brotherhood of Electri- automated materials-handling systems, spe- cal Workers’ programmable controller training sys- cialized semiconductor fabrication equipment, tem; and 5) the “CAD/CAM” operator training and CAD and CAM networking systems. In program based in Glendale, Calif. (representative addition, university programs addressing the of efforts characterized by strong industry, educa- systems approach to computer-integrated tion, and government cooperation). The five stud- manufacturing education, plus in-plant pro- ies were selected for inclusion to illustrate PA- grams stressing the systems approach for related instruction of various types and levels of managers, are included. sophistication, as well as to highlight programs ● occupational categories of trainess–Pro- operating in different geographic areas, grams covered in the case study series ad- dress the needs of current or potential person- case Study Research Methodology nel in the following occupational categories: machine operators; electrical, mechanical, and Case study research began in July 1982 and other maintenance personnel; welders; electri- ended in June 1983. The initial objective of the re- cal and electronics technicians; robotics tech- search project was to identify and contact a nicians; mechanical designers and detailers; selected sample of institutions, organizations, and printed circuit designers; electrical drafters agencies known to offer or have the potential to and designers; numerical control programmers; offer programs designed to prepare individuals for general-purpose programmers; integrated cir- jobs in computer-automated factory environ- cuit designers; piping designers and drafters; ments. Approximately 300 individuals repre- manufacturing engineers; design engineers; senting industry, educational institutions, govern- systems engineers; research and development ment agencies, professional associations, training personnel; shop-floor supervisors; managers; and/or education associations, technical societies, and executives. and community organizations were contacted in ● Size of institution or organization.—Compa- the first stage of the research. This was augmented nies included range in size from firms employ- by a literature search. A sample of 100 training ing under 170 individuals to multinational cor- or education programs was identified, from which porations employing hundreds of thousands 20 were chosen to be the subjects of 14 case of people. In terms of the size of the organiza- studies. tion served by a single training division, the The following selection criteria were developed: largest is 42,000. The educational institutions ● Gegraphical spread. — Programs were chosen range in size from 2,500 to 34,000 students. from all four quadrants of the country, with ● Funding source. –Both public and private in- a concentration of four programs from the stitutions and organizations are covered. Ma- jor public funding sources include Federal, *C AI)A M Inc. is a subsidiary of the Lockheed Corp. State, and local government organizations.

401 402 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace —— .—— —— —— — ——- — — — — .—

The union/management-sponsored training cessful programs in the metalworking in- program is supported by regular contribu- dustry. tions from union members and by manage- Additionally, some programs were chosen be- ment subsidy. cause they demonstrated cooperation among ed- Industrial sector. — Programs covered ad- ucational institutions, industries, and (in one in- dressed the following industrial sectors: trans- stance) State and local government participation. portation equipment (including auto and com- Two questionnaires-one for companies and one mercial aircraft); electrical and electronic for educational institutions-were designed for use devices and machinery; nonelectrical machin- during onsite interviews (lasting 2 to 5 days each) ery; and programmable equipment producers. conducted for each case study. Attempts were also made to identify suc- Appendix A —Selecfed Case Studies: Summaries 403 —

Case Study 1 Oakland County Vocational Education Centers: Robotics and Computer-Aided Drafting For High School Students

Background/Summary Oakland Schools also provides an additional aid to vocational progaming in both the local districts The Oakland County Intermediate School Dis- and the regional centers: curriculum specialists on trict covers approximately 900 square miles to the the vocational education staff at the Oakland north and west of Detroit. The intermediate dis- County Service Center assist instructors in apply- trict is comprised of 28 constituent school districts ing current instructional technology, in keeping and includes most of Oakland County and small program content up to date, in obtaining funds proportions of the adjacent counties of Macomb, and equipment, and in maintaining contact with Wayne, Livingston, Tenessee, Lapeer, and Wash- local industries. tenaw.* The approximately 211,000 children in the In the summer of 1982, the Pontiac Center of- district live in communities of widely disparate fered a special 4-week introductory robotics pro- economic status: some are among the wealthiest gram for incoming juniors and seniors. The inten- in the country, while others have disproportionate sive 64-hour course was a demonstration program numbers of families on State and Federal aid.** designed to test the feasibility of teaching robotics In 1982, Pontiac, the largest constituent school and other “high tech” courses in the centers’ reg- district, had an unemployment rate of over 20 ular school-year and summer offerings. As a result percent. of the successful summer program, robotics and In 1967, voters in the intermediate district computer-aided drafting are now taught in a num- passed a half-mill levy to pay the construction ber of regular courses in three of the area centers. costs for four area vocational education centers, The centers have approached the teaching of in- one in each quarter of the county. The four cen- tegrated manufacturing skill in a variety of ways: ters—operated under contract to Oakland Schools 1) teachers at the Pontiac Center have designed by the constituent districts of Pontiac, Royal Oak, a semester-long course in robotics offered for the Walled Lake, and Clarkston-offer programs in 32 first time in January 1983; 2) the Royal Oak Center occupational areas. Three 2½ hour sessions— has obtained two computer-aided drafting stations morning, early afternoon, and late afternoon—are for use in mechanical and architectural drafting offered for high school students, who spend the re- courses, and instructors there are using homemade mainder of their school day at the “home’ high robots to teach basic robotics principles in fluid schools; and the centers all operate evening classes power and electronics courses; and 3) the Walled for adults. The flexible vocational instruction of- Lake Center also has a CAD system for use in its fered at the centers complements the vocational drafting program, and instructors are now using education provided at high schools that operate the Mini-Mover “teach robot”* from the Pontiac individual vocational programs. The centers also summer course to teach electronics, welding, in- provide basic-through-advanced instruction for dustrial design and machine-shop students the students from schools that have no vocational pro- fundamentals of robotics as these relate to the grams of their own. Students who participate in students’ core disciplines. a full 2-year course of study at a center get 900 hours of combined classroom and laboratory in- Summer Robotics Program North East struction in a specific vocational area.*** Oakland Vocational Education Center —-. *This is Oakland Schools, a brochure published by the Oakland In- (Pontiac, Mich.) termediate District, explains that “in Michigan, every local school dis- trict is a part of an intermediate district; there is no exempt territory. Planning and Development.–The summer ro- The intermediate school district is a regional educational service agency botics demonstration program was conceived dur- created by State law to carry out certain legal functions at the direc- tion of the State Department of Education, ing an informal conversation between a vocational ● * This is Oaklans and Schools. ***The number of hours in vocational education curricula is mandated by the State and is comparable to that offered in comprehensive high *Teach-robots are miniature, table-top electric robots useful for schools. teaching programing and robot motions. 404 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace

education curriculum specialist from Oakland to the curricular materials with the object of pro- Schools Service Center and the principal of the viding them to secondary and postsecondary ed- Pontiac Vocational Education Center. Although ucational institutions offering robotics instruction; the amount of time from initial conception (March 2) to develop a core of people within the public ed- 1982) to approval by the Oakland Schools’ super- ucational system with knowledge of robotics; and intendent’s committee (June 2, 1982) to program 3) to demonstrate that a public educational orga- implementation (June 28) was short, the preplan- nization is capable of initiating robotics programs ning which enabled Oakland instructors, curricu- in a timely fashion. lum specialists, and administrators to create the Administrative and Instructional Staff.–The program on such short notice had been going on summer program staff consisted of two adminis- for the past 10 years. trators, five teachers, and three student program- The preplanning began not with robotics itself ing aides. The chief administrator for the program, but with an ad-hoc group of instructors and cur- the principal of the Pontiac Center, was responsi- riculum specialists meeting informally to explore ble for student enrollment, obtaining the equip- the utilization of computer technology in the class- ment, arranging for the students to receive aca- room. Five years ago, the computer group began demic credit, and other administrative require- preparing for robotics and other industrial applica- ments; the Oakland Schools Service Center cur- tions of computer technology by making-and riculum specialist coordinated all curricular activ- maintaining g—industrial contacts, expanding their ities. The team of five instructors developed the working knowledge of microcomputers and pro- instructional materials and designed and delivered grammable controllers, and familiarizing them- the coursework; and the student aides (two college selves with robotics. All this, according to the cur- students and one high school senior) were on hand riculum specialist who spearheaded the group, was to help with programing and writing software for done in anticipation of the time when robotics the Apple computers used to interface with the would be recognized as a suitable subject for high small teach robots used in the course. All of the school vocational education. instructors had a minimum of 2,000 hours of in- Because of the necessity of waiting for the prop- dustrial experience,’ two were members of the Ed- er moment when public interest in robotics would ucation Committee of Robotics International of be high enough to encourage the Oakland Schools’ the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and some superintendents’ committee to pass on such a pro- had experience teaching and writing curricula for gram proposal, the preplanningg was necessarily in- colleges and other post-secondary institutions. formal. The years of informal planning, however, Facilities and Equipment. -Classes were held in proved to be productive; when the board’s approv- a large classroom-laboratory in the Pontiac Center. al was received in the beginning of June, the com- Equipment used in the program included four puter-group members were able to bring together desk-top teach robots (two of which were pur- a team of teachers with expertise in electronics, chased, two of which were borrowed from distrib- physics, machining, and computer programing utors), six Apple computers, three cathode ray ter- who both devised the curriculum and delivered the minals (CRTs), two DEC writers (strike-on termi- instruction. The Service Center curriculum special- nals) and electrical and electronic test equipment. ist and the Pontiac Center principal bought some Student Selection.–Because approval for the equipment and contacted industrial representa- program was received at the end of the regular tives who donated or loaned the remainder and– school year (June 2), student selection procedures with the help of the instructors-arranged for field were highly informal. The program administrators trips to local user and producer firms and for guest discussed the program with the guidance counse- lectures by application engineers, sociologists and lors in all of the high schools served by the Pon- others. tiac Center. By the time the board’s approval was Goals.–The program was designed to meet two announced, however, most of the high schools had sets of objectives. The immediate instructional ob- started their final examination periods or had re- jectives were to familiarize the students with the leased their students for the summer. Schools in fundamentals of robotics to help them make future two large districts, Pontiac and Rochester, re- career and educational decisions, and to increase sponded by announcing the program over their their awareness of and interest in high technology public address systems, requesting that all inter- in general. The long-range goals were: 1) to devel- ested sophomores and juniors apply. Fifteen of the op, implement, and make necessary modifications sixteen applicants were selected, and all but one Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries • 405

completed the 4-week course. Interviewers looked ● Opportunities in robotics—Examination of for college-bound students with strong math and the employment opportunities in the field of physics backgrounds and with some experience in robotics; requirements of various job classi- electronics and/or computers. Approximately 75 fications as they relate to the individual’s de- percent of the applicants had the recommended velopment of skills and academic knowledge. background knowledge; the remainder of those ad- Had the superintendent’s committee approval mitted were chosen because of their high level of been received earlier, the instructors would have interest in the program. Of the 14 students who attempted to add another 2-week segment cover- completed the program, one was female and one ing pneumatics and hydraulics. Lack of time and was from a minority group. difficulty in obtaining equipment, however, made Curriculum. -Classroom and laboratory instruc- this impossible. tion was complemented by field trips to Pontiac Instructional Methods and Materials.–The Motors, ASEA’s midwest robot facility, and a lo- choice of a team-teaching approach was dictated cal robotics show. Students also heard guest lec- by the interdisciplinary nature of robotics itself tures by industrial representatives from Pontiac and also by necessity—no one teacher in the Oak- Motor Division, ASEA, ETON Corp., and the Kas- land system had all of the background knowledge per Machine Co., and by two sociologists who and skills required to teach the full 4-week pro- talked about the social implications of robotics. gram. However, the team of instructors worked The following topic areas were covered in lectures well together, and each individual member of the and reinforced by field trips, demonstrations, and team enhanced his own knowledge of related fields laboratory experiments: while imparting his particular expertise to the stu- ● History and classification—Factors influenc- dents. The lead instructor–who was on hand at ing the growth of robotics in industry; manu- all times to teach specific class segments, guide facturing processes in which robots are util- the students through experiments, and to provide ized; definition and description of robots and continuity as the course moved from segment to their component parts; robot classifications segment—was an electricity instructor employed (nonservo, point-to-point servo- controlled, full-time at the Pontiac Center. Industrial repre- and continuous-path servo-controlled); de- sentatives taught the basics of robotics; a physics scription of commercially available robots; instructor taught the unit on simple machine proc- and the potential areas of growth in robotics. esses and aided the students as they conducted ● Simple machine process and robot terminolo- physics experiments; an electronics instructor gy-Description of simple machine functions from the Walled Lake Center taught the segments and the relationship between robot design- on electricity and electronics; and a programing and-function terminology and the basic termi- instructor from another intermediary district nology of machine design. taught the basics of programing. ● Basics of electricity and motor operation The first 2 days of the program consisted of in- control—An introduction to selected funda- troductory lectures, films, demonstrations, and a mentals of electricity and electronics, specifi- field trip to Pontiac Motors, where the students cally DC power distribution and simple DC saw industrial robots in operation and visited the circuits. Students learned to use basic instru- robotics training laboratory. From the third day ments to monitor electrical power and to lo- through the end of the course, the majority of cate malfunctioning segments. classtime was spent in practical laboratory work, ● Microcomputer operation and programing– progressing from experiments in basic physics and Lectures and demonstrations of computer electricity through robot programing. Because of operation and practical experience in comput- the limited time available for each segment and the er programing. students’ impatience with lengthy explanations of ● Robotic drive systems-A segment in which a theoretical nature, the instructors had to con- students learned how to address the teach ro- dense all of the material and be highly selective bots with standard computer programs and in the presentation of some of the topics. The ne- prepared specific programs for robot opera- cessity to condense and select was most challeng- tion. ing in the 3-day electricity/electronics segment ● Robot applications-Review of manufactur- which, after an introductory lecture in basic elec- ing operations related to robot applications tricity and the importance of electronics to the and field trips to design and manufacturing study of robotics, concentrated on DC power dis- facilities. tribution and simple DC circuits. 406 Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace ——. — —

As in the other segments of the course, the ob- The GM representatives and other industrial con- ject in the electricity segment was to familiarize tacts agreed that introductory courses in robotics the students with some of the basic concepts and– on the secondary level would not only benefit the most importantly-to whet their interest and en- students by providing them with an orientation courage them to pursue studies providing them to the field, but benefit industry by raising public with more complete knowledge of the disciplines awareness and student interest. making up robotics. These industrial contacts, made in the prepro- The instructors also worked as a team to develop posal stage of the program, also proved to be fruit- the curriculum and written materials for the ful in the curriculum planning and program opera- course. Since no texts, manuals, or experiments tion stages. The Pontiac Motors representative appropriate to secondary-level teaching were avail- not only worked with the instructors to develop able, the instructors-aided by the curriculum spe- the curriculum, but delivered the introductory lec- cialist and by experts from industry—developed ture to the first class and arranged for a field trip laboratory manuals, experiments, a robotics glos- to the Pontiac plant. Other industrial representa- sary, and handouts defining and describing robot tives from firms that produce, distribute, and use functions, components, and classifications. In ad- automated machinery donated time and equip- dition, the instructors developed computer soft- ment to the program. While no formal industrial ware for use by the students in programing experi- advisory committee was established before the ments. summer program was offered, the curriculum spe- Student Evaluations of the Program.– In writ- cialist who helped administer the program (who is ten evaluations, most students noted that they also the vocational/technical coordinator for the had enjoyed the class. The majority were im- Oakland district) has set up an informal commit- pressed by the team-teaching approach and the op- tee to provide advice on present and future pro- portunities for individualized instruction. A num- grams and coursework. ber stated that they intended to pursue robotics Relationships With Labor Unions.–Local labor studies and some claimed that the course helped unions were not involved in the summer program, them to decide on a future career in robotics. Some primarily because school officials looked on the students noted the lack of training in hydraulics summer course as a test case which would help and suggested that it should be included were the them to develop prototype curricular materials course to be repeated. The other criticism received which, they felt, were needed before asking for was from two students who felt that the electrici- union advice or participation. Before the downturn ty segment was too theoretical. in the area economy, local labor and company of- The instructors are now considering methods of ficials actively recruited students from the voca- dealing with the electronics segment in future fa- tional education centers in the district, so that miliarization courses. Suggestions include: 1) plac- school representatives believe that union partici- ing the segment later in the course when students pation in an advisory capacity would be appropri- would be better able to understand its relevance; ate for computer-aided manufacturing coursework. 2) making provisions for a supplemental class for Vocational education representatives are now those with no background in basic electricity; and making informal contacts with union shopworkers 3) teaching electronics as it applies to robotics, and hope to increase the level of contact with local rather than beginning with pure electricity/elec- unions in the near future. tronics. Results.–Apart from achieving its objective of All of those who completed the course received providing the participating students with an orien- a half unit of credit, which was entered on their tation to robotics, the summer program had a high school transcripts (one credit equals a full number of other salutary results. As one of the semester-long course). country’s first robotics programs on the secondary Relationships With Industry.–1n the spring of level, it generated a great deal of public interest 1982, program administrators and members of the and received coverage in local newspapers, on local instructional team met with General Motors (GM) television stations, and in publications like the representatives from the Orion Plant (a new facili- Manpower and Vocational Education Weekly and ty with over 160 robots, which, at the time, was publications of the American Vocational Associa- under construction) and from Pontiac Motor Divi- tion. This positive publicity not only helped to con- sion to determine the feasibility and appropriate- vince school board officials of the viability of high ness of offering robotics on the secondary level. school programs in robotics and other high-tech- Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 407 nology areas, but generated the beginnings of a ester-long course) in the centers or in local high communications network between Oakland schools; and other instructors in the centers are Schools and other high schools both in- and out- now offering or planning to offer coursework in ro- of-State. The vocational education curriculum spe- botics or computer-aided design. The summer pro- cialist who coordinated the program has received gram also helped Oakland School officials to set over 60 letters and calls from high schools, col- up an articulation process with local private leges, universities, and industries from across the schools, community colleges, universities, and country, all of which are either interested in estab- three industrial robotics programs. lishing programs or have already done so. The local The district is setting up a formal articulation publicity also increased student interest in other agreement with nearby Oakland Community Col- programs offered by the centers, The Pontiac Cen- lege whereby students who take robotics course- ter, for example, attributes an increase in enroll- work in the Oakland Schools will receive advanced ment for its electricity course to interest engen- standing in the college’s robotics program. The ar- dered by the robotics program. Enrollment in- ticulation process with the other schools and pro- creased from 35 in fall 1981 to 50 (capacity enroll- grams is, to date, informal. Other tangible results ment for two sections) in fall 1982. include the curricular and instructional material Another result of the program can be seen in the developed by the summer instructors-manuals, current offerings of three of the Oakland voca- instructional units (both lectures and experi- tional education centers (discussed in sec. II) and ments), computer software designed for student in a number of local high schools in the constitu- use, the robotics glossary, and a study analyzing ent districts served by the centers. The equipment the reading level required for currently available purchased for the summer program is now in use robotics texts. These materials, and the experience in two of the centers. Most of the instructors who gained in developing them, are now being put to participated in the program brought robotics into use in classroom and laboratories throughout the their regular school-year classes (either as a seg- district and will be refined and expanded in the im- ment in existing courses or as a free-standing, sem- mediate future. 408 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace — -- — -— .— .— . — ...—

Case Study 2 Brigham Young University: The Education of Technologists

Summary/Background While engineering technology is closely related to engineering-and while the education of engi- The College of Engineering and Technology.– neers and technologists overlaps in many areas— Brigham Young University (BYU)–with a main there are significant differences between the two campus in Provo, Utah, and a campus in Hawaii— disciplines. BYU’S College of Engineering and is the largest private university in the United Technology offers the following definitions which States. Founded in 1875 as the Brigham Young clarify the distinctions: Academy, an elementary school with 29 students, ● Engineering is the profession in which a BYU currently has an enrollment of approximate- knowledge of the mathematical and natural ly 28,000 at its Provo campus and over 1,800 in sciences gained by study, experience, and Hawaii. While its primary intent is to provide practice is applied with judgment to develop undergraduate education, BYU does maintain a ways to utilize economically the materials and number of graduate programs on the master’s and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind. doctoral levels which have a combined graduate ● Technology is that part of the technological enrollment of 2,890. field which requires-the application of scien- Brigham Young University’s College of Engi- tific and engineering knowledge and methods neering and Technology has a total enrollment of combined with technical skills in support of approximately 3,400 students working on under- engineering activities; it occupies a position graduate and graduate degrees in six departments: on the occupational spectrum between the chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical craftsman and the engineer at the end of the engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial ed- spectrum closest to the engineer.1 ucation, and technology. The four engineering de- Technologists, in essence, are applied engineers. partments offer traditionally structured under- This may at first seem to be a misnomer, since en- graduate engineering programs and masters- and gineering is traditionally considered to be an ap- Ph. D.-level graduate degrees. The technology de- plied discipline. However, a brief overview of de- partment offers three programs leading to the bac- velopments in engineering education in the United calaureate degree (manufacturing engineering States over the past 25 years clarifies the issue. technology, design engineering technology, and When the U.S. space program began in the late electronics engineering technology), and a master’s 1950’s and early 1960’s, engineering schools began program in computer-integrated manufacturing responding to the increased need for science- with program options in computer-aided manufac- oriented courses by adding advanced courses in turing (CAM) and computer-aided design (CAD), mathematics, physics, and chemistry tO their cur- and elective courses in computer-aided testing ricula. In the process, traditional engineering lab- (CAT). In the fall semester of 1983, the technology oratory courses in drafting, machining, and proc- department began to offer a graduate program essing were dropped out of the curricula to make leading to the degree of master of technology room for the more theoretical courses required to management. meet the needs of sophisticated space-age technol- Engineering Technology.–In 1967, BYU be- ogy. As technical knowledge and applications mul- came the first educational institution in the coun- tiplied, the gap spread between engineers, whose try to receive accreditation from the Engineers education was becoming increasingly theoretical, Council for Professional Development (now known and technicians engaged in manufacturing and de- as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and sign occupations, Baccalaureate technology pro- Technology, or ABET) for its baccalaureate pro- grams (some began as 2-year technician programs, grams in manufacturing engineering technology while others were originally designed as 4-year pro- and design engineering technology. In 1971, BYU’S B.S. program in electronics engineering — technology was also accredited by ABET. ‘Brochure, College of Engineering Sciences and Technology, p. 9 Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 409 grams) were created to bridge the occupational gap applications. DC0LASS is now licensed by 20 com- between the engineer and the technician. panies for use in 50 plants, and revenues received According to BYU representatives, it is no long- from the sale of DCLASS licenses help to support er possible for one person to master the skills and continuing research into computer-aided manufac- knowledge required to cover the spectrum from turing by BYU faculty and students. In 1977, the conceptualization to the manufacture of a final technology department instituted a master of sci- product. Now, the idea for a product often origi- ence degree program in computer-aided manufac- nates with marketing, engineering, or manage- turing; the program has expanded over the years ment; the engineers and technologists work as a to encompass computer-aided design and comput- team to develop the layout and detailed design and er-aided electronics testing and is now known as to test the prototype product. The technologist the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Pro- and engineer work together to plan, design, and gram. The masters program and the undergradu- test the machines or procedures for building a sys- ate programs in manufacturing engineering tech- tem or its components, and then the craftsmen and nology and design engineering technology are the machine operators bring about the actual produc- primary subjects of this study. * tion. * In terms of theoretical orientation, the pro- In recent years, BYU’S traditional engineering gression goes from abstract at the design research departments have been building their capacity in engineer’s end, to highly practical at the tech- what they refer to as computer-assisted engineer-- nician’s and craftsman’s end. While the engineer, ing* and have joined with the technology depart then, may be interested in why a system, product, ment to form the Computer Assisted Design, En- or procedure performs so that he/she can create gineering, and Manufacturing (CADEM) Committ- plans or designs, the technologist is concerned ee to coordinate the use of computers within the with how that system, product, or procedure per- College of Engineering and Technology and to in- forms so that the engineering plans can be applied crease communication and cooperation between in practice and are implemented in the most pro- departments. ductive manner. Engineering Technology Programs at BYU.– Engineering Technology: Education BYU’S Technology Department has gained nation- and Research Activities al prominence, especially among industrial employ- A common misperception by outside observ- ers, many of whom say that the technology grad- ers—including a number of BYU faculty and uates have precisely those skills most in demand students outside the technology department-is by firms implementing computer-aided manufac- that the department offers undergraduate pro- turing, design, and applied electronics procedures. grams in computer-aided design and manufactur- Created with industrial needs in mind, the tech- ing. Actually, however, while computer-aided nology programs at BYU were quick to incorpo- methodologies and techniques are incorporated rate computer-aided techniques and machinery. In into the curricula of the three technology programs the early 1970’s, individual faculty members in the whenever appropriate, the programs themselves manufacturing and design programs began explor- focus on providing students with a strong foun- ing ways of acquiring computer-aided equipment dation in the basics of the three disciplines– to enable them to integrate CAD and CAM into design, manufacturing, and electronics–aug- the undergraduate curricula, and they initiated a mented by computer techniques currently in use number of research projects. In addition, data in industry. It is at the master’s level that the tech- communications and real-time computer control nology programs focus solidly on computer-aided were developed. manufacturing and design. One research project used group technology The incorporation of computer-aided techniques classifications to create what has now evolved into and coursework into the undergraduate curricula DCLASS-a computer program that classifies, or- ganizes, and retrieves information to assist in proc- *The electronics technology program currently lags behind the other ess planning, material selection, circuit design, two technology programs in incorporating computer-aided techniques. This parallels the relative lag of industry in computer-aided electronic generation of time staildards, and other industrial testing. This program will therefore receive less attention in the pres- ent study, ** C t -assisted engineering (CAE) is defined by BYL engineer- *The Accreditatlorr Board for Engineering and Technology IABET1 ompu er also recogniz{,s the r-mmsity of engineers and tcchnologrsts working ing faculty as “the application of computers to the whole range of cal- together as a team in industrial projects. According to ABET repre- culation and simulation tasks needed for modern professional engineer- sentati~es, it is for this reason that over 700 associate and bachelor ing, including finite element analysis and routines for optimization, le~’el technology programs have been accredited since the 1 %0’s. linkage synthesis graphics, and numerical utility. 410 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace varies from program to program-reflecting 1) cur- neering. Although the department actively encour- rent industrial practices in the three disciplines; ages its faculty to engage in research and to pub- 2) the varying amount of conventional manufac- lish the results, that research is often of a practi- turing and design skills required by the different cal and applications-oriented nature. disciplines; and 3) the availability of industrial Teaching Methods and Materials. -All of the equipment. Thus, the design curriculum is most technology programs emphasize practical experi- suffused with computer-aided techniques and ap- mentation and application of the theoretical ma- plications both because of the large amount of terial taught in the classroom. The programs re- CAD equipment in the department and because quire that approximately 50 percent of the stu- of the rapid spread of computer-aided design in in- dents’ time be spent in laboratory work. Com- dustrial settings. ments by both students and faculty, however, in- The manufacturing program, while it is provided dicate that many students spend more than the with well-equipped labs, stresses conventional required amount of time in the laboratories, so manufacturing techniques for the first 3 years of that the ratio of lab work to class work may actu- study to provide the foundation for the advanced ally be higher than one-to-one. Another instruc- computer-aided manufacturing techniques and ap- tional method in the department is the assignment plications taught in senior and graduate-level of actual industrial projects to undergraduate stu- classes. The electronics program is the least in- dents. Instructors on the design faculty, for ex- volved in computer-aided applications-a reflec- ample, are frequently requested to use the school’s tion of the relatively late development of comput- CAD equipment to perform benchmark studies of er-aided testing (CAT) technology and difficulty company drawings to help them determine the ef- in obtaining CAT and process instrumentation ficiency of a CAD system for the company’s par- equipment. ticular purposes. The studies themselves are as- Undergraduate Programs: Common Features.– signed as projects to upper-division design stu- Goals.- The particular goals and objectives of dents, who thereby gain actual industrial experi- individual programs are discussed in the program ence. descriptions. The technology department as a Other advanced students participate in similar- whole, however, has identified a number of goals ly practical research projects conducted or coor- which have a significant general impact on the cur- dinated by department faculty. Several technology ricula and instruction in all of the programs. Some faculty members are now working on computer- general goals are to “educate the ‘whole person’ “ aided learning techniques and instructional sys- by requiring students to take a broad variety of tems, one of which-the Computer Aided Simula- general education courses and to instill in the stu- tion Training System (CAST)–is being developed dents a recognition of the necessity of “life-long for use in both industrial and educational manufac- learning. ” While life-long learning is, in the most turing programs. When the CAST project is com- basic sense, the responsibility of the individual, the pleted, the learning package will contain a total graduate who stops learning rapidly becomes ob- of 300 learning modules—each providing instruc- solete when he or she leaves school and enters a tion on a specific manufacturing process. As these technical field. For this reason, the technology fac- modules are developed, they are incorporated into ulty places major emphasis on bolstering the stu- the manufacturing curricula at BYU. dents’ commitments to learn how to learn on their One problem facing the department is the un- own; to keep themselves apprised of new develop- availability of appropriate textbooks in the CAD, ments in their professional fields; and to continual- CAM, and applied electronics areas. Since ly update their skills and knowledge. textbooks on technology quickly become outdated, Faculty. -Two distinguishing features mark the the department is continually looking for other members of the technology faculty. First, all have ways of supplying students with written materi- had significant industrial experience in their in- al. A “Group Technology Collection” has been structional fields. That experience ranges from a established in the university library to give stu- minimum of 3 to 5 years in industry to a maximum dents access to the growing number of reports and of 10 or more years. Second, while industrial ex- articles on productivity, manufacturing processes, perience is required of the faculty, doctoral degrees and new developments in hardware, software, com- are not required. Of the 16 full-time faculty puterized data bases, and other topics. In addition, members, 6 have doctoral degrees and the remain- copies of monographs discussing current topics in der have masters’ degrees in technology or engi- manufacturing and design are reproduced and dis- Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 411 —— .—— —— tributed to students for their personal collections. skills, a large number of technology students have Another “library” resource, although not textual, the additional advantage of discovering through is a growing “parts library” containing a collec- experience whether or not they want to accept the tion of manufactured parts, which are used in the permanent job offers they usually receive from the classroom to illustrate the end-products of the co-op employers. manufacturing processes being studied. Ironically, the success of the co-op program has Enrollment Trends. –Enrollment in technology created a problem for the department in that a department programs has tripled in the last 3 number of employers have tried to convince their years. Currently, there are just under 1,000 stu- co-op students to stay on with the firm rather than dents enrolled in the three undergraduate pro- return to school to complete their degrees. Another grams: approximately 210 in manufacturing, 220 problem, which is somewhat limiting to some tech- in electronics, and over 550 in design. This poses nology students, is the geographical isolation of a problem for the department and the university the Provo campus and the consequent necessity in that even the new facility will only be capable for over half of the co-op students to relocate tem- of accommodating 900 students. Consequently, a porarily to accept out-of-state employment. policy of “enrollment control” has been introduced Furthermore, a large number of BYU under- on a university-wide basis. Since enrollments in all graduates are married-many with young families. of the technology programs are increasing, and the These students, especially, find it difficult to manufacturing and electronics programs are ex- accept an out-of-state co-op assignment. For these pected to reach enrollments of up to 300 each with- and other reasons—including competition from in the next 5 years, the design program enrollment o” the downward trend in the economy will be gradually reduced over the coming years. (w used a number of firms to discontinue Of the approximately 1,000 students, fewer than the programs), and increasing pressure on 50 are women, and most of them are enrolled in the university to turn out graduates-the co-op the design program. * More detailed discussion of program has tapered off in recent years from a enrollment trends can be found in the program peak of 285 students in 1979-80 to 128 in 1980-82. descriptions, Nevertheless, it still receives the support of the col- Cooperative Education.– The College of Engi- lege and the active participation of technology neering and Technology operates an active coop- students. erative education program which gives students Counseling and Career Guidance.–The univer- the opportunity to integrate their academic stud- sity counseling center offers both group and in- ies with periods of work experience. Some of the dividual counseling for students with personal or traditional engineering departments tend to dis- academic problems, and the engineering college ad- courage students from entering the cooperative ed- visement center provides specific advice on engi- ucation (co-op) program by structuring the curric- neering and technology programs. The university ulum into a lock-step sequence which creates dif- also has a career education program that provides ficulties for students who spend time off-campus. the following services: 1) courses on life planning The technology department, on the other hand, and decisionmaking, career exploration, and em- actively encourages its students to take advantage ployment strategies; 2) interest testing; and 3) aca- of the co-op program. Approximately 45 percent demic and occupational counseling. of the 128 students enrolled in the college’s co-op In spite of all of these formal counseling and program in 1981-82 were technology students who guidance channels, some technology faculty mem- worked at such firms as Boeing, GE, General Dy- bers feel that a great deal of the students’ time and namics, Ford Aerospace, Honeywell, Eaton-Ken- money is wasted because they do not receive com- way, and Westinghouse. Aside from the obvious prehensive interest- and ability-testing when they advantage of obtaining practical experience to are admitted to the university. This lack is felt supplement academic knowledge and laboratory most keenly in the technology department, where — a major portion of the undergraduates are transfer ● I n recent years, BYU has been actively encouraging ‘‘equal oppor- students from other colleges and departments. Al- tunity and rights for women students. ” According to the technology though some of these students discover the tech- department chairman, women who graduate from any of the depart- ment programs will have an excellent chance of being hired because nology department through regular counseling of equal employment opportunity programs. While the number of channels, the vast majority learn of the depart- women in the design program is growing, many women drop out of the ment and the content of its curricula almost by manufacturing program Technology department faculty say that this is primarily because a number of women are uncomfortable with accident—through friends, chance conversations, manufacturing laboratory work. or parties outside the University. 412 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace ———

Manufacturing Engineering Technology .–Like activities—manufacturing engineering-it also its sister program in design technology, the man- attempts to provide a background in the others. ufacturing technology program was organized in To create the manufacturing curriculum, facul- 1960 and accredited by what is now known as ty members drew on their own industrial experi- ABET in 1967. The program was constructed in ence, informal industrial contacts, and a number such a way that, over the years, it has been able of formal surveys and studies to assess industrial to accommodate the industrial trend toward com- need, opinions of manufacturing educators, and re- puter-assisted processes and equipment without quirements of accreditation agencies. After an ex- significantly altering its original focus. At the haustive evaluation of the manufacturing disci- same time, the program has been refined over the pline, the faculty found that the major factor dis- years to minimize duplication, improve the course tinguishing manufacturing engineers from those sequence, establish meaningful prerequisites, and in other disciplines is the ability to do manufac- give students flexibility in choosing areas of turing planning and estimating. That ability, in concentration. turn, is built on knowledge of materials and met- Both the instructional program and the major allurgy, production tooling, quality assurance, pro- research projects of the faculty and students are duction information and control systems, plant characterized by a highly systematic approach. layout and material handling, manufacturing sys- That approach relies on the following: tems and management. ● Definition of the subject matter (in this case The core courses developed to form the basis of manufacturing), its essential elements, and the manufacturing technology curriculum are, the activities involved; therefore, those which develop the skills and ● Identification of the need for a program in knowledge required for manufacturing planning manufacturing technology and the processes and estimating. * These are supplemented by spe- and approaches to be employed to meet that cial education courses in economics, mathematics, need; and statistics and computer science, physical science, ● Classification of the processes and compo- and electronics and design technology which pro- nents of manufacturing to form the basis_ of vide the students with basic knowledge of other a systematic approach to teaching and re- manufacturing activities related to their discipline. search. The notion of classification as em- Also required are general and liberal education ployed by the manufacturing faculty rests on courses. the following description: “Classification not Program Goals and Objectives. -–The two major only assists the memory by arranging individ- goals of the manufacturing engineering technology ual items into groups, but also expresses a re- program are: 1) to give the students opportunities lationship of things and leads to the discovery for individual development; and 2) to prepare them of their laws."2 BYU’S approach is based on with the latest knowledge and skills needed to lead an attempt to discover the laws governing or supervise personnel engaged in manufacturing manufacturing-including economic laws, operations, and to help in the development of new laws of physics, metallurgy, control systems, products and processes.** To achieve those goals, etc.—define them, and teach them to the stu- students are provided with theoretical instruction dents. linked to extensive application experience. The BYU bases its manufacturing curriculum on a core coursework is planned around eight specific broad definition which encompasses the total man- areas of study which correspond to the require- ufacturing enterprise: “the series of interrelated ments for manufacturing planning and estimating activities and operations that involve product de- sign, planning, producing, materials acquisition *To further refine the curriculum, the faculty conducted a survey of and control, quality assurance, management and graduates of 13 manufacturing technology programs, their managers, and educators from the institutions offering the programs. Tabulated marketing of discrete consumer and producer results of the survey were then evaluated by seven experts, who also goods. ” Manufacturing activities are classified voted on various performance objectives to be maintained in manufac- into nine categories: product design activity, turing curricula. These performance objectives were also incorporated into BYU manufacturing technology curricula. marketing, management, material control, manu- **The following comment by a Bechtel Corp. representative should facturing engineering, finances and personnel, be noted: “The hard, cold, practical fact is that anyone with any type production, and quality assurance. While the cur- of engineering education will aspire to be called an engineer, and there is not the nice, clean interface that the educators think there is between riculum at BYU focuses primarily on one of those the duties of the many people engaged in an engineering-oriented pro-

2 gram, be it design, construction, manufacturing, or operations. ” (Quoted Dr. Dell Allen, Professor, Brigham Young University. from Engineering Technology Education Study Final Report, p. 51.) Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 413 .-———————. . discussed above. These eight areas are: 1) manu- A comprehensive listing of the conventional and facturing planning, 2) manufacturing processes computer-aided equipment available to manufac- and materials, 3) manufacturing development, 4) turing technology students is not consistent with production tool and machine design, 5) production the space limitations of the present study. Follow- planning and control, 6) plant layout and materi- ing is a description of the major equipment items als handling, 7) inspection and quality assurance, in the CAM Laboratory: and 8) manufacturing management. Specific objec- ● a high-performance Evans and Sutherland tives have been developed for each area of study. graphics system for use in process simulation Space limitations preclude a full listing of the and material flow studies; objectives listed under each area. The objectives ● fabrication equipment, including a 3-axis com- for instruction in manufacturing planning, there- puter-controlled milling machine used for fore, will serve as an example. Those objectives are undergraduate instruction and for some pro- as follows: totype production, and a Sheldon CNC lathe equipped with an Allen Bradley controller; ● To familiarize the student with the function ● of discrete component manufacturing sys- two material storage systems-an Eaton Ken- way mini-load stacker and a White Company tems and the characteristics, analysis, and synthesis of such systems with emphasis on carousel unit—used in conjunction with the manufacturing program’s plant layout and computer-aided manufacturing planning. • To aid the student in developing the ability material-handling course. The two systems are also used for storage of tooling and to analyze parts and products for manufactur- in-process inventory; ing feasibility, to plan process operations and ● sequence, to estimate manufacturing costs, an ASEA industrial robot capable of welding, grinding, inspection, assembly and motor re- and to select manufacturing tools, machines, and equipment. winding which is used in graduate and under- graduate projects; and ● To explore the various technical aspects of ● a 3-axis Cordax Model 1000 coordinate inspec- automation and numerical control systems tion machine, which will soon be supple- (including labor-management responsibilities); mented by in-process sensors—including laser to give students experience in manual and scanning devices and equipment for measur- computer-aided numerical control program- ing force, temperature, position, and velocity. ing; and to give them experience working in The CAM laboratory has three major uses: 1) local industries to solve manufacturing prob- teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate lems through the use of mechanization and au- levels; 2) R&D conducted by faculty and students; tomation. and 3) demonstrations and seminars for faculty, Computer-aided processes and techniques are in- students, and industrial visitors. All of the produc- corporated into the coursework when appropriate; tion machines in the laboratory are computer-con- it should again be stressed, however, that the un- trolled to facilitate the development of a demon- dergraduate curriculum emphasizes and builds on stration system in which all of the equipment will conventional manufacturing techniques and proc- be networked into a distributed manufacturing esses which serve as a foundation for the study system via common databases, To develop the pro- of computer-aided manufacturing. posed integrated system, the students and staff Facilities and Equipment.–The manufacturing are in the process of setting up a “CAM Mini-Lab” technology laboratories are distributed through where they can test the integrated manufacturing four buildings on the campus. The laboratories— process on a small scale before attempting to use some of which are shared with the Mechanical En- the full-size industrial equipment. Current equip- gineering and Industrial Education Depart- ment in the Mini-Lab consists of the following: ments—occupy over 15,000 square feet (total) and ● An IBM-PC System used to retrieve include facilities for machine-tool operations, fluid a given part shape from a data file and to mod- power experiments, casting processes, metal form- ify the basic dimensions to the required con- ing, metallurgy, quality assurance, materials sci- figuration. The output is then scaled and ence, welding, metal forming, and advanced weld- plotted on a hard copy device. ing. Also available are a CAD computer area and ● The part information is then transmitted di- a large machine-tool-performance and CAM lab. rectly to an Apple CNC Lathe controller that 414 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace —..———. —. ————— .-.. .—.—. —— —. -———

retrieves the cutter path routines to make the course of their studies. The projects are designed part. to foster analytical and creative problem-solving ● A Microbot robot retrieves the part stock capabilities, to help the students understand the from an automatic storage and retrieval sys- importance of proper design and good manufac- tem and inserts this part in the lathe chuck. turing planning, and to teach them how to work . The part itself is then automatically produced as part of a development or production team. on a minature CNC lathe. A number of these projects are conducted as In the near future, a miniature computer-con- part of a senior-level course titled “Manufacturing trolled milling machine, a turret punch for sheet Development Lab, ” which is designed to be the metals, and a newly designed robot will be added culmination of the students’ training. Students in to simulate a fully integrated production facility. this course are expected to use the concepts and Curriculum. -Freshmen begin with a course on skills learned in previous processes and planning basic machine-tool operation and an overview of courses to tool-up and produce usable products, the primary processes and materials used in man- to perform in-depth manufacturing analyses, or en- ufacturing. They are also required to take basic gage in other production and planning activities graphics or drafting courses from the design tech- identical to those performed in industrial environ- nology division and an “Introduction to Engineer- ments. Products produced by students in the de- ing and Technology” course required of all tech- velopment lab include an electrically driven wheat nology students. Sophomore- and junior-year stud- mill and parts for a miniaturized turret punch ies focus primarily on the manufacturing processes press to be used in the CAM Mini-Lab, together courses that form the backbone of the curriculum. with feasibility studies on the manufacture of the These processes include machining, welding, cast- press. Students have also participated in joint ing, forming, molding, and heat-treating, and are projects with industry on plant layout and mate- supplemented by “related” technical courses in rials handling, machinability studies, and group material science, fluid power, and electronic con- technology and material classification and coding trol, and “supporting” courses in computer sci- studies. ences, mathematics, physics, economics, and tech- Enrollment Trends.–Beginning with two stu- nical writing. Sophomores and juniors also take dents in 1960, the manufacturing technology pro- courses in quality assurance, production planning, gram has shown a relatively steady enrollment and machine-tool performance. growth over the past two decades. With a current While a number of the freshman- through junior- enrollment of 180 students, the program is ex- level courses include sections on computer-aided pected to reach its enrollment ceiling of 250 stu- manufacturing techniques, machines, and proc- dents by 1985. The manufacturing program has esses—most notably, the numerical control course, the lowest number of female students of all the which contains a lengthy section on computer-as- technology programs (three women are currently sisted programing-it is not until their senior year enrolled) and the highest number of transfers from that students may begin to focus on the curricu- other departments. In fact, very few of the Man- lum’s “minor option” in computer-aided design or ufacturing Technology students enter the program manufacturing. At that stage, manufacturing stu- as freshmen; from 30 to 40 percent of the students dents interested in design or programing may take transfer from one of the engineering departments advanced CAD courses from the design section or while the remainder come from a variety of other computer programing courses from the computer colleges and departments throughout the univer- science department. Those interested in computer- sity. aided manufacturing may take courses in robotics, An ongoing project within the manufacturing computer-aided materials handling, computer- section is the development and analysis of manu- aided manufacturing systems, advanced N/C pro- facturing student profiles. This study shows that graming, N/C software development, and group most manufacturing students have had from three technology. to five other majors before taking up manufactur- All of the manufacturing courses have an asso- ing technology, have an average of 2 years of in- ciated laboratory requirement, and students spend dustrial experience, and are 26 years old when they approximately 50 percent of their time in the lab- graduate. A recent study of approximately 30 oratories applying the theoretical material learned manufacturing seniors indicates a number of sim- in the classroom. All students are assigned a num- ilarities among those studied: their major interests ber of individual and group projects during the were in mechanical things, seeing things work, see- Appendix —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 415 — . —. — ————.— -. —————— . —— ing how things work, technical production with BYLT’s manufacturing technology program, management and supervision, and computer pro- the first 4-year technology program to be accred- graming. Asked to assess their own abilities, the ited by ABET. students rabed themselves high in inventive abili- As the field of industrial drafting and design ty, visualization of interaction among various com- adapted to computer-assisted techniques, the de- ponents of a process, ability to do practical, sign technology faculty attempted, as best it “hands-on” engineering, ability to organize and could, to keep pace with the rapid industrial ad- schedule projects, ability to make decisions when vances. By the early 1970’s, students in the design not all the facts are available, ability to work under technology program were using APT part-pro- pressure, and ability to work well with people. graming language to complete manual program- Placement.–From 95 to 99 percent of each ing and batch processing exercises, keying the graduating class of manufacturing technologists manually produced programs onto a Flexiwriter find jobs in industry. Most graduates receive mul- which produced machine control tapes that were tiple job offers at starting salaries that show a then verified on a Gerber plotter. At the same steady increase year by year. Although current time, faculty members were actively exploring salary information is not available, surveys of ways of automating the design graphics processes 1980-81 graduates show an average starting salary in the program by making contacts with industrial of $23,500, with salaries ranging from $21,000 to representatives, keeping themselves informed of $27,600. the latest processes and their potential, and at- The majority of graduates are employed in the tending and speaking at professional gatherings. automotive and aerospace industries, heavy equip- It was at one such professional meeting–an ment manufacturing, computer-related produc- AIDD convention–that a design technology facul- tion, and firms producing high-technology ord- ty member was approached by a representative of nance materials, Among the companies most ac- Applicon, a major turnkey computer graphics tive in hiring BYU manufacturing technology firm, who had been impressed by his presentation graduates are IBM, Texas instruments, Ford, describing the design program’s attempts to in- John Deere, Caterpillar, General Dynamics, Gen- corporate industrial techniques into its curriculum. eral Electric, Hughes, U.S. Steel, Hewlett Packard, As a result of that meeting, Applicon eventually Boeing, Lockheed, and Cummins Engine. donated a computer graphics system to the design A large proportion of the graduates are hired as program. The one-terminal Applicon system was manufacturing engineers; others are classified as installed in 1975 and the faculty began develop- industrial engineers, process engineers, design en- ing coursework to incorporate computer-aided de- gineers, quality-assurance engineers, research en- sign instruction into the curriculum. gineers, and production engineers. A significant During the past 8 years, the relationship be- number go directly into management-most as tween Applicon and BYU’S design technology sec- managers, some as management trainees. The re- tion has remained strong and has resulted in the mainder assume a variety of positions and are donation of two new Applicon systems (one of hired as trainers, estimators, N/C programers, sys- which replaced the original, already-outdated, sys- tems analysts, technical service representatives, tem). In addition, because of the curricular ad- production schedulers, and lab technicians. vances made possible by the use of the Applicon Design Engineering Technology .–The design systems for instructional purposes, Computervi- technology program was not only the first tech- sion, GE-Calma, and other CAD systems have nology program in the United States to award a either been donated by the producers or provided baccalaureate degree in design and drafting* but at a minimal cost to the college (see section on Fa- also the first 4-year program to be certified at the cilities and Equipment). The design curriculum engineering designer level by the American Insti- currently taught at BYU would not have been pos- tute for Design and Drafting (AIDD)** and, along sible had the faculty been less successful in main- taining industrial contacts and encouraging indus- * According to the design technology faculty, many companies had try to donate equipment. been forced to employ graduate engineers to fill design positions because of industry’s growing need for qualified technical personnel. The de- Program Goals and Objectives.—The primary sign faculty viewed this process as “counterproductive in view of the goal of the design engineering technology program engineers’ sophisticated training and interests” and developed the de- is to ‘‘expose the student to challenging opportu- sign technology program to produce graduate designers specifically trained to meet the industrial need. nities in mechanical design, including new materi- * * AIDD is a professional group organized to advance the state of als, techniques, processes, etc., and thoroughly ac- the art in the industrial drafting and design community. The institute has an educational arm which certifies high school, techncian-leiel (2- quaint him with the current trends, ideology, and year), and baccalaureate (4-vear) design programs. tools of technical and computer-generated graph- 416 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace —. —-—. ics. ” The educational philosophy that supports into computer-oriented processes on the senior and that goal is that “students must have a founda- graduate levels—the design curriculum focuses on tion in theory, coupled with viable applications ex- computer-aided techniques and applications from perience, before education becomes truly meaning- the outset.* All design students study seven prin- ful. ” That philosophy, shared by the other sections cipal areas-graphic science standards, problem of the technology department, sets the technology analysis, planning, design synthesis, evaluation, curricula apart from traditional engineering cur- documentation, and application-all supplemented ricula and results in an instructional program in by the computer systems in the school laborato- which fully half of the student’s work is practical, ries, “hands-on” experimentation and application. The design program builds on the basic design Among the technical objectives of the design and drafting skills and knowledge developed in the program are the following: 1) to familiarize the stu- required freshman and sophomore courses cover- dent with basic problems in design development, ing the fundamentals of engineering graphics, me- including documentation and production tech- chanical drafting (which includes automated draft- niques, precision dimensioning and tolerancing ing techniques), and principles of descriptive ge- (among these techniques are computer-assisted de- ometry. While computer-aided techniques are sign, parametric design, and automation within taught as part of individual lower-division courses, the design cycle); 2) to teach basic computer-aided half of the required courses for juniors and seniors design, manufacturing, and engineering (CAD, focus entirely on computer graphics and computer- CAM, CAE) principles; 3) to assist the student in aided design. Two of the six design courses re- becoming knowledgeable about the proper use of quired during the junior year, for example, are: 1) modern production tools, machines, and equip- “Professional Graphics Applications-Interactive ment; 4) to aid the student in learning the basic Computer Graphics,” and 2) “Computer-Aided De manufacturing processes and how to achieve eco- sign-Interactive Graphics l.” nomical production by selecting the proper proc- ● ‘Professional graphics applications reviews the ess; 5) to acquaint students with numerical con- development of computer graphics; covers the trol systems and their applications; and 6) to pro- fundamental terminology, concepts, and princi- vide students with opportunities to participate in ples of computer graphics; introduces the stu- actual industry-related design problems. dents to the uses and applications of 2- and 3-di- Facilities and Equipment.–At present, the en- mensional systems; and teaches operational gineering sciences and technology building houses techniques. Students in this course study the four instructional laboratories containing interac- capabilities and functions of Apple, Applicon, tive graphics and computer-aided desigm equip- and Computervision systems and complete lab- ment. One of these laboratories, called “The Ap- oratory work focusing on operational techniques ple Lab, ” contains a total of 25 microcomputers required by each system. (including 8 Apples) that are programed to simu- Computer-aided design-interactive graphics 1 late many of the basic computer graphics func- provides students with exposure to a broad tions of Computervision or Applicon systems. The range of engineering applications that can be ex- Apple Lab is used to train freshmen in the tech- ecuted on CAD systems; trains them to execute nology and engineering departments in the basics vendor-prepared applications packages dealing of computer graphics. Students in more advanced with engineering problems, and exposes them classes use sophisticated industrial equipment to CAD software development. Among the ap- located in the other instructional laboratories. plications and techniques studied in this course That equipment includes two Applicon 885 multi- are finite element modeling, digitizing, param- workstation IMAGE configured systems (eight etric programing, numerical control part pro- workstations); a Computervision CADDS three graming, and detailing 3-D drawings. multiterminal system; a ComputerVision CADDS In their senior year, students are required to four multiworkstation system; a Calma DDM sys- take two other computer-oriented courses: tem, also multiterminal; and a Tektronix 4054 sys- ● Basic computer-assisted part programing pro- tem used principally by electronics students. vides students with a practical working Curriculum. -In contrast to the manufacturing technology curriculum—which stresses conven- —.——— tional manufacturing skills and knowledge in the *This, according to design program faculty, reflects current practice in industry, where CAD techniques are more widespread than CAM beginning of the programs and moves gradually techniques. Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 417 —

knowledge of APT programing techniques; placement rate is that the faculty actively encour- gives them a frame of reference to help them ages students to work in industry to get applica- to understand and implement computer-aided tion experience before going on to graduate work. design and manufacturing processes; and ex- Most students receive two or more job offers, and plores the impact of APT and automation in program graduates have been employed in the fol- general on the traditional techniques and lowing firms (to list but a few): Sandia Laborato- philosophy of engineering graphics. ries, General Electric, Texas Instruments, Boeing, ● Design technology-CAD software develop- Applicon, Garrett Corp., John Deere Product En- ment (interactive graphics 2) explores CAD gineering Center, Hughes Aircraft, General Dyna- software development research techniques, mics, Signetics, U.S. Steel, Martin Marietta, Xer- programing, and operation of automated and ox Corp., Calma Co., Bechtel Power Corp., West- computer graphic equipment with the object inghouse, Rocketdyne, and Motorola. of acquainting students with CAD databases The majority of graduates are employed in en- and database manipulation tools. * gineering positions directly after graduation. Spe- In addition to the required courses, two gradu- cific occupational titles assigned by the hiring ate courses in advanced computer-aided design companies include the following: design engineer, and advanced CAD applications are open to sen- CAD applications engineer, process engineer, man- iors as elective courses (see section on Graduate ufacturing engineer, CAD/CAM engineer, compu- Programs). ter engineer, rocket design engineer, software engi- Enrollment Trends.–The design technology neer, product design engineer, associate engi- program has the highest enrollment of the tech- neer, and engineer. Others are employed as CAD/ nology programs. In fact, with a 1982-83 academic CAM programmers, software analysts, tool design- year enrollment of 574 undergraduates, the design ers, CAD support technologists, computer graph- faculty is now in the position of having to intro- ics specialists, and CAD/CAM consultants. duce enrollment controls to eventually reduce the A number of graduates are hired as CAD or number of design students to 300. The primary CAD/CAM managers or as management trainees, reason for adopting this measure is to enable de- and a growing number are hired as CAD/CAM sign students to spend a minimum of 5 hours a trainers. Another growing occupational opportuni- week working on the CAD stations. Approximate- ty for which design graduates are well prepared ly 30 of the design undergraduates are women, giv- is technical marketing support—a number of re- ing this program the highest percentage of female cent design graduates have been hired as technical enrollment of all the technology programs. personnel who accompany equipment salespeople A recent analysis of the enrollment figures (done to answer the customer’s technical questions and when the enrollment totalled 555) revealed that 77 to help them make realistic appraisals of whether of the design students were freshmen; 119 were or not CAD and CAM equipment will perform de- sophomores; 155 were juniors; and 204 were sen- sired functions in specific environments. iors. The relatively small number of freshmen and Graduate Programs.–In 1977, the technology sophomores does not reflect an enrollment decline department established an M.S. program in com- at the lower division level; rather, it reflects a puter-aided manufacturing. Now retitled compu- general enrollment trend seen in all of the sections ter-integrated manufacturing (CIM), this program of the technology department of upper-division currently offers separate options in CAM and transfers from other disciplines. CAD and may in the future offer an option in com- Placement.–Like the other BYU technology puter-aided testing (CAT) for those students spe- programs, the design program has a placement cializing in advanced electronics applications. The rate approaching 99 percent. With only occasional renaming of the CIM program not only made spe- exceptions, those who do not accept immediate cific options in design and manufacturing available employment in the design field go on to graduate but also emphasized the thrust of the program, school or into the military. One reason for the high which is to provide students with training in the use of specific computer applications (e.g., robotics and group technology) as the basis for the study *Students are also required to take a noncredit ‘‘Design Technology Seminar” each semester. Seminars are held twice a month. Once each of integrated manufacturing where a variety of month the design technology students join with all students in the col- computer-aided equipment is linked in a distri- lege to attend the Engineering College lecture covering a recent topic buted system. in engineering; the other monthly meeting addresses recent develop- ments in computer-aided engineering and is specifically geared for de- One unusual feature of the CIM program is that sign students. over half of its students are professional engineers 418 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employmenf, Education, and the Workplace —— — . —.. - and managers employed by the Western Electric least 1 year of relevant industrial experience.* Co., who attend condensed, intensive versions of Other entrance requirements include: 1) a bache- the regular school-year courses for 5 weeks each lor’s degree in engineering technology, or, with the summer over a period of 5 years. The remainder consent of the department, a B.S. in an allied dis- of the students enrolled in CIM are full-time grad- cipline such as engineering; 2) evidence of com- uate students. At present, 30 full-time students pleted coursework in manufacturing processes, and 60 Western Electric engineers are enrolled in materials science, design and graphics, electronics, the program. The first eight Western Electric computer programing, physics, and calculus. students completed their coursework during the Faculty, Facilities, and Equipment.–Graduate spring 1983 term. courses are taught by approximately two-thirds In the fall of 1983, the technology department of the technology faculty. Facilities and equipment began to offer another graduate degree program are the same as those available to undergraduate in technical management. This new program offer- technology majors. ing is the result of a cooperative effort between the Curricula. -Both CIM options are structured to College of Engineering Sciences and the School of accommodate industrial requirements and to pre- Management, and will combine MBA courses with pare students for advanced work in computer- technical electives from either the technology aided design and manufacturing. While students department or the traditional engineering depart- may create individually focused options within the ments. Students choosing to supplement manage- two formal options (CAD and CAM), specified ment courses with technology coursework will pur- courses are required to form a foundation on which sue the technology management option, while stu- to base the individualized program. dents electing to take coursework from the CAM Option–Students choosing to specialize engineering departments will follow the engineer- in computer-aided manufacturing take the follow- ing management option. ing courses: Since the technology/engineering management ● Computer-aided facility design and materials program has not yet been offered, the remainder handling-theory and application of plant lay- of this section will be devoted to the program in out techniques, emphasizing materials handl- computer-integrated manufacturing. ing systems. Program Goals and Objectives: Computer Inte- ● CNC part programing-programing tech- grated Manufacturing.–The major goal of the niques and requirements for the manufactur- CIM curriculum is to prepare graduates to inte- ing of components on computer numerical grate computerized systems in manufacturing en- control machining centers, emphasizing pro- vironments, and to do so with a high degree of ef- graming, applications, and software develop- fectiveness. Specific objectives defined to support ment. that goal are the following: ● Group technology-classification theory and ● to instruct students ‘in the principles, ele- practice applied to workpiece-classification- ments, philosophy, and techniques of effective and-coding and statistics, production in man- manufacturing system design; ufacturing cells, design retrieval, and gener- ● to aid students in developing the ability to in- ative process planning (all with an emphasis tegrate computerized systems to solve prac- on computer applications). tical, recurring problems; and ● Computer-aided manufacturing systems–ba- ● to provide guidance to students completing sic activities, elements, and principles of com- the M.S. thesis requirement, which involves puter-aided manufacturing, including ter- an in-depth study of a social, economic, or minology, systems integration, architecture, technical aspect of computer-aided manufac- database development, interfaces, and com- turing systems. puter hardware/software requirements. Entrance Requirements.—The program is specifically designed for students with recent in- *The only exception to this requirement is that students who have completed a year of cooperative education experience (which, in actu- dustrial experience who wish to develop special- ality, is only 8 months of work experience) are eligible to apply. The ized skills and knowledge in technical and mana- technology faculty, however, actively encourages technology undergrad- uates contemplating this advanced degree to work full-time in indus- gerial aspects of computer-aided manufacturing try before applying in order to gain a practical understanding of indus- and design. Applicants must, therefore, have at trial practices before beginning graduate work. Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 419 —

Industrial robotics---history and philosophy finite element modeling, automated steel mills, of robotics, industrial applications, program- solids modeling, software quality assessment, and ing, economic justification, and integration the cost of product quality and its relation to mar- with production systems. ket share. Students are also required to take a course in The Western Electric Program.– In 1978, Brig- computer-aided design (see below) and a graduate ham Young became one of a handful of universities seminar, and may choose from a number of senior- participating in Western Electric’s “On-Campus and graduate-level manufacturing, design, and Summer Program, ” which provides selected West- electronics technology courses or courses in com- ern Electric employees with the opportunity to at- puter science, mechanical engineering, or business tend graduate school on-campus for 4 to 5 weeks management to complete their option. during the summer for a 5-year period. While the CAD Option .–Students taking the computer- other participating universities—including Clem- aided design option are also required to take the son University, Kansas State University, New manufacturing technology courses in group tech- Mexico State, Purdue, Texas Tech University, and nology and computer-aided manufacturing sys- the University of Illinois–offer a variety of ad- tems. Two advanced CAD courses are also re- vanced courses, some of which focus on CAD and quired: CAM, Brigham Young is the only one to offer a ● Computer-aided design: interactive graphics degree program in computer-integrated manufac- 3—CAD systems management philosophies, turing. Although Western Electric does not re- including systems evaluation, cost justifica- quire the 60 employees currently attending BYU tion, procurement procedures, implementa- to enroll formally in the CIM degree program, tion, and management/operator training almost all have chosen to do so. Those who formal- programs. ly enroll in the program must complete the same ● Advanced CAD applications-philosophy, thesis requirement as all regular CIM graduate methods, and applications of engineering students, and all of the Western Electric techniques pertaining to present and future employees receive the same classroom instruction trends of finite element and solids modeling; and laboratory practice. Each summer, two complex numerical control methods. courses from the CAM option are restructured to Elective coursework may be chosen from all fit into an intensive 5-week period so that students three curricula of the technology department, the complete the equivalent of two 14-week courses. computer sciences department, and the mechanical The first eight graduates completed their studies engineering department. in the summer of 1983, and two or three additional Electronics Technology Coursework.-Although students were to complete their degrees by the end there is, at present, no formal electronics option of the year. in the CIM program, a number of upper-level and Western Electric covers all of the students’ for- graduate courses that focus on computer-aided ap- mal costs— including fees, tuition, housing, and plications and techniques are available to students books–and also reimburses BYU for the salaries in the Cl M program. Among these are computer- of the Technology faculty and staff, and for equip- aided testing and instrumentation, electronics fab- ment use and maintenance. rication and assembly, and real-time sensing and Enrollment Trends, Attrition, and Placement.— control. * While the number of Western Electric engineers Research.-All CIM students are required to do officially enrolled in the CIM program has gone research and write a thesis, preferably on a prac- as high as 60, academic year enrollment is limited tical aspect or application of computer-integrated to 30. Of the 30 students currently enrolled in the manufacturing systems. In practice, areas of academic year program, approximately two-thirds research have been very broad. A number of stu- are graduates of BYU and over half are graduates dents participate in ongoing faculty research, of BYU technology programs. Many C IM stu- while others initiate independent research projects dents take leaves-of-absence from their companies in subjects such as selection of CAD equipment, to take the coursework, and attempt to complete CAD training, CAD system performance, compu- the thesis requirement after returning to their ter-aided materials selection, carbide selection, jobs. This practice is the primary cause of attri- tion (approximately 33 percent), which often oc- *The ‘‘ Real-Time.Sesing and Control” course focuses on writing com- puter language for computer operations that run in real time (ie, , are curs after the coursework has been completed and not stored by the computer and computed in a Batch model. when students return to work rather than remain 420 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace — on campus to write their theses. The placement ence includes an initial orientation followed by rate for CIM graduates, on the other hand, is 100 demonstrations, workshops, and presentations by percent. Average entry-level salaries received by industrial representatives who use DCLASS and CIM gradutes range from $27,000 to $33,000, al- by technology department faculty. though some program graduates have received of- The Manufacturing Consortium that supports fers as high as $50,000. the development of CAST holds twice-yearly meet- ings to review and approve the instructional mod- Industrial Affiliations ules as they are completed. The industrial mem- bers of the consortium also provide financial re- The technology faculty operates on the philoso- sources and technical information on the manufac- phy that, in meeting the needs of industry it is turing processes which are the subject matter of meeting the needs of its students. The discussion the instructional packages, and the educational in the preceding section has brought out a number members write the software, participate in the of ways in which the faculty has sought industrial review process, and help to evaluate the teach- advice, secured industrial donations, and engaged ing/learning process employed. in research that is either industry-oriented or con- The Western Electric program described earlier ducted in cooperation with industry. The follow- in this study gives the technology faculty an op- ing paragraphs describe specific formal channels portunity to work intensively with engineers and through which the technology department commu- technical personnel, and faculty leave programs nicates with industry and discusses the departm- allow faculty members to renew their working ent’s position on the formation of an industrial knowledge of industrial practices by accepting advisory council. short-term employment in industry. In addition, Channels of Communication.–The technology all faculty members take at least one trip a year department participated with the other depart- to attend meetings of professional and technical ments in the college to form the Alliance With In- societies. Another fruitful channel of communica- dustry Program in 1981. The 20 companies who tion is provided by industrial visitors. Literally participate in the program* each provide an an- thousands of industrial representatives visit the nual contribution of $10,000 or more to support department each year– some to view the facilities the college’s research and educational programs. and equipment, some to deliver or attend semi- Benefits to the industrial partners include the fol- nars, and many to ask advice on computer-aided lowing: 1) licenses for software developed by col- equipment and methods. lege faculty (including high-resolution graphics software developed by a member of the engineer- Evaluation of Present and Future Capacity ing faculty), 2) research results in methodology and applications, 3) help in solving special indus- When asked to evaluate BYU’S technology pro- trial problems, 4) seminars for technical personnel, grams on the basis of the skills and ability of their and 5) access to BYU graduates skilled in compu- graduates, one employer replied: “On a scale of 1 ter-aided techniques. Benefits to the college, aside to 10, I’d rate them 10. ” Other employers con- from donations of funds and equipment, include tacted agree, noting that BYU graduates not only industrial advice and interaction and the oppor- have “just the right education, ” but often require tunity to do research on current industrial prob- less on-the-job orientation training than tradition- lems. ally educated engineers, and are also more mature Apart from its participation in the college-wide and more willing to work extra hours and at odd alliance with industry, the technology department hours than most engineers fresh out of college. has also formed independent alliances. Each year, The Rocky Road to Success.–Evaluated with the department holds two DCLASS conferences, respect to its own stated goal of preparing stu- one for users who have licensed the software and dents for positions requiring applied engineering, one for nonusers who are considering purchasing process planning, and systems management skdk, a license. The users conference provides a forum the BYU technology department clearly is highly for the exchange of ideas and the presentation of successful. Its present capacity to provide its new DCLASS applications; the non-users confer- students with the CAD and CAM skills sought by increasing numbers of industrial firms is perhaps *These include B. F. Goodrich, Boeing, Digital Equipment Corp., Evans & Sutherland, Garrett Corp., Hewlett Packard, Exxon, GE-Cal- best described by the adage, “success breeds suc- ma, Genrad, GTE, and Computervision. cess. ” Because the faculty has been able to obtain Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries . 421 — —. ————— —— --— — industrial donations, state-of-the-art equipment, tion requirements, which allow little space in a industrial advice, and real-world research problems 4-year curriculum for the inclusion of new courses, for its students to work on, BYU technology grad- coursework focusing on CAD and CAM could be uates are sought after by industry. And because incorporated into the technology curricula with of the graduates’ success in industry and the facul- relative ease. ty’s achievements in research, the technology de- The final hurdle for the technology department partment now has more offers of equipment and was industry itself. Faculty members went from industrial research projects than it can handle and company to company in the early 1970’s, but did is in the position of giving advice to companies less not succeed in obtaining donated or reduced-price technologically advanced than it is. equipment until they proved their genuine interest A look at the history of the technology depart- and capability by demonstrating to Applicon that ment since its inception in 1960, however, reveals their students were doing all that could be done that its present-day success story grew out of a to automate the drafting courses with the limited Cinderella tale. When the baccalaureate programs equipment at their disposal. It was at this stage, were first established, and for many years after- when the department received its first major dona- wards, the members of the technology faculty saw tion (the Applicon CAD system) that Cinderella themselves as ‘‘underdogs. They were looked was allowed to try on the glass slipper. The other down upon by many of the engineering faculty, slipper-a $130,000 Kerney & Trecker CNC mill- and unrecognized by most of the rest of the univer- ing machine, which the company sold to the de- sity, and their 4-year programs were often con- partment for $50,000—was fitted shortly there- fused with the 2-year technician programs also of- after. These two significant equipment additions fered by the technology department at that time. enabled the faculty to begin to incorporate sophis- Industry-oriented and intent on filling the gap ticated computer-aided techniques into the course- created by the increasingly theoretical focus of work; they also encouraged other firms to donate traditional engineering education, the technology funds and equipment. department resisted promptings by engineering societies, accreditation agencies, and some of the Technology and Engineering: college faculty to “add more courses the students Interdepartmental Relationships wouldn’t need in industry in order to become ac- credited-it wasn’t worth the tradeoff. ” Once it “proved itself,” the situation of the tech- Eventually, the manufacturing and design pro- nology department improved both inside and out- grams-which substituted application-oriented, side the university. Although perfect accord be- laboratory-based courses for the most highly tween engineering and technology faculty mem- theoretical coursework in engineering disci- bers is not always achieved even now, the vast ma- plines-became the first accredited technology jority of faculty members in the college view programs in the country. Although accreditation engineering and technology as partner-disciplines, was beneficial to both the students and the facul- both of which are necessary to provide the broad ty, it did not solve their problem of being looked spectrum of education and training required to upon as either second-rate engineers or as super- prepare graduates for engineering and engineer- technicians. However, the department’s industrial ing-related positions in industry. Civil, mechanical, focus and the faculty members’ desire to prove and electrical engineering students are now re- that neither they nor the discipline of technology quired to take design technology courses, and were “poor relations” were significant factors in many engineering students take courses from all the department early concentration on computer- three technology programs as technical electives, aided design and manufacturing. Technology students were always required to Because the programs were designed to teach take engineering courses relevant to their major state-of-the-art industrial skills and applications, program-and a third to a half as many physics, the faculty began exploring ways of obtaining chemistry, and mathematics courses as engineer- equipment and incorporating programmable auto- ing students. There has been limited discussion mation into the curricula approximately 10 years about increasing the number of statics, dynamics, ago, when it became clear to them that CAD and and strength-of-materials courses taken by tech- CAM would eventually become required fields of nology majors to equal those taken by engineers, knowledge. Furthermore, because the programs’ and there is some discussion about increasing the curricula were not bound by engineering accredita- numbers of physics and mathematics courses in 422 • Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace —. —. the technology curricula.* As the commonality be- The technology department also stimulated the tween technology and engineering curricula grows, engineering departments’ interest in CAD and more and more students and faculty perceive the CAM, which, in turn, was a stimulus for the cur- difference between the two disciplines to be one rent focus on computer-aided engineering (CAE). of approach and mission, rather than one of level The college as a whole has also benefited from the of education. industry interest generated by the technology pro- grams and graduates. Much of the computer-aided Computer-Aided Engineering, Design, equipment obtained by the technology department and Manufacturing (CAEDM) Committee serves the entire college, and the engineering de- partments have now obtained computer graphics Both technology and engineering faculty now and computer-aided data acquisition and analysis feel that they have an excellent relationship with equipment through industrial donations and coop- each other, in contrast to the situation in many erative agreements with equipment manufactur- other universities which have both programs. The ers. In addition, the growing reputation of the CAEDM Committee, created in 1980, provides a technology department in industrial circles has formal channel of communication between the brought in interviewers from across the country technologists and engineers, and a number of pro- who hire engineering as well as technology fessors in both departments coordinate research graduates. projects in which technology and engineering The Alliance With Industry Program, formed graduate students work together as part of a re- under the auspices of CAEDM, brought the uni- search team. College faculty believe that this team versity $1,858,000 in industrial equipment and in approach has a great deal of significance for aca- funds used to augment the computer-aided capa- demia and industry alike. ** bilities of the college. In April 1983, CAEDM The BYU technology department-whose pri- hosted a conference for 380 representatives from mary focus is on the implementation of engineer- 120 universities across the country who are either ing designs--has been instrumental in increasing planning or developing programs in computer- the engineering departments’ awareness of the aided manufacturing, design, and engineering. need to produce industrial designers who are more Thirty speakers from 25 universities that have ini- cognizant of manufacturing concepts and require- tiated such programs gave presentations on the ments. One tangible example of interdepartmen- approach taken at their respective institutions; tal cooperation in this area is a CAEDM-sponsored and all of the participants had the opportunity to short-course for faculty and students delivered by discuss common problems, individual experiences, a representative from GE, which has instituted a and appropiate strategies. The object of the con- version of a Japanese procedure that rates engi- ference, called University Programs for Computer- neering designs on the basis of ease and efficien- Aided Engineering, Design and Manufacturing cy of assembly. Another example is the work now (UP CAEDM) was to increase communication being done in the CAM Mini-Lab, where electrical among universities and to provide impetus for the and mechanical engineering students, computer implementation of teaching and research pro- science students, and technology students all par- grams in CAD, CAM, and CAE. ticipate in projects addressing the manufacturing Problems.—While cooperative endeavors like process from design to production and the prob- those mentioned above have brought the faculty lems of networking diverse CAD and CAM equip- of the technology and engineering departments to- ment. gether, the college is not entirely free of the tradi- — tional misunderstanding among engineers and *There is some disagreement among the technology faculty on the technologists. Some of the technology faculty still issue of increasing the math and physics courses, which would entail either extending the technology curricula beyond the limits of 4-year bear the scars of old battle wounds and refer to programs, requiring students to take, more courses each semester, or the “arrogance” of the engineering discipline as dropping courses that the majority of the faculty consider to be essen- a whole, and to the “old boys’ club” atmosphere tial for technologists. * * A petennial problem in industry has been lack of communication that links engineers nationwide and excludes tech- between engineers who design the products and the manufacturing de- nologists. They consider their own college educa- partments responsible for production. Because of this lack of commu- tion in traditional engineering schools to have nication, and because engineers normally receive little formal education in the requirements of the manufacturing process, industrial designers “mistrained” them for industrial occupations. often fail to take manufacturing requirements into account when design- Some engineering faculty, on the other hand, re- ing a product — a procedure that can lead to loss of money, loss of pro- duction time, or (in the worst instace) a product which a product which not be man- sent the fact that most technology department ufactured graduates are classified as “engineers” when they Appendix A – Selected Case Studies” Summaries 423 ——-. —. — — —— move into industry; they fear that such graduates The major problem-area still remaining for the may be “misrepresented” as degreed engineers. technology department in respect to working with Another problem for the engineering faculty is industry is the attitude taken by some firms that a number of visitors from industry and aca- toward the occupational categories appropriate for demia overlook the computer-aided engineering technology graduates. This is discussed in the fol- facilities and devote their entire attention to the lowing section. CAD and CAM facilities of the technology depart- Future Capacity .—Judged by its present suc- ment. The resentments on both sides are, however, cess, the direction of the faculty’s research, and gradually being overcome by the spirit of coopera- its determination to maintain its awareness of in- tion that now exists within the college. They are dustrial needs and techniques, the future poten- but pale reflections of national tensions between tial of the technology department to continue pro- technologists and engineers. ducing well-trained graduates versed in computer- Working With Industry.–Having designed its aided techniques and familiar with a wide range programs to respond to industrial needs and hav- of computer-aided equipment seems high indeed. ing concentrated on industrially oriented research, The major limitation is the small size of the depart- the technology department is now able to work ment—which, because of enrollment control, will with industry on many levels. The continuing suc- become smaller still-and difficulties encountered cess of the Western Electric program and the sat- in managing the growing numbers of computer- isfaction of the Western Electric employees who) aided systems, which entail coordinating frequent attend the summer sessions indicate the suitabili- upgrades and updates with the student need for ty of the technology curricula to current industrial equipment time. needs, as do the multiple job offers received by Although college and university administrations technology graduates. The growing number of have been generous in assigning funds to upgrade companies purchasing DCLASS licenses and ex- old facilities and build new ones for the technology hibiting interest in the CAST system indicate that and engineering departments, the technology de- the research performed by technology department partment’s resources cannot expand to accommo- faculty and students also fills an industrial need. date all of the activities it would like to engage in. Some faculty members, in fact, are in the position For example, a number of companies have re- of being able to pick and choose from a large num- quested that the department operate programs for ber of potential industrial research projects. their employees on the model of the Western Elec- Because of the similarity of interest between tric program. The department has had to turn technology department faculty and professionals down these requests for lack of resources. It will, in industry, and because of past success in re- however, attempt to offer a series of 2-day to 1- search aimed at solving current industrial prob- week seminars for industrial employees focusing lems, individual faculty members have been able on computer-aided design and manufacturing, to engage in long-term research projects resulting A general policy of the department and of the in a number of shorter-term benefits to industry. university is to sacrifice size for quality. The new DCLASS, for example, is now put to use by a num- enrollment control procedures, for example, will ef- ber of firms for classifying and retrieving informa- fectively close off enrollment for the Design Pro- tion and for generating process plans, time stand- gram for the next year or two, but wiII also result ards, and a number of other applications. At the in more CAD-terminal-time for those students al- same time, the creator of DCLASS is conducting ready enrolled. of the three technology programs, long-term research into the potential use of manufacturing exhibits the greatest capacity for DCLASS as a systems integration tool. future enrollment growth (student interest has Revenues from the sale of DCLASS licenses been fueled by the national interest in productivi- have helped to buy equipment and renovate facil- ty and the potential of computer-aided manufac- ities and may soon be augmented by the sale of turing), while the electronics program has the CAST training modules and the CAD training greatest potential for expanding its curriculum to aides that allow Apple computers to simulate in- include new courses focusing on computer-aided teractive graphics systems. In many instances, the equipment and techniques. The Electronics facul- department has been able to save the expense of ty has already acquired six HP87XM computer- maintaining computer aided equipment by writ- aided test stations to be used as personal instru- ing software programs for equipment vendors in ment, systems, and a Tektronic 4054 computer exchange for maintenance services. graphics system for printed circuit board design. 424 “ Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace —-————. ——- .—————— ——— -— —

Future departmental plans call for an ECAM ment of mechanical engineering and to offer them (Electronics-CAM) minilab to be established in the as options. The danger here, according to BYU fac- new technology building when it is completed. ulty, is that the technology program is then like- The technology department, in cooperation with ly to become a watered-down engineering program the mechanical engineering department and the rather than a parallel-track program. Another ne- electrical engineering department, developed a pro- cessity is that each course in the curriculum be ac- posal for a three-element graduate program in companied by an associated laboratory require- manufacturing systems in response to IBM’s an- ment. This means, of course, that appropriate nouncement that it would provide college and uni- equipment and facilities be available. Another ma- versity grants for the development of new curric- jor requirement is that the faculty have industrial ula in manufacturing techniques. BYU has re- experience and be comfortable teaching a less ceived notice that it has been awarded an IBM theoretical, practically oriented curriculum. The 4341 computer system with 10 CADAM graphics final requirement is interest on the students’ part. terminals. This system will have a significant im- While faculty can help to generate that interest, pact on the capacity of the three departments and it could be difficult to do so in a strong traditional of the college as a whole to train more students engineering college where students are bent on be- than they can presently accommodate. coming degreed engineers and have little interest The technology department’s potential capaci- in less theoretical studies. ty to provide education in progr ammable automa- Technology Transfer. –The technology depart- tion is not entirely limited by the size of the depart- ment—and, especially since the formation of ment, if one considers the indirect impact of the CAEDM, the college as a whole–has been, and programs as models for other schools, the willing- will most likely continue to be, an excellent con- ness and ability of the faculty to provide informa- duit for technology transfer. The faculty demon- tion to academia and industry alike, and the poten- strates a strong determination to continue to learn tial of the computer-aided simulation training from industry and an equally strong desire to packages and the CAM-Mini Lab concept. share what they have learned and their methodol- BYU Technology Programs as Models for Other ogy of teaching with other educational institu- Educational Institutions.—The manufacturing tions. The UP CAEDM conference, in particular, technology program has been used for many years has the potential of becoming a regularly occur- by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers as a ring event: the second such conference is being recommended model for 4-year manufacturing pro hosted on the East Coast by Lehigh University in grams. In addition, representatives of 15 to 20 col- 1984. If that potential is realized, BYU will have leges and universities visit the BYU technology provided the impetus for a sorely needed forum for department each year with the expressed intention continual exchange of information. * of creating their own programs on the BYU model. Technology department faculty also express the Technology department faculty representatives intention of continuing the present practice of offer the following comments on the feasibility of working as consultants to industrial firms and such attempts. While they have personal knowl- government agencies and of providing informal ad- edge of a number of successful programs modeled vice and services to industry representatives who on their own, they point out that the crucial re- visit the department to obtain information on quirements for a program like theirs are often met CADICAM systems and applications. Thus, the only with difficulty. The first requirement, from technology transfer provided by the technology their point of view, is the necessity of “giving up department and other departments in the college the title of manufacturing engineering in order to is likely to continue to operate on multiple levels give industry what it really wants. ” This is a step to the benefit of BYU, other academic institutions, that a number of engineering schools do not wish and industry. to take.* Computer-Based and Computer-Aided Instruc- Once this step is decided upon, other pitfalls ex- tional Packages. –As modules of the Computer- — .—— ist. One is the tendency of some schools to place *An informal survey conducted by this researcher of selected colleges manufacturing technology programs in the depart- and universities revealed an astonishing lack of knowledge about the activities of other institutions on the part of faculty members actively engaged in planning or developing CAD and CAM programs. While ● According to one technology instructor, “You can’t take a trueblue some faculty members contacted did have some information about ex- theoretical engineer and expect him to teach technology; if you do, isting programs in colleges and universities, they often did not know there’s a danger that the faculty will make the technology courses too the direction and focus of those other programs or had inadequate in- theoretical and the students will wind up with a pseudo-technology de- formation about specific research and curriculum development ac- gree. ” tivities. Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries . 425 — — ———

Aided Simulation Training System (CAST) are duplicates of the miniature factory that will be con- completed and approved by the Manufacturing tained in the CAM Mini Lab and to provide them Consortium, they will be made available to indus- to 20 universities across the country. The recipi- tries and educatioal institutions for a minimal fee ent universities would be encouraged to attend (covering the cost of reproduction and mailing). ‘‘software exchanges, whereby advances made by The manufacturing technology professor respon- one party would benefit the group as a whole. The sible for developing and coordinating the project estimated cost of producing the hardware for one is hopeful that within the next year, videodisk minilab is $50,000, which is equal to or less than technology in the United States will be well the cost of many single items of computer-aided enough advanced to allow the CAST development equipment. team to produce the training modules on interac- Projects such as those mentioned above expand tive videodisks. At present, a demonstration vid- considerably the department potential capacity eodisk has been produced for use in further re- to have a direct effect on education and training search studies on interactive instruction, and in the field of programmable automation, The sound-slide presentations of some of the modules DCLASS users and nonusers conferences, the are being tested in manufacturing technology Western Electric program, and short courses for classes at BYU. The CAI) training package for use professional engineers offered by the engineering on Apple computers is also in the development departments further expand the college’s ability stage, and one of the design technology faculty has to reach beyond the university campus to provide formulated a concept for computer-aided CAD in- educational opportunities to working profes- struction which he hopes to develop in the near sionals. future. CAM Mire” Lab. -Technology department facul- ty are also seeking funds to enable them to build 426 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace — —

Case Study 3 CADAM Inc.: Customer Training in Computer-Aided Design

Summary designers, internal trainers, and customer trainers —accounts for 8 percent of all CADAM employees CADAM Inc., a subsidiary of Lockheed Corp., (an unusually high percentage), and the director produces computer-aided design and manufactur- of training reports directly to the president of the ing (CAD/CAM) software, most of which is li- firm. This, again, is unusual, since most training censed to customers through IBM and other com- departments report through marketing, customer puter hardware firms. Customers may also buy relations, or personnel. CAD/CAM software directly from CADAM for Company Characteristics. -As of July 1983, use on systems that are “plug-compatible” with CADAM employed approximately 280 people in IBM systems. its four major divisions: software development, CADAM provides basic computer graphics marketing, training, and administration. Seventy- training free of charge to all customers who pur- five percent of CADAM employees are in the soft- chase software directly from the firm (two employ- ware division; marketing and trairing have 10 per- ees per customer) and charges $1,250 per student cent each; and the remaining 5 percent are in ad- for basic training classes to all customers who li- ministration, At present, the firm operates out of cense the software through IBM or other hard- one facility, located near the Lockheed-California ware distributors. Customers may also purchase plant in Burbank, Calif. CADAM management the basic training in self-study packages for $650 plans to increase the software division by 40 em- per kit. The software firm offers more than 11 com- ployees during the latter part of 1983 and to main- puter graphics programs, ranging from basic train- tain the training department at its current level. ing in the CADAM system of computer-aided de- The decision to incorporate what was once Lock- sign, to courses on 3-D piping and 3-n surfaces, heed’s CADAM division* was fueled by the per- to numerical control (NC) programing, to finite ele- ceived necessity of providing CADAM manage- ment modeling. ment with the flexibility it needed to operate in In addition, CADAM offers a training consult- a fast-moving CAD/CAM marketplace with a wide ing service designed to assist customers who have variety of potential customers in-aerospace, ship- unique problems or special requirements, All train- building, automating, architectural planning, and ing beyond CADAM basic is delivered for a fee, a number of other industries. Distinguishing which ranges from $550 to $3,100 per student, de- CADAM from the majority of CAD software and pending on the length and complexity of the software-hardware houses is the firm’s concentra- course. The majority of students are machinists, tion on developing software for mainframe CAD/ designers, drafters, and engineers. CAM systems, specifically the IBM 370, 303X, While CADAM provides both in-plant training and 4300 series, rather than for turnkey, or stand- for all of its employees and what is referred to as alone, systems utilizing minicomputers. ‘‘scope” training (training on the computer termi- According to company representatives, the ad- nal in the operations required to use various vantages of mainframe as opposed to turnkey sys- CADAM @ system ware packages),* this study will focus primarily on the customer training of- *In 1967, the origial CA DAM software was developed by Lock- fered by the firm. When it was established in Jan- heed-California engineers to aid in the numerical control (NC) program- ing and airframe design for Lockheed Aerospace Products. CADAM uary 1982, its Lockheed Corp. founders committed system software was originally created for use on IBM mainframes, themselves to providing “high quality training” but by the mid-1970’s, Lockheed had also designed a CADAM pack- age for use on Perkin Elmer minicomputers, By 197.5, Lockheed was which they saw as crucial to support the company selling CA DAM system software to users outside of Lockheed Corp. goal of becoming a major developer and distribu- By 1979, in addition to marketing the system, IBM also adopted tor of software in the CAD/CAM field. Today, the CADAM is its internal CAD/CAM software. IBM and Lockheed en- tered into a contractual arrangement in 1977 whereby IBM would mar- training department—which includes curriculum ket and distribute CADAM system software under the IBM installed user program ( IUP), which makes software developed by IBM users *CADAM is a registered trademark and service mark of CADAM Inc available to the general public. Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 427 — —. terns are increased database capability and the tion environments for over 15 years; it also inher- ability to network CAD/CAM databases (including ited 10 Lockheed-developed CADAM training pro- the ability to transfer data between CAD and grams and a number of experienced trainers. CAM systems), the ability to interface to other in- Top Priority Accorded to Training.–According formation systems, the greater growth capability to CADAM’s president, training was an integral of mainframes (to which over 100 terminals can be part of the strategic business plan created prior connected), greater telecommunications capabili- to CADAM’s incorporation. Convinced that cus- ties between far-flung terminals, and the increased tomer support–including training, curricular aids, speed, accuracy, and computing ability offered by and consulting services—was a major requirement 32-bit (mainframe) as opposed to 16-bit (minicom- for success in the CAD/CAM field, CADAM man- puter) systems. * By offering these features, agement set out to establish a training department CADAM believes it has a solution for an entire en- that would provide curricular materials and train- terprise—not merely a department or group. ing of a consistently high quality. The new direc- According to CADAM’s president, CAD/CAM tor of training and education, hired in November technology is most profitably and productively 1981, was given a mandate to produce quality used by firms that are not merely seeking to au- training and to turn the training department into tomate single processes, such as design drawings a profit center for the firm. As head of one of or NC part programing, but are instead develop- CADAM’s four major divisions, the director of ing the capability to make their design and manu- training reports directly to the president of the facturing processes into a single integrated sys- firm and has both flexibility (in structuring the tem. CADAM management thus views the firm’s training department, hiring trainers and program major role as that of a systems catalyst, since they designers, and organizing and developing the maintain that CAD/CAM systems can, when used training material) and accountability (for produc- by knowledgeable users, become the backbone of ing “quality product support” and for turning a a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) sys- profit). tem. In this sense, CADAM has two major mar- CADAM management believes that a system of kets: firms that use CAD or CAD/CAM systems checks and balances--involving cooperation be- for some processes, and, most important, firms tween trainers and designers and between the soft- that are in the process of developing integrated ware division and the training division, as well as system capabilities. At present, CADAM has over accountability on the part of each division to the 250 corporate users, including IBM (with almost others and to top management-produces a form 100 installations and several hundred terminals of “quality assurance” whereby the product itself that make use of CADAM software), GM and is designed with users and training requirements other American firms, the majority of the largest in mind, and the training effort supports the sale Japanese automakers and shipbuilders, and firms and use of the software. throughout Western Europe, Canada, South Af- Relationships With Educational Institutions.— rica, and South America. Aside from the training division’s informal rela- Training Organization and Philosophy .–Lock- tionship with the [University of Southern Califor- heed-California began CADAM system training nia’s (USC’S) Instructional Technology Depart- for employees in the late 1960’s, shortly after the ment, CADAM has numerous cooperative rela- CADAM product was developed; Lockheed in- tionships with colleges and universities in Califor- structors have been delivering CADAM system nia and throughout the country. In September training since 1975, when software packages were 1982, IBM announced its intention to award $40 first sold to outside users. As a company, then, million worth of grants of hardware and of funds CADAM had the advantage of starting out with to university and college engineering schools to a track record of training both customers and em- develop new curricula in manufacturing tech- ployees on a system that had been used in produc- niques. CADAM intends to supplement the IBM hardware donations with donations of software *Many of the major turnkey vendors, however, are coming out with licenses. 32-bit minicomputers, which, according to Merrill Lynch’s 1982 CAD CAM Review and outlook, “ appear capable of stemming the inroads Independently of the IBM grant, CADAM do- of mainframe computer competition (p. 1). While mainframes have nates software to a number of universities and col- more CPU power and speed, the new 32-bit mini systems offer more extensive applications software and, except for “high-end large sophis- leges, to be used in teaching CAD/CAM fundamen- ticated needs, are superior to mainframes in price/performtince com- tals, and occasionally provides CADAM training parisons (p, 9), to selected colleges and universities for free or for 428 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace a reduced rate. A more active relationship exists degrees in instructional design, education, or the with a smaller number of schools to which sciences, and employees with practical experience CADAM also provides test releases of software. working on and teaching the CADAM system. This arrangement gives students experience in The manager of customer training is a long-time solving software problems while, at the same time, Lockheed employee (previously a drafter/designer) aiding CADAM software analysts in debugging who was trained as a drafting designer on the software. With yet other institutions–UCLA CADAM when it was first put into use in the late and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for exam- 1960’s. A trainer in the CADAM system since the ple—CADAM has engaged in joint development early 1970’s, he became manager of customer work. UCLA’s Department of Manufacturing En- training shortly after moving to CADAM from the gineering has received grants of IBM hardware Lockheed training department. Five of the six and CADAM software, which it has integrated trainers combine production experience as into the curriculum of three separate courses. CADAM system designers with experience as CADAM and UCLA manufacturing engineering CADAM system trainers for Lockheed. The senior faculty and graduate students are also engaged in instructor has 20 years of training experience, 15 joint research to determine how to classify of which were spent training Lockheed employees CADAM-made drawings into part families by and customers on the CADAM system. using group technology codes, with the ultimate The manager of the program design staff has object of developing an integrated manufacturing completed advanced graduate work: in the USC in- planning system. structional technology department and worked Another cooperative project conducted by previously as a manager for another firm. The four UCLA aims to narrow the traditional communica- program designers also have graduate and/or tions gap between the design and manufacturing teaching experience in instructional technology at departments in industries by designing a “smart” USC (one was an instructor, one an assistant pro- CAD system that will monitor the design process fessor), and one also has 10 years of industrial ex- and prompt the designer if he bypasses manufac- perience. All have had extensive experience in writ- turing considerations while designing a part, tool, ing instructional curricula. or product. Another UCLA-CADAM project in- The difference in backgrounds between the volves research into incorporating three-dimen- trainers and the program designers reflects sional graphics capabilities into CADAM system CADAM management’s position that CADAM software. employees should specialize in what they do best— Other educational institutions with which that trainers should be practitioners with engineer- CADAM maintains a close working relationship ing or shopfloor experience and that curriculum include Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Michi- developers should be trained communication spe- gan Technological Institute, MIT, and California cialists. The horizontal nature of CADAM’s inter-

Polytechnic State University. Section III of this nal organization-whereby trainers, program de- study discusses possible future projects with col- signers, and software developers are on parallel leges and universities which may have a direct im- organizational levels—is intended to encourage pact on CADAM system training itself and on the cooperation and to make all technical-level educational offerings of participating schools. employees accountable for portions of product de- Training Division Staff.—The training division velopment and support. consists of the director of training, the internal Training Facilities.–Approximately half of all training group, the customer training group, the the customer training is delivered at CADAM’s program (i.e., curriculum) designers, and three sup- training facility, located at the CADAM plant and port personnel. also used for employee* Group II mainframe com- The training director, who was in computer sales puter, which is shared with the marketing group, for IBM from 1956 to 1969 and then moved into the industrial training field as an early employee Customer Training of Tratech (a for-profit training firm) and a train- Goals. -Major goals of CADAM customer train- ing consultant, combines experience in the com- ing are to provide a high level of training support puter and training fields with formal training as to the customers and to do so on a profitable basis. an accountant. The remainder of the professional — —. staff in the training division is approximately *The remainder of the training is delivered onsite at the customer equally split between employees with advanced location. Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 429 . .—

Recognizing that the CADAM system cannot be CADAM’s training programs. At present, two effectively utilized by customers who have not courses have been fully revised by the program de- been properly trained and that well-trained users signers: 1) CADAM basic, and 2) 3-D piping, a new are those most likely to be satisfied with the sys- course designed for a software application pro- tem and to expand their use of it, the training di- gram for the construction of pipe runs and spool rector established the program design department diagrams. Four additional courses –basic II, anal- to support these goals with its own particular set ysis, CADAM implementation, and CADAM in- of objectives. stallation-were to be ready by the third quarter These objectives are to develop a complete set of 1983. As applied by CADAM designers, instruc- of training tools for each customer training pro- tional design provides a systematic approach to gram, to make those tools (written curricula, study defining, developing, and evaluating training pro- guides, training guides, training aids, etc.) as con- grams-an approach which attempts to combine sistent as possible both in content and delivery, flexibility with an organized structure, The in- to package appropriate courses as self-study pro- structional design system is usable both for grams to reduce trainin g costs, and to develop new creating new programs and for revising old train- instructional programs to keep pace with software ing material. development and new software applications. The The instructional design system used by trainers’ goals are to make sure that the students CADAM designers is a nine-part process which, have a basic understanding of how the CADAM in the case of the revision of CA DAM basic train- system operates and a specific understanding of ing, took approximately 9 months to complete. the particular application package they are being The process is broken down into three major func- trained to operate. tions: 1) definition of the problem or situation, 2) Contractual Arrangements With Customers.— development, and 3) evaluation. When CADAM sells or leases software licenses di- Customer Training Programs. *-CAD AM offers a rectly to end-user customers, free basic terminal total of 11 customer training programs plus a operation training is provided for two customer training consulting service. This section describes employees. Intermediate terminal operation train- the basic terminal operations course. ing and other CADAM training courses are then Basic Terminal Operations.–CADAM’s basic available to these customers for a fee. training program is offered approximately twice Direct licensing makes up the smallest portion a month. Previously a 4-day course serving four of CADAM sales. By far the largest distribution students per class, CADAM Basic is now a s-day is through IBM, with which CADAM has three course which can accommodate four to eight stu- separate contracts: one for software licensing, one dents and can be taught by CADAM instructors for software development and enhancement, and or trainers from customer firms, or can be used as one for training. Under current contracts, IBM a self-study package. When delivered by CADAM markets both CADAM system software and trainers, the basic course is priced at $1,250 per CADAM system training, and primary responsi- student; when sold as a self-study package, the bility for provision of training and other support cost is $650 per study kit with additional work- rest with IBM, which contracts with CADAM for books priced at $70 to $150 each. actual training delivery. Responsibility for sched- Course Goals.–The major goals are to teach uling customers into training classes is also students to use the basic functions of the CADAM IBM’s: CADAM provides IBM with a projected 6- system to create engineering drawings and to un- month schedule of training courses, and IBM derstand the basic concepts and purposes of the schedules customers into available classes. The system as applied to their own professional needs contractual relationship with Perkin Elmer and and work environments. Fujitsu are somewhat different than with IBM. Program Design.—The principles of “instruc- tional design”* will eventually be used in all of —. *“ Instmctional Technology” or “Instructional Design” was originally universities (including USC, Michigan State, Syracuse University, the developed in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s as a means of systematiz- University of Indiana, and Florida State) have developed fully fledged ing training and educational programs. It incorporates psychology, so- graduate programs in Instructional Technology (IT) ciology, adult education, and other disciplines to create instructional *CA DAM Inc. training programs not described in the preceding pages programs that take into account such factors as audience makeup, level are the following: advanced numerical control progr arning, 3-D surface, of learning, educational levels and occupational background of the stu- 3-D piping, finite element modeling, and analysis procedures, manage- dents, and their responses to the type of training or education provided ment overview basic I I terminaJ operations, job planning/on-th&job (e.g., responses to learning to work on computers). A consortium of training, basic numerical control programing, and instructor training. 430 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace .— .- .— -- .——

Prerequisites/Occupations Served.–The single how to use the circle, line, and point function keys prerequisite for the course is the ability to read to create points, lines, and circles at specific loca- blueprints. Most students who have attended the tions; to use the offset key to create a line in a de- course have been drafters, designers, engineers, sired direction, for example, or to create a new con- NC part programmers, and managers of depart- centric circle; and to perform procedures for mov- ments in which the system is installed. Originally ing, sizing, setting, and presetting the display on used by industrial designers, the CADAM system the screen by use of the “window” function key, is now also used by architectural designers, facili- which can focus in on a small section of a drawing ties planners engaged in floor and shelf layouts for or can widen its focus to present a full drawing on markets, hospital supply houses and other firms, the screen (like a camera taking either closeups or and by electricians and electrical designers who distance shots). use the software for the design of printed circuit In subsequent lessons, the students learn to edit boards and wiring diagrams. Occupational catego- the basic geometry they have created (to create ries of students enrolling in CADAM basic corners, to trim or extend elements, and to change course are thus becoming more diverse as the ap- the representation of an element from one line-type plications of the system multiply, and there are to another); to capture one or more elements for plans to adjust the basic course to reflect the manipulation as a single entity or group, to ana- changing audience, lyze existing elements (e.g., lengths of lines, radii Curriculum.– The course consists of eight of circles, and relative distance between a pair of lessons, each of which builds the students’ ability elements); to create textual notes and symbols to to operate the CADAM system by introducing accompany the drawing on the screen; to create them to the use of one or more of the system’s auxiliary views; to plot hard copies of the draw- function keys. By use of the function keys, the ing; and to perform other basic functions. operator calls up programs that enable him to In the final lesson, the students also learn job create basic geometric shapes, to “edit” the geom- planning techniques and how to create and use a etry of his drawing—the “relimit” function key, standard library of drawings. * for example, is used to trim or extend geometric Instructional Methods.** The basic course is ap- elements—to indicate dimensions and to add nota- proximately 10 percent lecture (if delivered by an tions, and to perform a variety of other operations. instructor), 20 percent in-class reading, and 70 per- By the end of the course, the students will have cent practical experience on the terminal. learned the use of all of the function keys required When used as a self-study course, the student for basic engineering drawings and will, in the workbook provides course content information process, have completed a series of practical exer- and guides the student to consult the procedures cises that result in a completed design of an indus- guide which comes with the training package to trial robot arm. help him/her complete exercises on the computer Lesson one begins with a general introduction, terminal. CADAM also provides instructions to including a brief history of the CADAM system, managers to help them monitor the instruction its benefits, and the needs that it can fill; an in- and strongly recommends that, even when the troduction to the workstation (including a hard- course is delivered in the self-study mode, an ex- ware demonstration); and an overview of the gen- perienced CADAM system user be on hand to an- eral operation of the system. Following the intro- swer questions and provide other assistance. ductory lecture/demonstration, the students com- When used in a group learning environment, the plete an audio-tape-guided introductory lesson on workbook provides structure and support for the the graphics teminal, in which they learn how to learning process, but the trainer becomes the pri- enter and exit the system (“logon” and “logoff”) mary resource by lecturing on course material, giv- and to perform a few simple operations. They ing guidance to the students, and pacing the learn, for example, to perform the basic file ma- course to the students’ speed. nipulation required to start a new drawing, call an The three critical elements in the instructional existing drawing to the screen, and file a drawing method—stressed by the trainers and in the work- on the computer disk. From lesson two onward, the students spend ap- *A standard library is a collection of drawings of standard parts or proximately 70 percent of their time working on models used frequently by a specific firm. Once the original drawings are completed by the firm’s designers, they are stored in the CADAM the terminals and learning the system by means library file and can be called up and used (as is, or modified). of practical exercises. In lesson two, they learn **This sWtion is adapted from the CADAM Manager’s Guide. Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries . 431 —

book itself–are reading, planning, and careful per- Follow-up.–At the present time, follow-up of formance of the exercises. The instructors encour- program graduates is informal. * CADAM main- age the students to read for conceptual under- tains a hot line which can be used by customers standing and to underline especially important sec- who experience software difficulties or run into tions. Planning is also an integral part of the in- operation problems they cannot solve, and a nunl- structional methodology. Each exercise is accom- ber of customers call the trainers directly for help panied by a planning sheet for the students to with difficult problems. complete. Once they read about the skills required to perform specific operations, they reinforce their Results understanding by planning how they will utilize those skills to complete the practical exercise. Number Trained. -From January through Sep- They then develop the skills by performing the ex- tember 1982, CADAM instructors trained over ercise specified in the workbook. 700 customer employees. That number, however, Since each lesson is constructed of interlocking represents a small portion of trained CADAM sys- steps—each of which presents new information tem users, according to CADAM’s training direc- and introduces new skills while reinforcing skills tor. Because of the significant investment of time and information learned in previous steps—stu- and money involved in sending employees to the dents are strongly encouraged not to skip over any ~ADAM training facility or bringing a CADAM of the reading or planning phases. * trainer to the customer site, most users send an Traing Materials. -Each student receives a ‘‘advance guard’ who receive the training and re- workbook, a Training Handbook and Proedures turn to train other employees. Guide, a magnetic tape which is fed into the com- Productivity Results.–While it is difficult to ob- puter and contains student exercises, and audio tain quantifiable data on the results of the train- tapes for the audio-guided segment in lesson one. ing as discrete from the results of system use, the In addition to the student material, the customer subjective evaluations of CADAM customers and firm also receives a manager’s guide. the improvement in the student ratings of the ba- Evaluation of Students.– Each lesson of sic course on CADAM’s own seven-point rating CADAM basic contains a self-evaluation quiz to scale indicate that, for the most part, CADAM help students gage their own progress in the system training effectively supports the product. course. Successful completion of the training does Nevertheless, a few customers have experienced not depend on passing a final examin ation, but em- some problems with the training. ployers sometimes request the trainers to provide Problems/Solutions.— them with informal evaluations of the students to Organizational Difficulties: Personnel and In- help them determine which should be given chief structional Materials. –The most significant prob- responsibility for operating the system at the lem faced by the CADAM training division was customer’s site. that of organizing the training staff and the train- Student Evaluation of the Course.–Students ing material to lower the cost and increase the con- are asked to complete written evaluations of the sistency of the training itself. Creation of the pro- course, the instructor, and the training materials. gram design department freed the trainers from On a seven-point scale, students rate the course the responsibility of developing their own train- objectives, handouts, visual aids, homework, ing material. The self-instructional training pack- course content, applicability to their own needs, age developed for the basic course also frees and the instructor. They also provide comments CADAM from some of the service costs (providing on the usefulness of the material, and their own an instructor to teach the course, etc. ) and offers ease or difficulty in absorbing it, and suggestions customers the option of purchasing training for for improvement. After the interim revision of the slightly more than half the cost of the instructor- course, ratings improved by up to two points, delivered course. While not all CADAM courses jumping from five or below to over six on the sev- are amenable to the self-study format, the train- en-point scale.** ing division plans to package the basic II terminal operations, analysis procedures, and 3-D piping courses as self-study programs. *See p. 23 for customer response to the ‘reading-planning-perform- Solution to the problem of organizing the staff ance’ methodology. **Since the final revision of the course was released shortly’ before and materials, while decreasing the cost, created the writing of this study, information on student evaluations of the final *The training director intends to formalize the follow-up procedures version of the course was not available. once all of the customer courses have been revised. 432 Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace — another problem. Some of the instructors had dif- significant problem for some trainees. CADAM ficulty accepting the change in focus in the revised trainers address this problem by explaining that basic course—from the individual instructor’s in- the system is a new tool that can only make their terpretation and explanation to the highly struc- jobs easier. The student workbook for the basic tured and print-centered instructional material. course also helps the trainees to overcome their These instructors point out that the new course anxiety by, again, referring to the system as a tool allows for less interaction between students and rather than as a threat and introducing the stu- instructors. Other instructors, who have taught dents to the terminals within the first 8 hours of the basic course so frequently that they felt them- instruction by moving them into a hands-on exer- selves growing stale, believe that the new basic cise that is easy to execute and has minimal poten- course allows them to aid the students’ progress tial for failure. with more ease than in the past, and these trainers CADAM trainers estimate that fewer than one- appreciate the opportunity to apply their efforts quarter of the initially resistant trainees (2 percent to the more advanced courses. of the total student group) retain their resistance The solution to this problem of mixed instruc- after the first two 2 days; they report that many tor response to the new training method is being such students have returned to take advanced achieved through a give-and-take process of grad- courses. Approximately 1 percent of all trainees ual accommodation. The instructors are required fail to learn the system, not because of resistance to learn new techniques and methods which focus to the training, but because of a “mental block, ” on facilitating the students’ understanding of the or inability to understand what is required to oper- print-centered material rather than on the instruc- ate the system. tors’ own expertise and experience with the sys- Another problem—one experienced by the ma- tem. However, the division management points jority of trainees-is that the basic course presents out that the instructors will be able to become ex- such a large volume of information that most stu- perts in teaching specific aspects or applications dents do not grasp all of it during the week-long of the system in advanced courses which will con- course. Extension of the course into a second week tinue to require a large degree of teacher-student was rejected as a solution because the customer interaction. While the students lose some degree firms can rarely spare their employees for that of personal interaction, they receive instructional length of time. The new instructional materials are materials which thoroughly cover each step of the designed to address the problem of “overload” by process in a consistent manner and which can be presenting the information in the building block used as readily accessible review material after the pattern with built-in redundancies to reinforce training is completed. knowledge of the previous steps. In addition, the Trainee-Centered Problems.–As with other new course material works as a reference guide training programs in computer-aided manufactur- once the training has been completed. ing and design, approximately 5 percent of trainees in the CADAM basic course exhibit resistance to Evaluation of Present and Future it. CADAM training division representatives say Capacity to Meet Training Needs the root cause of this is “computer anxiety, ” a syn- drome with two major aspects: the trainees’ fear Merrill Lynch states: “As users become more so- that they will be replaced by a computer and the phisticated, we envision a move toward general corresponding fear that they will not be able to purpose mainframe computers at the high end ap- master the “monster” that is replacing them. plication level for maximum performance and abili- In some instances, “computer anxiety” is ac- ty to do data base management , . . . This trend im- companied by another negative response, labelled plies a change in character of some vendors toward by CADAM trainers as the “It’ll All Go By” syn- being CAD/CAM system integrators. ”3 CADAM’s drome (the belief that computer-aided design is a orientation to the systems integration approach, flash-in-the-pan trend which will never create and CADAM management’s belief that training significant changes in design work). Trainees who is an integral element in that approach, may be the do show this type of resistance are in the minori- ty and are, according to CADAM trainers, usual- ly designers, engineers, or drafters nearing retire- ‘CAD/CAM Review and Outlook, 1981, p. 2. The Merrill Lynch 1982 ment age. While the growth of CAD/CAM has re- CAD/CAM Review and Outlook user survey, however, found that among the overall disadvantages of mainframe systems are insufficient duced the numbers of trainees who believe that software and support, high initial expenses, and the fact that the en- “it’ll all go by, “ “computer anxiety” remains a tire system goes down when the CPU does. -..

Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries . 433 key to the future potential of both the software training, said that training and other support sup- product and the training that supports it. How- plied by CADAM was inadequate in January but ever, it should be noted that under its installed had shown “great improvement” and “greatly in- user program IBM also markets CAD software creased attention to detail” by the end of the year. produced by other firms. Benefits.–One customer—who had made a Two of those software packages–CAEDS, de- 3-year study of the CAD market before purchas- veloped by Structural Dynamics Research Corp., ing a system—said that the real benefit of the and circuit board design system, developed by a training delivered by the CADAM training depart- Canadian firm-address specific CAD applications ment, as opposed to CADAM training delivered and not the broad design and manufacturing mar- by other vendors, is that the trainees learn how ket aimed at by CADAM; but the third package– to make the most efficient use of the system in the CATIA, developed by Dassault Systems in shortest period of time. Most of the customers said France-does, according to an IBM representa- that, after completing formal CADAM system tive, have some potential “overlap” with CADAM training programs, they felt well prepared to em- Inc. ’s software applications. In addition, IBM also bark on the most significant portion of the train- markets a CADAM training package, called a ing—the period directly following the formal “Graphics Training Aid, ” developed by Westing- course when the systems are used for actual pro- house’s Industry Motor Division in Roundtree, duction work. During this 2- to 4-week period, Tex. The Graphics Training Aid was purchased by most of those interviewed reported that their new approximately 50 companies in 1982, primarily CADAM system operators got “up to speed” (i.e., those intending to set up their own internal produced designs at rates which matched or ex- CADAM training operations. ceeded manual drawing times) even faster than an- While neither Westinghouse nor IBM views the ticipated. Those who had purchased or were con- Westinghouse Training Aid, which most buyers sidering purchasing the self-study packages felt purchase as a self-study package, as being in direct that this new option was a tremendous benefit, pri- competition with CADAM system training, the marily because of the perceived need for ongoing Westinghouse package does give the customer the internal CAD training. option of purchasing training other than that sup- Problems.–Aside from the problems mentioned plied by CADAM. Furthermore, CADAM train- in the preceding pages of this section, the most fre- ing is also sold by independent engineering and quently articulated problem was that the termi- consulting firms—one of which, according to one nals at the CADAM Inc. training center occasion- customer interviewed, delivered 2 weeks of “excel- ally went “down” or had poor response-time. (None lent” training to his employees. The “partnership” of the customers interviewed have had equipment with IBM, then, does not give CADAM a monopo- problems at their own installations, however, and ly on IBM’s hardware customers--nor does the many reported “incredibly quick’ response times firm’s own training department have a monopoly averaging 0.15 second.) While the equipment prob- on CADAM training, lems at CADAM–which are currently being ad- Customer Evaluations.–Six CADAM Inc. cus- dressed–do not reflect on the trainers or on the tomers, most of whom had received training after training materials, they did create an atmosphere either the interim or final revisions of CADAM ba- of frustration which colored the trainees’ percep- sic had been completed, were interviewed. Most tion of the training course. One customer, whose of them represented medium- to large-sized firms firm is located in the Southeast, has had numerous which had previous experience with either the problems with the CADAM hotline, which, he CADAM system or other computer-aided design claims, is often inaccessible to Eastern customers systems, and some are actively engaged in net- because it only operates durring business hours on working CAD and CAM capabilities. Responses Pacific time. This customer has lodged a formal to a request for an overall evaluation of the train- request to encourage CADAM to extend its hot- ing—including content, delivery, and applicabili- line hours to accommodate customers located in ty to specific company needs—ranged from “rea- other time zones. sonable” and “good” to “excellent.” One custom- All of those interviewed agreed that CADAM er, who had received CADAM training in Janu- training is extremely expensive relative to custom- ary 1982, went to an outside consultant for fur- er training provided by the majority of other ther CADAM training a few months later and re- computer-aided-design firms. While most accepted turned to CADAM at the end of 1982 for more the high cost of the training as either a necessary 434 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace —. ———— —— evil or as the price of learning to be effective users making a profit. Also, it is given the flexibility, the of the CADAM system, one customer labelled the resources, and the communicative channel with price of the training as “outrageous–highway rob- the product development department necessary to bery. ” Although most of those interviewed fulfill that responsibility. A comment by a train- thought that the cost of the self-study packages ing division representative provides a cogent de- ($650 per kit, as opposed to $1,250 per student for scription of the firm’s approach to training in gen- the Basic course) makes CADAM training a more eral: “We’re trying to turn the old situation of reasonable investment, one believed that even the training departments around. Most training de- self-study package was “twice what it should be. ” partments are not given enough responsibility and Training for Profit: Pros and Cons.–CADAM’s accountability and have a subservient position in training director points out that, while many hard- the company, reporting through many levels of bu- ware (and hardware/software) firms provide train- reaucracy, In a high tech field, training can no ing free of charge to their customers—or at rates longer be handled in a subsidiary, low-level, low- far below those charged by CADAM–by, in es- priority fashion-it too important. Things are too sence, folding the cost of training into the hard- volatile and they change too fast. ” ware or software prices, CADAM’s procedure of By designating the training division as a profit- pricing training to cover the operating and devel- center and by providing it with the resources and opment costs of the training division creates cer- organizational support to produce a well-designed tain benefits for both the customer and the train- training product, CADAM management has made ing deliverer, an investment in the training itself. This means For one, customers get what they pay for—i.e., that the training product must be high-quality if customers who require little or no training are not the firm is to realize a return on its investment in- subsidizing the training of other customers. Sec- directly (in terms of product support) and in terms ondly, he says, because training costs are frequent- of direct profit from the training charges. Profit ly buried in equipment or operating costs, most realized from the training is used to pay the train- companies do not recognize that good training is ing division’s operating costs and to fund develop- expensive to develop and deliver. It is for this rea- ment of new training programs and refinement of son, he believes, that training is often “too little already-existing courses, and too late” and is often among the first support As a profitmaking entity whose training product functions to be cut back during economic down- entails a great deal of expense—both to the cus- turns; so that, along with recognizing that train- tomer and to CADAM—the training division runs ing is a necessity if sophisticated equipment is to the risk of, as one customer put it, pricing itself be used effectively, company management must out of the training market. And when high prices also recognize the actual costs of creating and are combined with a reluctance on the trainers’ maintaining training functions. part to go beyond the contents of the basic course The status of training within CADAM’s orga- when students ask about advanced applications, nizational structure—the fact that the training the CADAM training division also runs the risk function is the sole responsibility of one of the four of giving some customers the impression that their major divisions—indicates CAX)AM manage- specific needs will be attended to only insofar as ment’s recognition that training itself is of pivotal they do not extend into areas covered by further importance in the CAD/CAM field. The scope and training, i.e., which entail further purchases of degree of CADAM’s commitment to training is training. possibly unique in some respects. Cert airily the rel- On the other hand, statements by trainers in ative size of the training division (8 percent of the some user firms support the assertion of firm’s employees) is unusual,* as is the fact that CADAM’S training director that the common the training director reports directly to the presi- practice of burying training costs in operating or dent of the firm. other expenses keeps management unaware of the Also unusual is the degree of flexibility and re- real costs of providing training. It is possible that sponsibility accorded to the training division. The what is perceived as an “outrageous” training cost division is responsible for providing “quality” actually reflects a reality that most industries are training to support the software product and for not used to seeing. The training division’s cogni- -- zance of the need to lower training costs while * I t should be noted , however, that the ratio of training division per- sonnel to other CADAM employees would be more difficult to achieve maintaining quality resulted in development of the in a larger firm. self-study packages that both reduce cost and en- Appendix A—Selected Case Studies Summaries ● 435 ..— - —. — ——. . . — .———— able customers to train future generations of users users as to the actual costs of training, or will other with the same instructional material. It remains training vendors who offer “CAD AM” instruction to be seen whether the self-study package will at a lower price deprive the trainin g division of sig- solve the problem of high cost. nificant numbers of students? The firm’s capacity to meet the direct training Although CADAM training appears to be of a needs of future CADAM customers will depend on high standard, it also appears to some customers its ability to maintain its gains in improving the that CADAM’s packaging of training as a high- quality of the courses and to develop new courses priced commodity sometimes impinges on its over- while keeping its prices within reasonable limits. all effectiveness by limiting the information avail- CAD AM approach to training presents an inter- able to trainees in the basic classes. It would seem esting conundrum. On one hand, CADAM illus- then, that there is an attitudinal problem on the trates that significant time and money spent to part of both the recipients and the provider of make training a “first priority’ can be seen as in- training, each with his own expectations of the vestments rather than as begrudged expenses. The proper form of training and the behavior of train- firm also illustrates that the investment of those ers. More explicit communication between the resources in well-designed and adequately tested trainers-who must use the limited time at their training can increase productivity and profit. On disposal to present a great deal of material in a sys- the other hand, it maybe a matter of questionable tematic fashion—and the customers—who have prudence for CADAM to be among the few soft- varying needs which may not always mesh with ware providers pricing their training “realistical- the highly structured basic course–would amelio- ly. ” Can they “educate” the entire population of rate this difficulty. 436 Computerized Manufacturing AutomatIon: Employment, Educatfon, and the Workplace — . —— — —— -—-

Case Study 4 Programmable Controller Training Program

International Brotherhood of Electrical ment Relations Act of 1947, the Trust is jointly Workers, Local 11 Los Angeles County operated by local union and management repre- sentatives and is supported by regular contribu- Chapter, National Electrical tions from Local 11 members and their employers. Contractors Association Under the terms of the current collective bargain- ing agreement, Local 11 members contribute 5@ Summary for every hour worked into the Trust, while their employers contribute 150 for every employeehour. The Los Angeles Electrical Training Trust is the While the primary responsibility of the Trust is training arm of the Joint Apprenticeship Training to provide apprenticeship training, the Los Ange- Committee of the International Brotherhood of les ETT–along with a number of the other local Electrical Workers (IBEW) Inside Construction IBEW training organizations in the United Local 11 and the Los Angeles Chapter of the Na- States–also operates an active journeyman skills tional Electrical Contractors’ Association (NECA). improvement program. The Training Trust, supported by Local 11 mem- All apprentice and journeyman courses are held bers and the electrical contractors who employ in training facilities that are either owned, leased, them, provides a 4-year apprenticeship training or rented by the Trust. To accommodate the ap- program and voluntary courses for Local 11 jour- proximately 7,000 journeymen and 650 appren- neymen. tices in the Local’s Los Angeles County jurisdic- In the late 1970’s, the Trust began addressing tion (covering 4,069 square miles) the Trust the need to provide journeyman training in the maintains five training centers: one “Metro Facil- skills required to install, troubleshoot and main- ity” in downtown Los Angeles, and one in each of tain the electronic devices that were beginning to the district’s four other dispatch areas. The Metro replace a number of the hard-wired electrical de- Facility, opened in March 1981, contains seven vices involved in inside-construction in factories, classrooms and 8,000 square feet of laboratory plants, and offices. This study focuses on one set area (including a $300,000 process instrumentation of course offerings provided by the Trust—a se- lab, as well as laboratories for welding, house wir- ries of three courses on the installation, program- ing, conduit bending, motor controls, transform- ing, and troubleshooting of programmable con- ers, fiber optics, high-voltage cable splicing, air trollers, conditioning, and fire alarms and life safety in- struction). Two of the dispatch area training fa- Background: Los Angeles Electrical cilities have permanent laboratories, while the Training Trust other two occupy rented space which is converted into temporary laboratories for training pur- The Los Angeles Electrical Training Trust poses. * (ETT) was established in 1964 to support educa- Training Trust Administration and Staff .-–In tional and training programs for apprentices and accordance with the provisions of the Labor Man- journeymen covered under the collective bargain- ing agreement between IBEW Local 11 (Inside struction Locals are among the most active in delivering journeyman Construction) and the Los Angeles Chapter of the training under the auspices of Joint Apprenticeship Training Com- National Electrical Contractors’ Association mittees. The National Electrical Contractors Association maintains 135 local (NECA). * As provided for in the Labor Manage- chapters throughout the United States. The Los Angeles Chapter cur- — —. — rently has 230 member contracting firms, 35 of which have 30 or more *Local 11 is one of 365 I BE W reside construction locals, whose mem- permanent employees and often provide design and engineering as well bership work primarily for independent electrical contractors. The as installation services. The remainder of the members employ an aver- IBEW also maintains manufacturing locals, serving electrical/electronic age of 10 to 12 full-time workers. NECA members provide electrical con- manufacturing firms; maintenance locals, whose members do in-plant tracting services to a wide variety of customers, including manufactur- maintenance; utility locals serving public power companies: and tele- ing firms, powerplants, newspapers, hospitals, schools, and offices. A phone locals. Because members of Inside Construction Locals often number of NECA members are also members of the IBEW. work for a series of small to medium-sized contracting firms which do *By the end of 1983, the Trust hoped to have established permanent not have the resources to provide in-plant skills training, the Inside Con- training facilities in all of the dispatch areas. — —.

Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries . 437 —..— . . — — ——. .— — . —.—— agement Relations Act, the Trust Fund is con- Another aspect of the Trust’s training philoso- trolled and administered by a six-member Board phy is that it is the right of each journeyman who of Trustees with equal union-management repre- works at least 6 months per year to take any sentation. In addition to the Board of Trustees, course offered in the skill-improvement program the Los Angeles ETT is also served by five Joint if he or she has completed the prerequisite courses, Apprenticeship Subcommittees (JASC–one in To avoid discouraging voluntary participation in each of the district’s five dispatch areas) and the the program, no grades are assigned at the end of Joint ,Journeyman Educational Advisory Commit- the courses, and (for the majority of courses) no tee (JJEAC). On the permanent staff of the Train- selection criteria are applied. The introduction of ing Trust are the director, a staff representative coursework on computer-based equipment like pro- in charge of apprenticeship training, a staff rep- grammable controllers and process-instrumenta- resentative for journeyman training, and a senior tion devices has, however, created exceptions to instructor. The majority of the courses are taught the general free-enrollment procedure. Because not by journeyman electricians who serve as part-time all of the students who enrolled in the intermediate instructors for the Trust. programmable controller courses had a solid grasp The Trust director is appointed by the trustees of the fundamentals taught in the basic course, se- and is responsible for the ongoing operation of the lection procedures have now been instituted for training programs. The current director, appointed that course, The process instrumentation pro- in 1978, has had previous experience as both an gram–a lengthy series of courses totalling 795 IBEW journeyman and an electrical contractor. hours–requires students to pass an evaluation as Both staff representatives have worked as IBEW an admission requirement and to pass examina- journeymen and foremen, and both have had pre- tions before proceeding from one course to the vious experience working with training and educa- next. tional programs. All of the approximately 25 part- Training Overview.– The Los Angeles Training time instructors who teach the apprenticeship pro- Trust delivers required courses for apprentices and grams are credentialed as part-time instructors by “pending examination wiremen ” and voluntary the State of California. The 58 instructors who courses for journeymen. Apprentices take a total teach journeyman courses are not required to ob- of 840 hours of work-related classroom instruction tain State teaching licenses; approximately half of at the Trust, extending over a 4-year period (3 them, however, are credentialed. hours per night/2 nights per week). * Related in- Philosophy of Training: General Goals.-The struction courses include electrical code, mathema- major goal of the Electrical Training Trust is to tics, blueprint reading, first aid, pipe bending, deliver comprehensive apprenticeship training and welding, instrumentation, basic transistors, and provide journeymen with the opportunity to im- electronics. Applications for the apprenticeship prove or reinforce existing skills and develop new program are accepted every 2 years in Los Ange- skills required by the changing electrical/electron- les. During the most recent application period, ics field. According to the ETT’s director of jour- 1,650 candidates applied for the 100 to 200 appren- neyman training, the line between electricity and ticeship openings anticipated over the next 2 electronics is beginning to dissolve; electricians in- years. New apprentices are admitted to the pro- tent on keeping their skills current, therefore, must gram on the basis of their rank score from the oral develop new skills in electronics and computer- interview.** aided equipment. “Pending examination ” (PE) wiremen are experi- Because of the voluntary nature of journeyman enced electricians who have not gone through the training, the Trust’s educational philosophy aIso stresses motivation and creating an awareness of *The L. A. Trust apprenticeship program is based on the4- year pro- new skill needs to encourage journeymen to take gram offered by the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Com- advantage of the training courses offered. Individ- mittee in Washington, D.C. While the International sets guidelines for apprenticeship training, Locals have flexibility in setting their own pro- ual motivation and self-initiative are especially sig- grams. The Inside Construction Local in Detroit for example. requirers nificant, since approximately 25 percent of the 672 hours of related instruction, delivered once every 2 weeks 18 hours membership is hired for relatively short installa- per day). **Of the 1,650 recent applicants, 1,150 passed the qualifying exami- tion jobs out of the union hiring hall. Of the re- nation. which focuses on mathematics skills. Those who qualifed on the mainder, approximately 60 percent are permanent- basis of the examination were then interviewed and were ranked from 1 to 1,150 on the basis of the interview AS apprenticeship opening. ly employed and 40 percent work for two to three occur over the next 2 years, candidates will be called according to their contractors per year. placement on the list. 438 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace -. — . —.

apprenticeship program but who instead become coursework and equipment, and by recommending members when their employer signs an agreement potential instructors. with the Local. The PE program originated in Los Following the advice of its “area expert, ” the Angeles in 1980 and has now spread throughout committee recommended that the Trust first de- California and into some other States as well.* PE velop a motor controls course to aid in preparing wiremen receive journeyman wages but are re- interested journeymen to take the more advanced quired to take an evaluation examination and to PC courses. Westinghouse’s Standard Control Di- attend a concentrated 2-year, four-semester course vision in El Monte, Calif., proved to be extremely series to reinforce their knowledge through formal helpful in the development stage, both by provid- study and to upgrade their skills, At the end of ing equipment at a greatly reduced rate and by rec- the program, they take the formal journeyman’s ommending one of its applications specialists to examination to achieve full journeyman status. be the course instructor. The curriculum for the Both the apprenticeship and the PE programs first programmable controller course was devel- are administered through the Los Angeles County oped by the Westinghouse specialist, reviewed and Schools’ Regional Occupational Program, which modified by JJEAC to increase its focus on the serves as registrar for the two Trust programs dis- specific needs of Local 11 journeymen, and ap- cussed above. proved by the Board of Trustees late in 1980. Approximately 2,000 journeymen completed The first class was offered in October 1981, and voluntary skill-improvement courses in 1981-82. the course has now become a staple offering of the Journeyman courses range from 3-week reviews of Trust’s journeyman skill improvement program. recent changes in the national electrical code to 13- In the fall of 1982, the Westinghouse specialist week courses in advanced blueprint reading to a who developed and taught the basic course began 3 l/2-year series of courses on process instrumen- teaching an intermediate course, PC III, to grad- tation. ** The journeyman skill-improvement pro- uates of the basic course. PC II, a hands-on course gram is focused on reinforcing core trade skills and covering similarities and differences of four of the introducing new skills in demand in the local mar- major programmable controllers on the market, ketplace. Among those new skills are those re- will be offered in the summer of 1983. quired to install, program, troubleshoot program- Goals and Objectives.—Specific goals and objec- mable controllers, process instrumentation skills, tives of the programmable controller courses sup- and test and splice fiber optics cable. port the major objective of the Training Trust’s journeyman skill improvement program, which is Programmable Controller (PC) Courses to provide Local 11 members with the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in all areas of elec- Planning and Development.—The need for tricity/electronics applicable to employment oppor- coursework in programmable controllers was first tunities in the Los Angeles area covered by the brought to the attention of the Training Trust in Trust agreement. This entails not only meeting 1978 by members of the Joint Journeyman Educa- current needs, but attempting to forecast future tional Advisory Committee (JJEAC). One of the needs so that the Local will be able to provide a committee members—a general construction man- trained work force when opportunities occur. ager for a large contracting firm that designs, en- Courses that develop skills in high-technology gineers, and installs computerized systems for ma- fields such as programmable controllers, process terials handling and process control–played an instrumentation, and fiber optics are considered instrumental role by convincing the committee of by the Trustees and the JJEAC to be crucial areas the need, by providing advice on prerequisite of education and training for journeymen who want to keep pace with the skill requirements of *In may ~em of the count~, experienced electricians who enter In- the local marketplace. In the words of the Trust’s side Construction Locals when their shops are organized automatically director of journeyman training, “The only things become full-fledged journeymen. Approximately 400 P. E. wiremen are now taking courses at the L. A. Training Trust. we have to sell are our skills and knowledge-these **~Wess instnmmtation is the application of electric, electronic, must be pertinent. ” and/or air controls to regulate pressures for measuring fluids or gases and for indicating and controlling levels, temperatures and flow of liq- Since the Trust was established to serve both uids or gases. Students in the process instrumentation program are union members and the contractors who employ taught how to inspecL calibrate, install, tune, and troubleshoot com- them, its goal in offering the programmable con- puter-aided instrumentation and process-control systems used in chem- ical and petrochemical plants, refinene~ breweries, food processing, and troller courses is twofold: to provide appropriate other industries. skill training to Local 11 members, and to meet Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 439 the needs of signatory contractors, more and more Equipment.–The “Metro Facility” of the Train- of whom are making installations involving pro- ing Trust contains four classrooms and three class- grammable controllers. The specific objectives of room\labs, one of which is available for PC courses. the series of PC courses offered by the Trust are In addition, PC classes are also offered on a rotat- to train journeymen to install, provide power to, ing basis at training sites in four of the district’s program, and troubleshoot programmable control- dispatch areas. As of this writing, the Trust owns lers. The goal of PC 1 is to provide a basic introduc- two Westinghouse 700 series Numa Logic Pro- tion to installation and programing requirements grammable Controllers, which are transported by so that a graduate of the course could, under the the instructor from one training facility to another direction of a skilled foreman, aid in PC installa- as the occasion demands. * The administrative tions on the job. The goal of the intermediate staff of the Trust is currently in the process of pur- course is to provide additional information and chasing programmable controllers manufactured practice in programing and to teach troubleshoot- by Allen Bradley, Modicon, and Texas Instru- ing techniques to enable members to do installa- ments in preparation for the PC 111 course to be tion work with less supervision. offered in the summer of 1983. With the addition of the PC 111 course, the PC Costs and Funding.–The journeyman skill-im- series will fulfill its overall objective—to familiar- provement courses are supported entirely by ize advanced students with installation, program- Training Trust funds. Most cost items for the pro- ing, and troubleshooting techniques specific to the grammable controller courses were not available major PC systems in use in the Los Angeles area (administration, instructor salaries, student ma- in order to provide them with increased work op- terials, or classroom rental). The two major items portunities. of equipment currently in use—the Westinghouse Administrative and Instructional Staff.–The programmable controllers, valued at $25,000 Trust “staff representative” who directs the jour- each—were purchased by the Trust for a total of neyman skill-improvement training is an active $10,000. In addition, the Trust has set aside funds supporter of ‘‘high-technology training’ for jour- for the purchase of the other three PC systems to neymen. The journeyman training department be used in the advanced course. took major responsibility for locating the equip- Costs to Students.–Tuition and instructional ment and the instructor for the original PC course materials are free of charge to eligible journeymen and for ongoing coordination of what is now a se- and apprentices (see Selection, below). However, ries of courses on programmable controllers. to encourage students to complete the courses, a Until the first few months of 1983, all of the pro- $10 deposit is charged at the beginning of every grammable controller courses were taught by a course and is refunded to those students with sat- single instructor, a Westinghouse applications spe- isfactory attendance records. cialist employed by the sales and customer sup- Selection Procedures and Enrollment Trends.— port group of the Standard Control Division’s Selection—Journeyman skill-improvement Numa Logic Department. His prior technical ex- courses are open to all members of Local 11 who perience includes work as an IBEW journeyman have worked 6 or more months out of the preced- electrician-then as a draftsman, nuclear power en- ing year for signatory unions.** Apprentices are gineer, and control panel designer. Previous to his discouraged from doing so until they have learned employment by the Training Trust as a PC in- the fundamentals of the trade. To date, no appren- structor, he had taught a series of courses on pro- tices have completed the basic course. grammable controllers to employees of the Los Until recently, no enrollment control existed for Angeles Department of Water and Power. By the either the basic or intermediate PC courses, aside spring of 1983, four new instructors-Local 11 from the necessity of completing the basic course journeymen who have either taken previously of- fered PC courses at the Trust or have on-the-job experience—will begin teaching the basic course. *Though the Metro Facility provides secure storage space for equip- ment, the other training sites do not. Furthermore, classes have, in the 1n addition, they have completed customer past, been offered concurrently at more than one facility. The compact, courses, paid for by the Trust and delivered by transportable equipment therefore gives the Trust the flexibility to of- fer classes at more than one site. Allen Bradley, Modicon, and Westinghouse–all **Since the Traing Trust is supported by a small proportion of the major producers of programmable controllers in fringe benefits attached to the wages of working members of the Local the United States. and by contractors who are signatories to the trust agreement,

25-452 0 - 84 - 29 : QL 3 440 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace ———.

(PC I) before signing up for PC 11.* Since, how- signatory contractors;* some work for single con- ever, regular attendance is the only formal gradua- tractors for long stretches of time (6 to 12 months) tion requirement, some graduates of the basic on major installation jobs; others work “out of the course have signed up for the intermediate course hall,” i.e., are not permanently or semipermanently without the prerequisite skills and knowledge to employed but rather are hired for relatively short benefit from the more advanced instruction. In jobs out of the union hiring hall. Because of the February 1983, a new policy was established current economic situation in Los Angeles, a grow- whereby members who enroll in PC I take an en- ing number of the students in PC courses work out trance examination covering motor control theory. of the hall. Those who do not pass the exam are encouraged Two additional factors play a part in this enroll- to take the motor controls course offered by the ment trend: 1) large electrical contractors who pro- Trust before continuing with the basic PC course. vide design and engineering services as well as in- Admission to PC II is now at the discretion of the stallation often provide in-house training for their instructor, who will base his decision on a review Local 11 employees who install programmable con- of completed homework exercises required in PC trollers, and it is these contractors who do most I.** When the advanced course, PC III, is of the PC installation in the county, and 2) a num- delivered in the summer of 1983, only those whose ber of smaller contractors who are prepared to do homework in PC II exhibits a thorough under- installations involving programmable control- standing of the intermediate course will be accept- lers—and who would be likely to encourage their ed. Those who are not accepted into PC II and PC employees to take the PC courses or to hire course III will be encouraged to retake the preceding graduates-have been affected by the construction course to bring their skills up to the required level. slump. Enrollment Trends/Attrition.-Accod.ng to the Curricula: PC I—PC 111.–PC I and PC 11 were Westinghouse instructor, the PC I and II courses both designed to be 18-hour courses, delivered in 3- have been very well attended, sometimes drawing hour segments 1 evening a week for 6 weeks. How- as many as 32 enrollees for a single course. The ever, because of the amount of material to be cov- complexity of the coursework, however, and the ered in the basic course, recent PC 1 courses have need of some of the PC I enrollees for background been extended to 7 weeks. PC 111, currently in the coursework in motor controls and solid-state elec- development stage, will be from 16 to 24 hours in tronics, has resulted in an overall attrition rate of length and will take place on the weekends to en- approximately 33 percent.*** While the preferred able students to attend intensive 8-hour-a-day class size is 12, classes have ranged in size from classes. 8 to 18 students. (Especially large classes are split ● PC I. —Students in this introductory course in two, which, until the recent addition of the two learn terminology, the basics of the theories extra instructors, presented problems for the behind programmable controllers, how to ad- Westinghouse trainer, who had to teach classes dress the equipment, how it works, and basic twice a week to accommodate all interested stu- installation, programming, and applications. dents.) Both enrollment and attrition are less in Since the majority of students enter the class PC II than in PC I. with limited experience in solid-state controls, The employment situation of the journeyman the first two sessions are devoted to basic electricians who enroll in the PC courses varies theory–an introduction to logic and to Bool- considerably. Some are permanently employed by ean algebra (session I), an introduction to sol- id-state controls, and a comparison between solid-state and electromechanical devices (ses- employees covered under the IBEW Local 11 agreement who have sion II). worked at least half the workdays of the year previous to enrolling in Programmable controllers are not intro- classes have contributed to the trust fund and are therefore eligible. Occasionally, members who have worked less than the normally required duced until the third session, when students 6 months are allowed to attend classes. These decisions are made on learn what programmable controllers are, how a caseby-case basis. they compare to electromechanical controls, ● Students with previous experience working with programable able con- trollers on the job may also test-in to the intermediate course without and some basic PC applications. installation having completed PC I. and basic programing (including an overview ● *Successful completion of homework assignments is not a require- ment for graduation, only for entrance to the next course. of input and output devices and special func- ● **In recognition of the potential for attrition, the instructor has in- tions involving timers, counters, and other de- stituted the following practice. An entrance test concentrating on motor vices) are covered in session IV. Sessions V- controls theory is given on the first night, and those interested in par- ticipating were then interviewed and were ranked from 1 to 1,150 on the basis of the interview. As apprenticeship openings occur over the ● Contractors who operate “union houses” and are signatory to the next 2 years, candidates will be called according to their placement on collective bargaining agreement between Los Angeles NECA and the list. IBEW Local 11. Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 441 —. — — .-

VII are primarily devoted to discussion and necessarily of electronics. The same approach— practice of programing for specific applica- based on relating the principles, theories, and oper- tions. In addition, session Vii also covers ation of programmable controllers to the theory “multiplexing,” i.e., carrying out multiple and operation of electrical and electromechanical functions simultaneously in an independent devices—is used in lectures and hands-on exer- but related manner, an operation that often cises. When teaching Boolean algebra, for exam- involves combining several signals so that ple, the instructor relates it to common electrical they can be handled by a single device. problems the trainees already understand, and ● PC 11 provides graduates of the PC 1 course specific Boolean algebra problems given in class with the opportunity to practice the basic pro- and for homework are based on actual wiring prob- graming techniques they learned in PC I and lems the electricians would be likely to run into in to learn more advanced programing applica- the field. tions. For example, they learn to program the Another example of this approach would be the PCs to control a “bad parts detector” on a instructor’s method of teaching the theory and manufacturing plant conveyor system by operation of timers and counters, which are among writing and inputting programs for counting the basic components of PC systems, He explains the total number of parts on the line, count- the use and purpose of timers and counters by re- ing the number of faulty parts, and for reject- lating them to relays and electromechanical de- ing the parts that are flawed. 1n addition, the vices; explains how programing takes the place of students complete a number of troubleshoot- wiring when dealing with programmable control- ing exercises: the instructor puts “bugs” into lers; and assigns in-class, hands-on exercises to the classroom equipment and requires the stu- reinforce the basic concepts. dents to tell him why the equipment is not The initial exercise is always reinforced by a sec- working, how they would fix it, and what the ond exercise which is very similar to the first. result will be once the adjustment is made. Homework, including reading and problem exer- Both the programming and the trouble- cises, is assigned weekly to further reinforce the shooting experiences are of use to inside wire- material taught in class and to lay the basis for men who, when they install programmable the next week’s lecture and laboratory work. Al- controllers, often run a basic program for test- though no final grade is given, tests are conducted ing purposes and troubleshoot equipment at the beginning and end of the course and are sup- problems that may occur. Some wiremen may plemented by weekly quizzes-all of which help the also work for contractors who may be called instructor to know what to emphasize for each in- back to a facility to troubleshoot and repair dividual class, equipment that they installed initially. Both PC I and PC II are approximately 70 per- ● PC 111. —This course, now under develop- cent lecture, 30 percent hands-on. In PC 11, the ment, will teach graduates of PC I I how to in- prograrning and troubleshooting exercises become stall, program, and troubleshoot the major more difficult as the course progresses, as the stu- models of prograrnmable controllers currently dents are taught to reapply what they have al- on the market. Accordingly, the course will fo- ready learned to increasingly difficult problems. cus on teaching the students the differences No specially designed training manual is used for and similarities between the Westinghouse PC II. Instead, students use Westinghouse pro- Numa Logic 700 Series used in PC I and PC F arning and applications manuals. Students in PC 11 and the models produced by Allen Bradley, 111 will have access to the programing and applica- Modicon, and Texas instruments, The Trust tion documentation for all of the systems taught is currently proceeding with plans to purchase and will learn to write basic programs and modify the equipment, and the Westinghouse instruc- existing programs on these systems. In addition, tor is designing the course materials. they will learn to identify similar problems in all Instructional Materials and Teaching Meth- the models, along with methods for troubleshoot- ods.— Instructional materials for the PC I course ing the various systems. Students in this advanced were developed by the Westinghouse instructor course will be expected to complete a great deal specifically for use in Training Trust courses, of reading on their own time to free up the majori- Using some material from the Westinghouse ty of the class time for practical installation, pro- Numa Logic programing and applications manuals graming, and troubleshooting exercises. and some original material, he devised an instruc- To increase the amount of hands-on time avail- tional package specifically geared for skilled able to each student in the PC 1 I classes, a new tradespeople with knowledge of electricity but not system was inaugurated in the 1983 winter-spring 442 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace — schedule. Each student in these classes had the op- to work on PC installations in the past, and portunity to take a programmable controller for another was preparing to become one of the new a week of at-home practice. In addition, students PC instructors. All three were taking the course in future classes will also have access to the new to increase their applications and troubleshooting training equipment presently being purchased, skills, and one noted that the course was especially which will be made available to them at the Metro helpful in teaching him to recognize troubleshoot- Facility when it is not being used for training ing problems. The other six had not had the op- purposes. portunity to work with programmable controllers Course and Student Evaluations.— on the job, but were taking the course for two rea- Evaluations of the Courses—Students complete sons: 1) to prepare themselves for future opportu- written evaluations of the course, the instructor, nities, and 2) because they believed it was incum- the facilities, and the instructional material. While bent on them to develop the skill to work with the there is no formal course evaluation by the trust- electronic and computer-aided equipment they ees, the JJEAC, or the Training Trust staff, both now see to be replacing electromechanical devices the IBE W Local and the local NECA chapter pro- in many operations. vide unofficial channels for evaluation of the Those who worked out of the hall stated that the course by both contractors and journeymen. Con- PC courses they had taken would give them a dis- tractors who employ union members who have tinct advantage in obtaining work, since they completed the class give NECA informal evalua- would be able to respond to “specialty calls” (re- tions of the workers’ skills, and this information quests for workers with specific skills) for PC in- is transmitted to the Trust through the contractor- stallation when these come into the hiring hall. * members of the Trustee committee and the Six of the eight contractors interviewed pro- JJEAC. Similar informal evaluations reach the vided in-house PC training for their Local 11 em- Trust via the union representatives who sit on the ployees. ** One, however, said that he “expects” various committees. his employees to take the Training Trust PC Evaluations of the Students.–Since journey- courses and that eight of his employees who had man skill-improvement courses are taken on the taken the course had improved their skills. While students’ own time and on a voluntary basis, no one large contractor who provided formal training course grades are given, and it is not necessary to classes did not see the need for his employees to pass a final examination to graduate from any take the Trust classes, he did support the train- journeyman course. However, the new selection ing for other, smaller contractors. Three others criteria for admission to PC I and PC 11 will re- who provided their own training did not have a quire that students in the less-advanced courses present need for more employees skilled in PC in- illustrate the ability to proceed with more-ad- stallation. They could anticipate, however, a future vanced coursework as an admission requirement need and thought that the course graduates would to PC II and III. be attractive hiring prospects. One employee of another of the contractors had Results taken the class but, because the contractor had an adequate number of employees who were experi- As of February 1983, 89 Local 11 members had enced in PC installations, the course graduate had completed the basic course and 29 had completed not yet had the opportunity to do any installat- the intermediate course. Since the Trust has no ions. He would, though, be “first in line” for such formal follow-up mechamism for tracking gradu- work should the need arise. Another contractor, ates of the journeyman courses, it is difficult to who had hired two course graduates, noted that assess the overall results of the training in terms the PC and process instrumentation courses pro- of job performance and/or expanded employment vided by the Trust save contractors time and mon- opportunities. Interviews with the Training Trust ey by enabling them to make installations with- staff, the PC instructor, students, and contractors have produced some data, which, though limited, illustrate some training results in specific in- *Although no formal refresher courses are provided for those who stances. do not have the opportunity to practice their new skills on the job, Local Of nine journeymen interviewed in the January 11 members may maintain and increase their skills by taking the more advanced coursee. PC 111 is so designed that students can benefit from 1983, PC II class, one was currently working on repeating it one or more times to get additional hands-on practice. a PC installation, one had been hired from the hall * *Tr~~ng rmgeg from form~ classes to on-thr+job instruction. Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 443 — out first having their employees trained by The extension of the PC I course to seven ses- equipment manufacturers’ representatives. sions has added 3 additional hours of hands-on In terms of direct results of the training, employ- time, upping the total class hours available for lab- ers’ and students’ comments indicate that a rela- oratory work from 6 to 9. While the extra class tively small proportion of the graduates (possibly time is helpfuI, students in a class of 12 (the aver- a third) have had an opportunity to make use of age size of Training Trust PC classes) still have their training on the job. Since, however, gradu- less than a few hours each on the equipment. It ates of the courses delivered as far back as 1981 is the second solution, therefore, which is the most were not available for interviews, the actual num- promising: in the PC II classes that began in Jan- ber of graduates currently using their skills may, uary 1983, all of the students took one of the PC in fact, be much larger. consoles home for a week or more. This allowed For the remainder of the graduates, the primary them to apply what they learned in PC I, and to result of the training has been to increase their experiment with some of the programing applica- employment potential and to offer them the oppor- tions they covered in the PC II. According to the tunity to work with a higher level of technology instructor, an “immense” improvement was seen which, according to all the journeymen inter- both in the weekly homework and in the final ex- viewed, is “more interesting and less dirty” than amination once all of the students had ample the “wire pulling” and pipe bending they often do hands-on opportunities. on installation jobs. According to the Westing- Another new practice, soon to be instituted, will house instructor, who is also engaged in sales and allow for even more hands-on opportunities. The service of PCs and other control system compo- Metro Facility laboratories will be made available nents, today’s $370 million PC market represents during the day and on those nights when PC a tremendous growth over the last 3 years. He pre- classes are not in session. This will enable ad- dicts that, by 1990, the market will have grown vanced students in PC II and students in PC III to at least $500 million and that one result of that to practice on the Allen Bradley, Modicon, and growth will be an ever-increasing need for proper- Texas Instruments programmable controllers, ly trained workers on the part of electrical contrac- while PC I and less advanced PC II students can tors who install (and often design and engineer) continue to use the Westinghouse systems at their control systems for manufacturing facilities, proc- own homes. Since there is usually little or no over- essing plants, newspapers, and numerous other en- lap in the scheduling of PC I and PC 11 courses, terprises, this system should provide ample hands-on oppor- According to the chapter manager of the Los tunities for any student willing to avail himself of Angeles chapter of NECA, the training provided them. by the Trust gives small- and medium-sized con- A second problem, closely related to the first, tractors who do not have the resources to train in- is the lack of time in an 18- to 21-hour course to house the opportunity to bid on installations in- cover a great deal of complex material. Here, corporating PCs and other sophisticated controls. again, the extra session recently added to PC I will Not only will the Trust classes train their perma- be of help, as will the recent emphasis on encour- nent employees, but they also help to develop a aging those who do poorly on the entrance exami- pool of trained workers in the hiring hall who can nation to first take the motor-controls course. The respond to the PC specialty calls from contractors. instructor also encourages beginning students to This issue–i.e., the future potential of the gradu- take the Trust’s process instrumentation course, ates and the potential opportunities their new which covers the fundamentals of solid-state elec- sldls create for local contractors—will also be eval- tronics and provides those students who take it uated in section III. The remainder of this section with basic skills and information applicable to the will focus on problems directly affecting the train- PC courses. The more information about motor ing courses, and the solutions to those problems. controls and solid-state electronics entering PC Problems/Solutions.–Because so many of the students have, the easier it becomes to move students do not have the opportunity to work with quickly through the introductory material in the PCs on the job, it became increasingly clear to the first two sessions and spend more class time on instructor that the amount of class time available PC programing, installation, and applications. for hands-on experimentation and practice on the Another related problem is the widely varying equipment was inadequate. Two new procedures, knowledge and skills of the students. The instruc- both instituted in the first few months of 1983, tor estimates that, in a class of 12, four or five lessen the effects of this problem. usually exhibit a ready grasp of the material. An- 444 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workp/ace .— — ——.

other two or three demonstrate a less-than-com- either nearing retirement-or who face the pros- plete understanding, while the remainder are un- pect of unlearning much of what they have spent able to make the transition between the principles years learning-who are the most resistant to the governing electricity and those governing electron- new technology. On the other hand, a number of ics and do not grasp the different approach re- older students have learned rapidly and well. quired by programing as opposed to hard wiring. On the other hand, he notes that many students Evaluation of Present and Future Capacity who “don’t get it” the first time around show great deterrnination and repeat the basic course one, Present Capacity.–According to local and na- two, and even more times. tional IBEW representatives and local represen- Because the courses offered by the Trust are free tatives of the National Electrical Contractors As- of charge to the students, motivated students who sociation, the Los Angeles Electrical Training nevertheless require additional time to absorb the Trust has the financial resources and the solid material can learn at their own pace—and, accord- backing of both management and labor required ing to the instructor, “once it clicks, the worst hur- to maintain its current level of high-technology dle is over and the rest comes with practice and training and to extend that training into other application. ” On the other hand, the great variety high-technology fields as the needs arise. Local of aptitude and learning speeds within a single IBE W and NECA officials believe that their work- class does present a problem for the instructor and ing relationship is among the best in the country, holds back the faster learners, The newly insti- and this sentiment is echoed by individual contrac- tuted enrollment controls should relieve this prob- tors, union members, and the Training Trust staff. lem to some extent, especially in PC II and III, The relationship between the union and the con- but it is doubtful that it can be entirely solved. tractors’ association is, of course, a crucial factor Similar problems have been noted in classes de- affecting the administration, direction, and the livered by reprogrammable equipment vendors specific trainin g courses offered by the Trust, since and by many teachers of introductory courses in the trustee committee, the educational commit- a vast array of disciplines. tees, and all of the subcommittees have equal rep- A final problem noted by the instructor is also resentation by labor and management. one that is common to other industrial training High-technology training courses like those in courses involving reprogramable equipment. The programmable controllers and process instrumen- problem—resistance on the part of many students tation are clearly advantageous to both the union in the basic course to the new concepts, theories, and the contractors’ association. According to the and techniques that must be learned-manifests Westinghouse instructor, PC manufacturers are itself in the Training Trust PC I classes as an ini- already having difficulty keeping up with installa- tial attitude of skepticism held by as many as half tion and service support requests. As the PC mar- of the first-night enrollees. The instructor, there- ket expands, manufacturers like Westinghouse fore, devotes a portion of the first night’s lecture will-as Allen Bradley, Texas Instruments, and to a general discussion of the growth of solid-state Modicon have already done—turn more and more controls and computer-aided equipment and the to support system houses operated by electrical present and potential effects of the changing tech- contractors and distributors to provide design, en- nology on an electrician’s job. gineering, installation, and service to the end- He then presents his own perception of the user. * This will result in expanded opportunities trade—that, in the very near future, if not in the for electrical contractors and a correspondingly ex- immediate present, there will be two kinds of elec- panded need for electricians trained in PC installa- tricians: technicians and those who, as the tech- tion and service. nology expands, will be stuck with lower level jobs. PC III training is especially beneficial to the Technicians, he says, will get better, steadier work, small contractor who operates independently of while the others will spend more and more time in the major manufacturers and who does not have the hiring hall. the advantage of distributing the equipment or of While most of the students respond positively to his appraisal, a few maintain their skepticism *Whereas Allen Bradley, Modicon, and Texas Instruments use sys- and either drop out of the class or continue attend- tem houses for sales as well as design, installation, and support serv- ices to the customer, Westinghouse plans to continue selling its own ing without applying themselves to the course ma- systems and to recommend certain system houses for engineering and terial. In many cases, it is older workers who are service, —

Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries s 445 . —

customer referral by the manufacturers. Such ess instrumentation, nuclear instrumentation, and/ small-to-medium contractors must be able to han- or fiber optics and who would draw a higher hourly dle installation and service of a variety of models wage than journeymen with “low-technology” in order to bid on a larger number of contracts and skills. The reasoning is that those electricians who to purchase the best and most cost-effective sys- are already journeymen and have, essentially, been tems for his customers’ specific needs. It is, there- “caught short” by the new technology should not fore, to their obvious advantage to have perma- be “punished” for not developing new skills, but nent employees who are well-versed in a number that those who do upgrade their skills should be of different systems and to be able to place PC given monetary incentives for doing so. “specialty calls” in the hiring hall when they need Other supporters of the double-wage structure extra workers for a large installation. believe that a “sub-journeyman” classification Local contractors interviewed had installed pro- should be created for those without high-technol- grammable controllers in a wide variety of enter- ogy skills. Subjoumeymen would make less money prises, including food processing plants, refineries, than fully fledged journeymen with technician- breweries, battery plants, and shipyards. A num- level skills and, again, would have a monetary in- ber of contractors specialize in conveyor systems centive to develop expertise in electronics. and had installed PC-automated conveyors in man- Other variations of support for a double, or a ufacturing and processing plants and in airports. sliding, wage scale would not change traditional Two of the larger contractors had, in the past, in- occupational classifications but would, in some stalled PCs in auto assembly plants-including manner, provide higher wages for increased skills. F’ord, GM, Toyota America, and Honda. Now, This could be achieved by classifying PC installa- however, they are feeling the effects of the econom- tion, process instrumentation, and other work in- ic downturn and are forced to look out of the area volving high-technology skills as “specialist cate- for large, heavy-manufacturing installation jobs. gories. ” This means that journeymen working on Although the depressed state of some segments jobs involving those skills would receive a premi- of the local construction market has resulted in um wage for the duration of that job. Two such fewer contracts and less work for electricians at specialist categories already exist: cable splicers, the present time, both management and union of- who do hazardous work on high-voltage cables; ficials are committed to increasing the training ef- and electricians who are also certified welders. fort. The relatively favorable construction market Both receive extra pay when working on jobs re- in years past has produced a sizable trust fund, quiring these extra skills. Those who would make making it possible for the trustees to invest in the PC installation and process instrumentation into equipment and courses they believe are necessary specialist categories maintain that this would pro- to prepare the workers to compete for present and vide an additional incentive for electricians to up- future jobs. Furthermore, some segments of the grade their skills without creating sweeping market show signs of an upswing. There has, for changes in the occupational structure of the union. example, been a recent resurgence of the petroleum Local and national union officials are opposed industry in the area, which has produced work for to the above-mentioned variations of a wage dif- contractors and electricians skilled in process in- ferential. The business manager of Local 11 points strumentation. out that the creation of a “super-journeyman’ cat- Current Training-Retraining Issues.– egory would place a burden on contractors, who Higher Wages for Increased Sk”lls?-One of the are already paying journeymen a regular wage of most significant training-related issues facing the more than $23 an hour in Los Angeles. On the union and the contractors’ association is the feel- other hand, he believes that the creation of a “sub- ing on the part of a number of contractors and journeyman” classification would defeat the phi- some union members that those journeyman elec- losophy of the apprenticeship program and would tricians with high-technology skills should draw serve as a disincentive for apprentices, who would higher wages than those who do not upgrade their have a double hurdle before becoming fdy fledged skills. journeymen. Creating a “specialist category” for Supporters of the double wage structure for PC installation, he believes, is a stop-gap measure journeymen fall into a number of camps. Some that would, while creating a monetary incentive support the notion of a “super-journeyman,” i.e., for electricians, also place monetary restraints on a journeyman who is, essentially, a technician with contractors. His approach—which is also the ap- skills in such areas as solid-state controls, proc- proach of training and education representatives 446 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace at International headquarters-is to focus on up- good—is emphasizing it even more in times of dif- grading the general skill level of Local 11 journey- ficulty. It is building its capacity to offer more– men to include skills in programmable controllers and more advanced-courses to those who have and other solid-state electronic skills. the individual motivation and who have responded While both the local and international union rep- to the constant encouragement to take advantage resentatives recognize that their approach is more of the training opportunities that exist. The PC costly in terms of time (i.e., that higher wages for 111 course should take instruction in programma- high-technology skills would induce more journe- ble controllers well beyond the “familiarization” ymen to take advantage of training opportunities), level of the PC I course. The process instrumen- they also believe that the industry cannot afford tation program will produce “technicians” quali- another wage increase. According to Local 11 rep- fied at four advancing levels: device level, loop resentatives, those electricians who do not devel- level, system level, and instrumentation/process op the skills required by the advancing technology control level. The Trust is also currently prepar- will be less and less capable of performing the work ing instructors to teach fiber optics courses, and and will, eventually, “be phased out” because of is exploring the possibility of purchasing a Heath- inability to obtain work. International IBEW rep- kit robot for a proposed robotics course. resentatives concur in that prediction and empha- In addition, the Los Angeles Trust has offered size that the value of a broad-based apprenticeship to assist IBEW locals in other nearby jurisdictions program is that it creates a flexible tradesperson by opening the Trust laboratories to other Locals skilled in a wide variety of tasks. Highly paid spe- by reciprocal agreement and helping them to de- cialists, they argue, are too limited for the type of sign high-technology courses. Information pro- work required by the vast majority of contractors. vided by the Los Angeles ETT and by other local Future Capacity.–The future capacity of the IBEW training organizations funded by JATC Los Angeles Electrical Training Trust to provide trusts is also being used by the International train- training and education in programmable automa- ing organization to develop PC courses that, with- tion and other increasingly technical electronic ap- in the next 6 months, should spread to at least 100 plications is dependent not only on the internal other training sites. The international organization capacity of the Trust to provide courses but also is also developing materials to assist local organi- on the continuing strength of the union itself. A zations in teaching semiconductor and fiber optics 1980 electricians’ strike resulted in higher wages, programs. but also caused the loss of 50 to 100 small contrac- It is, however, utlimately the responsibility of tors from the Los Angeles NECA chapter. The individual union members to support the Local’s strike, which occurred in June, was followed by a and the International’s claims of quality training depression in the local construction market, which by voluntarily upgrading their skills in high-tech- put further strains on the remaining union contrac- nology fields. The Training Trust itself is now fac- tors. At present, the approximately 40 percent of ing the problem of attempting to provide “quality electrical contractors in the Greater Los Angeles training” while, at the same time, providing the Area who still maintain union shops must contend opportunity for all of the eligible Local 11 mem- with nonunion contractors who can often under- bers to attend the courses. The evaluation and se- bid them because of the lower wages received by lection procedures instituted for the process in- nonunion electricians. strumentation and programmable controller’s Both the Local and the International recognize courses go against the grain of the Trust’s basic the problem that the higher union wage scale poses philosophy, but they nevertheless represent prob- for the contractors. What the union has to offer, lems that are now being addressed. they say, is responsible negotiation; an insistence To maintain credibility, the Inside Construction on apprenticeship training and an emphasis on Locals must continue to provide workers whose journeyman training; and a skilled pool of avail- skills are appropriate to the contractors’ needs. If able labor in the hiring hall that obviates the training organizations like the Los Angeles Train- necessity of “permanently” hiring in times of ing Trust cannot upgrade the skills of significant plenty and firing in lean times, Los Angeles NECA numbers of journeymen through the provision of representatives and local contractors interviewed voluntary courses, the union may be forced into specifically emphasized their belief that the man- giving serious consideration to the “sub journey- agement of Local 11 is both responsible and re- man” concept—which, of all the variations of the sponsive to the needs of the contractors. notion of wage differentials based on high-technol- The L.A. Training Trust–which stressed the ogy skills, seems to be gaining the most adherents. value of increased training when times were Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries . 447 ——— — —

Case Study 5 CAD/CAM Operator Training Program: Glendale, Calif.

Summary in vocational training, and 3) expansion of pro- grams linking worksite training and classroom The Glendale CAD/CAM* operator training pro- instruction. gram was sparked by the spirit of innovation and The Coordinated Funding Project is a combined cooperation on both the State and local levels. effort on the part of the Chancellor’s Office and Funded by a combination of Federal and State the EDD to consolidate State and Federal funds moneys and sponsored on the State level by two from three sources–the Comprehensive Education State agencies, the Glendale program is one of six and Training Act (CETA), the California Worksite pilot programs in California which bring together Education and Training Act (CWETA), and the colleges, industries, and local government agencies Vocational Education Act (VEA)–to support pilot to train California residents to work in emerging education and training programs involving a high or expanding technological fields. The Glendale level of coordination between colleges, private in- program, which trained participants with drafting dustries, and (in some instances) local government backgrounds to utilize computer-aided design sys- bodies. tems for mechanical design and printed circuit In November 1981, the project staff sent Re- board detailing, was a cooperative venture be- quests for Proposals (RFPs) to all of the communi- tween Glendale Community College, local indus- ty colleges in California asking for concept papers tries, the City of Glendale, and other local organi- outlining innovative programs in emerging or ex- zations. At the end of the first cycle of the pro- panding technologies or labor-intensive occupa- gram, 7 of the initial 12 enrollees were employed tions that combine classroom instruction with as CAD/CAM operators and three others found re- worksite training in order to: 1) upgrade basic lated drafting jobs. At this writing, the second cy- work skills, 2) provide entry-level training, or 3) cle is still in session. enhance or build on the skills of displaced workers. The colleges were specifically requested to design Background programs for occupations not included in their cur- Coordinated Funding Project for New Vocation- rent curricula and to seek new solutions for long- al Education Programs.—The Coordinated Fund- existing problems. Specific objectives to be met ing Project—administered under the joint sponsor- by each local program included the following: ship of the Chancellor’s Office of California Com- to provide vocational training programs meet- munity Colleges and the State’s Employment De- ing specific local employers’ needs; velopment Department (E DD)—is an innovative, to involve local employers and other appropri- State-level response to the need to develop voca- ate entities in project plannin g, curriculum de- tional education programs in emerging and ex- sign, and training implementation; panding technologies in a period of budget cuts to provide effective job skills training to the and reduced resources for educational programs. project participants; The statewide project was created in response to to obtain continuing employment with career recommendations of a legislative “Task Group” advancement potential for project partici- set up in 1979 to review vocational education in pants; and California and to suggest how vocational educa- to incorporate the resulting curriculum into tion funds could be utilized most effectively. In its ongoing college vocation~ education pro- final report, the Task Group made the following grams, recommendations: 1) adoption of State-level ad- Over 50 colleges responded to the RFP, and in ministrative policies to allow for consolidation of January 1982, four individual colleges and two col- resources,** 2) greater private-sector involvement lege consortia were awarded contracts totalling $800,000 (for all six programs). The top-ranked *Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing. proposal was a program submitted by Glendale * ● I t wa9 not~ in the report that the existence of a ‘‘myriad of pro- grams providing occupational training” had resulted in fragmentation Community College (GCC) to train CAD/CAM of funding and administrative procedures and created a significant ob- technicians. In February 1982, GCC was awarded stacle to effective coordination. $84,271 to train 24 participants (12 in each of two 448 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace

training cycles);* shortly thereafter, five other tion “below the lower division level, ” which in- schools or consortia of schools were awarded con- cludes coursework leading to the high school di- tracts to train participants in fields such as com- ploma, career and vocational classes, citizenship puter-aided drafting, computer-assisted machin- classes, and classes serving special interest needs ing, digital electronics and microprocessors, busi- of the community. ness machine and computer repair, and solar and GCC was founded in 1927 and, until recently, alcohol technology and wood products manufac- was under the jurisdiction of the Glendale School turing. Board, which was also responsible for the primary The remainder of this study focuses on the CAD/ and secondary-level education system in the dis- CAM technician program operated by Glendale trict. In the fall of 1982, a new school board, sole- Community College. In the fall of 1982, a new ly responsible for the Glendale Community College State initiative, titled “Investment in People, ” set District, was created. This action is especially aside $3,400,000 to fund other college programs significant in relation to the school’s regular voca- of a nature similar to those supported by the Coor- tional education programs and to special projects dinated Funding Program. Glendale submitted an like the CAD/CAM operators program in that the Investment in People proposal containing a mod- president/superintendent of the new school board ified and expanded version of its original CAD/ has expressed a specific coremitment to vocational CAM program and was awarded $55,885 to train education and is a member of the Glendale Private additional participants in various computer-aided Industry Council (see below). Approximately half design applications. of the college’s 10,200 students (5,200 full-time; Glendale CAD/CAM Operator Training Pro- 5,000 part-time) are either enrolled in technical or gram.–The Glendale program is an attempt to vocationally-oriented certificate or transfer pro- demonstrate the feasibility of coordinating a va- grams* or take one or more vocational education riety of funding sources (CETA, CWETA, and courses. VEA) as well as the efforts of a variety of partici- The CAD/CAM Operators’ Program was coor- pating organizations and agencies. The project is dinated by the college’s director of special pro- a joint effort on behalf of Glendale Community grams and was taught by the senior drafting in- College, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Singer Libra- structor. scope, Computervision, the City of Glendale, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).–JPL was the Glendale Private Industry Council. The re- established by the California Institute of Technol- mainder of this introductory section is devoted to ogy (Cal Tech) as a private, nonprofit research and brief descriptions of these participating organiza- development laboratory.** Located on the out- tions and the part each plays in the CAD/CAM skirts of Glendale in La Canada, Calif., JPL em- program. Section II describes the project activities ploys approximately 4,600 people: approximately of each major player in greater detail. 2,400 are engineers and scientists; 2,000 are sup- Glendale Community College.–Glendale Com- port personnel; and 200 are engaged in manufac- munity College (GCC), designated as the training turing prototype products (see following para- program operator, is fully accredited by the West- graph). When the laboratory was founded in 1945, ern Association of Schools and Colleges as a 2-year its major activity was to complete rocket research institution providing both general and specialized and development for the U.S. Army. In 1959, it education to youth and adults. Its four primary became a National Aeronautics and Space Admini- objectives are to: 1) educate students to meet the stration (NASA) research center. Today, although lower division requirements of a university or 4- its principal contract is still with NASA, JPL also year college, 2) provide post-secondary vocational has research and development contracts with the education for students preparing for entry-level Department of Energy, the Department of De- positions and for employed students upgrading fense, the National Institutes of Health, some local their skills for job advancement or to meet new job agencies, and some private industries. requirements, 3) post-secondary education for *Certificate programs are primarily business or technical programs “personal improvement” (i.e., coursework taken to designed for students preparing to enter the job market upon comple- satisfy individual interests and which does not tion of the program. Tmnsfer programs are designed for students plan- ning to continue their education at a 4-year institution. lead to a degree or certificate), and 4) adult educa- **C~ Tech continue9 to man~ JPL’s contracts. According to a JpL section manager, the difference between the research conducted at Cal *Each training cycle consisted of 12 weeks of formal classrood Tech’s main campus in nearby Pasadena and that conducted by JPL laboratory instruction, followed by 200 hours of worksite training at is that JPL is product development-oriented whereas the research on the participating companies. the campus is primarily academic in nature. Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 449

As a NASA contractor, the principal focus of the operators” who are skilled in drafting and in the laboratory’s activities is lunar and interplanetary operation of computer-aided design systems. * investigation—tracking and acquiring data from Approximately two-thirds of the participants in satellites and probes in NASA’s deep space net- the Coordinated Funding Project receive “work work. Currently operating at a funding level of just site training” at JPL—hands-on laboratory work over $350 million, JPL concentrates on research, on the Computervision terminals that both com- development, and design of products. Its manufac- plements their classroom instruction at Glendale turing activity, therefore, is limited to the produc- Community College and assists JPL engineers in tion of prototypes and is a proportionately small the detailing and documentation of their designs. part of the lab’s responsibilities. For this reason, JPL has hired five trainees from the first cycle of JPL has little computer-aided production equip- the program and may hire some from the second ment; it does, however, have approximately 500 phase. computers (ranging from mainframes to micros) Singer Librascope.–The remaining third of the which are primarily used for computer-aided de- original 12 Coordinated Funding Project partici- sign and other computer-aided engineering appli- pants received worksite training at Singer Libra- cations such as analysis and simulation of engi- scope, a division of the Singer Co. engaged in the neering data. * production of military equipment. According to JPL’s Design and Mechanical Sup- Like JPL, Singer Librascope required trained port Section manager, JPL’s concentration on de- ComputerVision operators and looked on the Coor- velopment, design, and “first article delivery” dinated Funding Project as a means of acquiring means that the laboratory uses computers and employees trained to company specification; computer-aided systems primarily as analytical While all of the trainees received the same class- tools rather than as production tools. The current room instruction at GCC, their worksite training focus of the Design and Mechanical Support Sec- at Singer Librascope and JPL differed. Those who tion is to attempt to save money and other re- completed their laboratory training at Singer Li- sources in the preliminary stages of manufactur- brascope were trained to work on printed circuit ing by infusing into the design process the ability board (PCB) designs, while the JPL trainees to do simultaneous analysis, material selection, worked on mechanical designs.** and selection of fabrication work in an attempt to Computervision.–C0mputervision–for many create a product design that could be implemented years the largest producer of turnkey CAD/CAM without wasting material or having to reconfigure systems—participated in the Coordinated Funding tooling in the manufacturing process. Project by providing free training for the GCC JPL’s Design and Mechanical Support Section drafting instructor in its Los Angeles training cen- participated in the Coordinated Funding Project ter.*** The classroom instruction provided to the partially because of its growing need for CAD/ trainees was an adaptation of four of Computer- CAM operators since 1980, when the section in- vision’s customer training courses. Computervi- stalled its first Computervision CAD/CAM sys- sion also assisted by providing reduced-price train- tem. According to the section manager, the intro- ing documentation. duction of computer-aided design into the section Glendale Private Industry Council and the City enabled it to bid on and complete more work in less of Glendale.—The Glendale Private Industry time and also-because the design engineers’ time Council (PIC) was formed in 1979 under Title VII is considered to be too valuable to do detail and of the Comprehensive Employment and Training documentation work on their designs-created a Act. Title VII, the Private Sector Initiative Pro- need for a new category of employee- ’’CAD/CAM gram, was aimed at giving business and industry

*“Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) ., includes those computer systems designed to facilitate Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer *Previous to the installation of the timputervision terminals, the sw- Aided Manufacturing (CAM1, Computer Aided Business Systems tion contracted drafting work to independent drafters or drafting firms. (CABS), the Interactive Computer Graphis (ICG), and all those other It is anticipated that the CAD systems and the new CAD/CAM opera- systems that facilitate the solution of engineering problems. It plays tors will eventually replace the need for contract drafters. a key role in areas such as design, analysis, detailing, documentation, **The students themselves were given a choice of industry site on N/C programing, tooling, fabrication, assembly, quality control, testing, the basis of their interest in either mechanical or PCB design. and all aspects of management of the data base relevant to the particu- *** ComputerVision dso Supplied free training to two high school lar product unda consideration. ” Donald D. Glower and Lindon E. Sal- teachers, who became CAD instructors in a high school training pro- ine (cd.), A Response to Advanm”ng Technolo@”es {Washington, D. C.: gram developed at approximately the same time as the Coordinated American Society for Engineering Education, 1982), p. 7. Funding Project’s CAD/CAM operator program. 450 c Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace a major role in designing and implementing em- programs. PIC board members and staff believe ployment and training programs tailored to local that these measures have helped it to become the private-sector needs.* Although the authority of top-ranked council in terms of job placement in the business and industry representatives on a num- DOL region covering California, Nevada, and ber of PICS across the country has sometimes been Arizona. limited by the control of the local elected officials PIC played two roles in the CAD/CAM Opera- (designated as CETA Prime Sponsors) over PIC tors Program. Its formal role was to provide ad- activities, the Glendale PIC has effected a viable ministrative services for the program, including working relationship between local government, contract compliance, recordkeeping, participant education, and industry representatives. tracking and reporting, operational monitoring, In order to describe the role played by PIC in and technical assistance. These services were for- the Coordinated Funding CAD/CAM Operator mally subcontracted by Glendale Community Col- Program, it is first necessary to provide a few lege to the City of Glendale, which, as the admin- paragraphs of background material on PIC itself istrative arm of the consolidated council, performs and its relationship with its Prime Sponsor, the similar services for PIC-operated programs. City of Glendale. PIC’S board is primarily com- The other role played by PIC was informal but posed of business and industry representatives but crucial to every aspect of the program from con- also has representation from local government and ception to delivery. The Glendale PIC defines its community groups, including the Glendale Unified responsibilities in a broader context than the ac- School District, the Employment Development tual operation of training programs for economi- Department, and the Department of Social Serv- cally disadvantaged participants. According to ices. In 1981, PIC merged with the CETA Advi- both the PIC director and the chairman, PIC must sory Council (which was under the jurisdiction of have a sense of–and be active in–the communi- the City of Glendale, in its role as CETA Prime ty as a whole in order to be effective in its formal Sponsor). function of delivering private-sector training pro- The merger occurred at a time when a number grams for the community’s disadvantaged resi- of other PICS and Prime Sponsors in other locali- dents. The board and staff members, therefore, ties were also consolidating councils; in some loca- perceive their function to be that of facilitators, tions, the mergers were seen by one or the other or brokers, who can act to bring together repre- of the groups as “take-over bids” and were accom- sentatives from business, education, and govern- panied by vituperation on both sides. In Glendale ment to create the kind of working partnership and in some other locations, the consolidation of they believe is the intent of CETA, Title VII, and councils was seen as a reinforcement of an already its successor, the Job Training Partnership Act. effective cooperative relationship. According to It was in its role as a facilitator that PIC had the present PIC director, PIC and the city have its greatest impact on the CAD/CAM Operator yet to disagree on matters of program or policy, Training Program. The proposal that won the largely because there is general agreement that Coordinated Funding Project contract for Glen- PIC should act as the policymaking body while the dale Community College was conceived by the PIC city acts as the administrative body. director and was an adaptation of a computer- Another factor that enhances PIC’S ability to aided design program for high school students pro- function in a coordinated manner is that it has posed by the PIC chairman, who is also the man- eliminated duplication of services by designating ager of JPL’s Design and Mechanical Support Sec- specific types of training delivery to specific tion and a member of the* school program, which groups in the Glendale area. Glendale Communi- ● Because the Glendale Coordinated Funding Project was not a ty College, for example, provides classroom in- PIC-sponsored program, the question of conflict-of-interest did not arise struction and skills training under contract to PIC; in relation to JPL’s role. Conflict of interest is, however, a debated issue another designated contractor is responsible for in the new Jobs Training Partnership Act. According to a report re- leased by the National Governors’ Association, “at least 15 states place work experience for youth, for example, and yet total bans on designated officials from conducting business either with another takes responsibility for in-school youth the State, or local municipalities, or other governmental entities of which they are members. ” Some private-industry council members in some localities are, therefore prohibited from allowing PIC training programs *The successor to CETA, the Jobs Trainin g Partnership Act, retains to be operated in or for their places of business. A number of private the private-industry councils created under CETA and expands their industry councils, on the other hand, operate on the principle that PIC responsibility and authority. In order to be certified under the new act— board members can have the most impact by opening up their own which requires a service delivery area with population of 200,000 or businesses or industries to PIC programs, thereby providing training more—the Glendale PIC consolidated its council with the nearby Bur- and employment opportunities to eligible participants and, at the same bank PIC in 1983. time, illustrating by example that such programs can be effective for Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 451 — .— —— .— was designed to familiarize high school students benefit each while also helping the community by with CAD/CAM technology and to encourage training and employing local residents. In partic- them to continue their education in computer- ular, PIC hoped to showcase the college as a re- aided technologies. source for local industries which could, by assum- The college program, on the other hand, was con- ing industrial training responsibilities, help the ceptualized as a means of serving the participating companies save on training expenses. PIC also saw students and companies alike by training the stu- its participation in the project as a way to partake dents to fill immediate employment needs at JPL in an effort to build the community’s capacity to and Singer. Both programs were designed to serve engage in high-technology training which—in the their respective educational institutions by up- opinion of key staff and board members—may not grading teachers, introducing new technological be appropriate for the majority of CETA-eligible curricula, and providing courses that would even- residents without the necessary background tually be incorporated into the ongoing curricula skilis. * By helping the community to establish a of both the college and the high school. high-tech tr aining capacity, PIC hoped to establish The CAD/CAM program, then, resulted from a training resource which could eventually be used the synergistic relationship between PIC, the col- by economically disadvantaged participants whom lege, and industries like the Jet Propulsion Lab- PIC would first provide with prerequisite skills oratory. It derives also from the leadership of in- such as drafting. dividuals like the JPL section manager, whose ac- Although Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Singer tivities in other arenas (as PIC chair and as School Librascope had a major objective in common— Board member) provided him with both the broad- that of obtainhg employees specifically trained to based perspective and the position to effect the their work requirements—their secondary objec- coordination called for in the State’s Coordinated tives differed. One basic difference was that Singer Funding Proposal. required students trained as detailers-i.e., CAD/ CAM operators who do detail work on designs CAD/CAM Operator Training Program created by others—whereas JPL wanted trainees who would do some basic design work and even- Goals and Objectives.–Overall goals of the tually become full-fledged designers. CAD/CAM Operators’ Program are: 1) to develop Consequently, JPL informed all of the students a training program in CAD/CAM which could be who completed their worksite training at the lab- incorporated into the community college system oratory that those who would be hired would be in Glendale, and which could be replicated at other expected to continue their education (at company community colleges, and 2) to train 24 participants expense) at a 4-year college. A further objective to be CAD/CAM operators. Apart from those over- held by JPL was to build the college’s capabilities all goals (which are primarily those of the college), so that the lab could draw on it as a training re- PIC, JPL, and Singer Librascope each had addi- source in the future. Computervision’s object in tional objectives for their project participation. participating in the project was to support its cus- Private Industry Council representatives viewed tomers–JPL and Singer Librascope–by assisting the Coordinated Funding Project as an opportuni- in the instruction of their future employees, and ty to strengthen the bond between the college and to assist the college by helping it to develop the local industries by demonstrating that the two en- capability to create an ongoing computer-aided de- tities could work together in a project that could sign course utilizing Computervision equipment. Planning and Development.—The State-level planning for the Coordinated Funding Project and employers, In the NGA report cited above—which specifically addresses the question of conflict-of-interest in regard to the new Job Training much of the local-level planning for the Glendale Partnership Act–the Georgia Employment and Training Council program have been outlined in section I of this specifically recommends that “Federal regulations concerning conflicts- of-interest which are presently being drafted exempt PIC members from study. This section will, therefore, discuss the pro- prohibitions against conducting business in their own or any other serv- gram development efforts that took place after the ice delivery area where: 1 ) such member notifies in writing his poten- selection of Glendale as a contract recipient. tial conflict of interest to the council or administrative entity; 2) such member refrains from voting or in any way participating in the deci- sion to award contracts; and 3) the council or administrative entity makes as a part of its record the reasons for awarding the contract to *Because the CETA funds used in the Coordinated Funding Project one of its PIC members and why the award is in the public’s best inter- were discretionary linkages funds earmarked for project administrative est. “ “Implementing the Job Training Partnership Act. Technical Brief: expenses, the project operators were not bound to meet CETA selec- Conflict of Inter@ t,” National Governors’ Association, December 1982, tion criteria, although they were urged to include as many CETA-eligi- Issue paper pre9ented for response. ble participants as possible. 452 . Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workp/ace ——. —.— —. ——

Previous to the writing of the proposal, both tracted to the City of Glendale/Private Industry JPL and Singer Librascope had made commit- Council, while the college retained the activities ments to participate in the program. Once the pro- of recruitment, screening and selection, counsel- posal was accepted, PIC contacted Computervi- ing, and placement. The college’s engineering sion and secured its commitment to provide train- drafting instructor was responsible for delivering ing for the Glendale instructor. The school’s engi- the classroom instruction, overseeing the labora- neering drafting instructor, who also works part- tory instruction at JPL, and coordinating with the time at JPL as a senior engineer, was chosen as two companies. the CAD/CAM program instructor and was given The instructor, a past graduate of Glendale the responsibility of designing the curriculum. Community College, has a bachelor’s degree in in- To prepare for his curriculum-writing and in- dustrial design from California State University structional duties, the instructor attended a sum- at Los Angeles, a master’s degree in industrial mer-long upgrading program. He began his train- design from California State University at San ing by completing a week-long Computervision Jose, and a vocational education teaching creden- self-study course at JPL, followed by a week of on- tial from the University of California at Berkeley. the-job training in JPL’s CAD/CAM operations. His previous industrial experience includes work During the following 9 weeks, he attended 100 at Columbia Broadcasting Corp. as a designer, at hours of training at Computervision’s Los Angeles General Electric’s Nuclear Engineering Division training center, completing customer courses in as a packaging engineer, and at 113M as a senior mechanical design and electromechanical design. design engineer. The week-long courses at Computervision were Facilities and Equipment.—Classroom instruc- supplemented by on-the-job training at both Sing- tion was delivered at Glendale Community Col- er Librascope and JPL. At the completion of his lege, which has a fully equipped traditional draft- training, the instructor designed the classroom ing classroom, but no computer-aided design sta- training curriculum for the program, aided by a~- tions. Eight of the initial class of 12 students at- vice from JPL and Singer employees. tended the laboratory portion of their training at Because the students would be receiving class- JPL, which has four Computervision terminals room instruction at the college and laboratory dedicated to training p~oses. The remaining stu- training at one of the participating firms, much of dents had their laboratory instruction at Singer the program development effort included setting Librascope, which has four Computervision term- up formal mechanisms for coordinating between inals in its engineering department for use by pro- JPL, Singer Librascope, PIC, and the school. That gram trainees and Singer employees alike. coordination involved logistics planning. Discus- Program Funding.–Glendale Community Col- sions between the college and the two companies lege received $84,271 from the Coordinated Fund- resulted in a plan whereby students would attend ing Project ($3,243 from CETA; $19,533 from 3-hour lectures at the college two mornings a week CWETA; and $61,495 from VEA). The CETA and laboratory training two late afternoons or funds and approximately half of the CWETA evenings a week (to avoid students competing with funds were subcontracted to the City of Glendale employees for workstations). to cover administrative services, and the remain- Administrative and Instructional Staff. -As the der of the CWETA funds paid for a portion of the primary program operator, Glendale Community instructor’s retraining (4 weeks of on-the-job train- College had fiscal responsibility for the project. It ing at JPL and 4 weeks at Singer Librascope). The was also responsible for delivering classroom and VEA funds were devoted primarily to covering the laboratory training and for appointing a program direct costs of the training for the 24 participants. counselor to act as liaison between the students, In addition to the State funding, the participating the college, and the participating companies. The firms provided the following in-kind contributions: college’s director of special projects for vocational 100 hours of computer-aided design training for education served as the overall program adminis- the Glendale instructor (Computervision) and trator. Administrative services were subcon- equipment-use-and-maintenance costs for the Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 453

CAD/CAM terminals valued at $97,200 (JPL and cent female and included four Hispanics and three Singer Librascope), Glendale Community College Orientals. contributed space and utilities totaling $3,800. Classroom Instruction and Laboratory Train- Recruitment and Selection/Participant Profile. ing.—The students received 12 weeks of formal in- —In May 1982, the college sent flyers announcing struction (6 hours a week of classroom instruction the CAD/CAM program to 2- and 4-year colleges and 6 hours of Computervision CADDS 3 terminal and Employment Development Department in the training per week). Because no terminals were Los Angeles County area. Applicants were re- available in the college classroom, the classroom quired to be U.S. citizens; be 18 years old or over; instruction was strictly devoted to theory, which have a high school diploma or general equivalency was then applied in practice in the company lab- diploma; be able to pass a security clearance; and oratories. The GCC instructor was responsible for have completed the following college-level courses: classroom instruction and for monitoring the lab- c one semester of basic mechanical drafting; oratory sessions at both JPL and Singer Libra- ● one semester of advanced mechanical draft- scope. instructional materials consisted of four ing; Computervision training documents–CADDS 3 ● one semester of descriptive geometry; and Pocket Reference, CADDS 3 Mechanical Basic ● or equivalent work experience. Guide, CADDS 3 Mechanical Design Workbook, Recommended but not required were the following: and the CADDS 3 Printed Circuit/Electrical Sche- ● one semester of electronic drafting; matic Basic Guide*—and Computervision’s self- ● one semester of machine design; study audio/print learning package, “Introduction ● one semester of basic electronics or machine to CADDS 3 Operation, ” which teaches the basic shop; concepts and commands needed to use CADDS 3 ● prior work experience in the above areas; and applications software. ● or equivalent work experience. Curriculum.–The curriculum was designed to After making formal application for the program include the introductory material covered in the at the Glendale CETA office, the candidates took self-study package plus three Computervision a written examination at the college on June 12. CADDS 3 customer courses: 1) Basic Mechanical The applications contained questionnaires request- Design, 2) Advanced Mechanical Design, and 3) ing information on the applicant’s long- and short- Basic Printed Circuit/Electrical Schematic Design. term goals, attitude, and motivation. The formal The first week of class was devoted to an overview examination contained practical drafting problems of CAD/CAM technology, during which the in- requiring a knowledge of tolerance, dimensioning, structor lectured on CAD/CAM system hardware scaling, clearances, interferences, and electrical and software, turnkey CAD/CAM systems, com- schematics. From the initial group of over 50 can- puter-generated visualizations, computer-aided didates, the college representatives selected 18 on design and computer-aided manufacturing proc- the basis of both test scores and indications of esses and applications, and the integration of practicality, willingness to do detailed work for CAD/CAM into industrial processes. long stretches of time, and motivation shown on During the second week, students were intro- the application questionnaires. Once the college duced to the basic techniques for using CADDS made the initial selection, representatives from 3 software, concentrating on terminology, log on/ JPL and Singer interviewed the students and off procedures for entering and leaving the system, made the final selection. and basic command language. The lecture portions The majority of the 12 students selected as pro- of the second week of study covered the format gram participants for the first session, which be- of command language syntax-made up of verb + gan September 13, had previous machine shop or noun + modifier strings which the operator uses drafting experience. Over half had 2-year drafting to execute a command by inputting a function certificates, and five of those students also had 2- (verb), such as “insert,” plus a geometric entity year certificates in electronics or machining. The (noun), like “line,” plus a modifier which describes average age of the group was 23. Two participants the geometry, such as “parallel” or “perpendicu- were female; one was Hispanic; four had incomes lar.” below the poverty level; one was a displaced home- maker; and four were veterans. Similar selection and recruitment procedures *CADDS is ComputerVision’s “Computer-Aided Drafting and Design were followed for the second group of 12 partici- System. Students were required to purchase the pocket reference and the mechanical design workbook; the school supplied them with the two pants, who began the coursework in February basic guides. (Computervision, which normally sells the basic guides 1983. The second group was approximately 50 per- for $75 each, provided them to the college for $3o each, ) 454 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace

The students also learned how to use the sys- diagrams, digitizing simple PC boards, and then tem’s ofie documentation feature, which aids the using the system to merge the printed circuit operator by prompting him or her with informa- boards and to automatically route the result.* tion on, for example, what “nouns” (line, circle, arc, They then learned to edit their PC boards** and fillet) go with specific “verbs” (insert, delete, or to record the parts and computer files (i.e., to store combine, for instance) and what modifiers can be both the PCB drawing and the schematic and net used with particular verb/noun combinations. Dur- list information in the computer). As in the me- ing the laboratory sessions, the students com- chanical segment, the students were required to pleted portions of the Computervision audio cas- complete individual projects using the terminals sette/workbook course under the instructor’s su- in the laboratories. pervision. During the next 2 weeks, the students worked Following the basic operations segment, the stu- on specific electro-mechanical design problems dents spent 2 weeks (24 hours) learning to use the dealing with the design and packaging of printed system for basic mechanical design. This segment circuit boards. The last week of the course was included the fundamentals of part creation (i.e., devoted to review and to the final examination. how to use the system to create lines, circles, arcs, Instructional Methods. -When he developed the and fillets) and part filing (how to file a drawing curriculum, the instructor was faced with a prob- of a part in the system); how to erase, modify, and lem intrinsic to the structure of the program: how manipulate elements; and basic projections (how to modify the ComputerVision courses, which were to reproduce objects on planes or curved surfaces designed for students with 4-hour-a-day access to by projecting their points to create 3-D objects). terminals, to be taught in the Glendale format (6 During the following 2 weeks, the students hours a week of classroom instruction; 6 hours a learned how to insert dimensions in mechanical week of laboratory practice). A number of his drawings (including linear, angular, radial, and teaching methods were therefore dictated by the diameter dimensions, dual dimensions, and exten- peculiarities of the situation. A portion of the sion lines and arrows); how to use construction classroom time was devoted to lecture on, and aids, such as grids and layers; how to size and scale class discussion of, the theory behind the labora- part-drawings; “zooming” (focusing in on a small tory work to be done in the following lab session. section of the drawing on the screen or widening Because of the lack of equipment, the instructor the focus to include the full drawing); and how to used the chalkboard to demonstrate the basic prin- insert textual notes and symbols to accompany ciples, and the students completed pen-and-paper their drawings. The laboratory work during this exercises simulating the terminal exercises they segment consisted of working through specified would perform in the laboratories. sections of the CADDS 3 Mechm”cal Design The remainder of the classroom time was spent Workbook and completing individual projects in- in group discussions of individual problems en- volving the creation of 2-D and 3-D parts. countered in the laboratories. (Although a number The next 3 weeks (weeks 7-9 of the course) were of the students were reticent about discussing devoted to printed circuit/electrical schematic (PC/ those problems in a group situation, all were re- ES) applications. The first lecture in this segment quired to do so in order to provide them with ex- covered the differences between mechanical and perience in communicating problems to co-workers PC/ES applications and operations. The students and attempting to solve them in a group situation.) then learned to create electronic symbols (called The instructor’s object in this was to simulate the “nodal information” in Computervision terminol- industrial environment to the greatest extent pos- ogy) and to digitize* and annotate electrical sche- matics, which the computer then converts into a ● “net list, ” i.e., a list of all the start- and end-points The “merge” Prmess tills the system that w of the components that exist on the board must be hooked up, baaed on the net list, so for specific wire paths on the board. By the eighth that the information on the net list is actually merged into the printed week, the students were creating PC component circuit board design. In the “routing” process, the system automatically indicabs to the operator the lines that physically connect the digitized — —— points. *’Digitizers’ are instrumented surfaces on which the location of a **The ~t~ process is necessary because the syshm CSnnOt ~ways point, selected with an associated cursor unit, is automatically converted route every wire on every board. For example, if the system cannot get into digital, x-and-y coordinate data suitable for tranqnission to a com- from point A to point B without intersecting another point and so puter (Turnkey CAD/CAM Computer Graphics, A Survey and Buyer’s grounding-out the wires, the human operator must drill a hole in the Guide, pp. 3-22). In the PC/ES operation described above, “digitizing” board, run the wire along the bottom side, and drill back up to the com- means to use a stylus to locate points which will eventually be connected ponent side so that he can continue to run the wire on an unobstructed by wires on the finished circuit board. path. Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 455

sible. Students were expected to produce profes- 11 remaining students began worksite training at sional-level work; were expected to meet strict JPL and Singer Librascope. This portion of the deadlines for their twice-weekly lab work and for training consisted of 200 hours of work, which in the projects required at the end of each section; the case of the eight trainees, was divided into 10, and were trained to solve the sort of practical prob- 20-hour weeks. Because Singer Librascope was lems they would face on the job. anxious to place its trainees on the permanent pay- Students worked two-to-a-terminal in the labor- roll as soon as possible, the 200 hours of training atory sessions, using the “partner system” that for the three Singer participants was condensed Computervision trainers use in their customer into 7 weeks. Trainees in both locations worked on classes. Each student would work on the terminal actual production designs and were paid salaries for approximately 15 minutes at a time, while his of $5 per hour by the firms. (Customers were in- or her partner would monitor the operation to formed that the design or detail work was being make sure it was being done correctly and would performed by student trainees, and the savings– provide assistance when necessary. This system, in terms of lower-than-average salaries paid dur- according to Computervision, allows each partner ing the training period—were passed on to the cus- to both observe and perform specific operations tomers in form of decreased design-room costs. ) and therefore reinforces the learning process. Be- The Singer Librascope trainees spent the work- cause JPL had four terminals located in a dedi- site training portion of the program primarily do- cated training lab and because the laboratory oper- ing detailer work on printed circuit board (PCB) ates on a flexible schedule, the students who did designs. This included digitizing PCB drawings to their laboratory work at JPL had 4 to 6 extra input the design into the computer, editing ex- hours a week of terminal time. According to the isting designs, creating detailed drawings from an instructor, the students were all so highly moti- existing database, and creating photo tools. The vated that they had to be forcibly ejected from the students who completed their worksite training at laboratory at 11:00 p.m. JPL were given some design responsibilities as In addition to the classroom and laboratory well as detail work. Their specific task was to work work, the instructor arranged for two field trips— on mechanical designs for support equipment and one to the Computervision Training Center in Los peripheral structures, such as inspection plat- Angeles, and one to Weber Aicraft to observe the forms, for the Galileo spacecraft. IBM/CADAM system in a production environ- Given a basic design created by a JPL engineer, ment. it was the trainees’ job to complete the design, Examinations and College Credit.–Students making sure that it met both the design and man- were given an examination at the end of each ma- ufacturing standards (part tolerance and materi- jor course segment (basic operations, mechanical al selection, for example) specified by the design application, and electrical applications) and took engineer. In many instances, completing the en- a 3-part final examin ation covering mechanical de- gineer’s design required the trainee to design a sign, electrical design, and basic drawing. All but part or structure forming a portion of the total de- one of the students passed the final test and re- sign. The design work done by the trainees, close- ceived three units of college credit for the course. * ly monitored during the worksite training period, Student Evaluations.—In written evaluations is a significant aspect of the duties of those train- completed at the end of the classroom/lab portion ees who became permanent employees, of the program, the trainees gave both the instruc- Related Services: Counseling, Placement, and tor and the course high marks. Most, however, Follow-up.–Counseling, placement, and follow-up stated that the course would be improved by more services were formally assigned to the college. The terminal time and more time spent on printed cir- college’s special projects department has a full- cuit board design. (See “Results” section for more time counseling staff, one of whom was assigned recent evaluations of the course by session I train- part-time to the Coordinated Funding partici- ees now working at JPL and Singer Librascope.) pants. In effect, however, most counseling was in- Worksite Training. –Once they completed the formal and was provided by the instructor and the classroom/laboratory portion of the program, the Singer and JPublic Law employees who oversaw the students at the laboratory sites. Although *The one student who did not pass the final exam was the only stu- placement services were officially the responsibili- dent who carried a full-time job while participating in the program. The combination of full-time work and program participation proved to be ty of the college, PIC representatives aided GCC more than he could accommodate. in placing those program graduates who were not 456 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Emp/oymentJ Education, and the Workp/ace hired by either of the participating firms. Follow- In December 1982, the college was awarded In- up procedures, planned for 30-, 60-, and 90-day in- vestment in People funding totaling $55,885 to tervals after program completion, were conducted provide 10 weeks of combined classroom instruc- by the college. tion at GCC and onsite laboratory work at the Electro Optic Systems Division of Xerox Corp. and Jacobs Engineering (an architectural and civil Results engineering firm). Placement.—Seven of the 11 trainees who com- Unlike the Coordinated Funding Project partic- pleted both the classroom instruction and worksite ipants, 32 of the 40 Investment in People partici- training portions of the program were hired by pants were company employees requiring upgrade either JPL or Singer Librascope. JPL’s stated in- training in computer-aided design. Because the tention at the beginning of the program was to Xerox Electro Optical Systems employees were to train eight participants in its lab and to hire the be trained for aerospace applications, a combined four who were best qualified. The laboratory ex- class serving the second-session Coordinated ceeded its original intention by hiring five trainees Funding participants and the Xerox Investment at the completion of the worksite training in Feb- in People participants was planned for the winter- ruary 1983. The new JPL CAD/CAM operators re- spring semester of 1983. The Jacobs employees, ceived entry-level salaries of $6 to $7.50 per hour. who were to be trained in architectural applica- Two of the JPL trainees were placed in other firms tions, attended a separate course, taught by an em- in design and drafting jobs which do not, however, ployee of Jacobs certified by Glendale College. All involve CAD/CAM operation. of the industry employees received laboratory Singer Librascope had originally intended to hire training at their respective companies. The eight all three of the students who trained at the firm. trainees who were not company employees joined One of them, however, failed to pass the security the Coordinated Funding participants at Singer clearance required for all Singer Librascope em- and JPL. ployees. That trainee has since been hired by Glen- Benefits.–Aside from the obvious benefits to dale Community College in a nontraining-related the trainees, the CAD/CAM Operator Training capacity. The other two were hired by Singer in Program produced beneficial results for the spon- January 1983, at starting salaries of $6.25 to $7.25 soring companies, agencies, and institutions. Both an hour. employers got CAD/CAM operators trained in Singer hopes to hire four trainees from the sec- their specific applications and operations for a ond session of the program, which at this writing fraction of the cost involved in company-operated has not yet entered the worksite training stage. training programs. Singer Librascope, which spe- Whether or not JPL will be able to hire any of the cifically seeks young, energetic drafters to be second-session trainees will depend on the labora- trained as detailers in computer-aided PCB appli- tory’s need and funding situation at the end of the cations, obtained young CAD operators whose lab- summer. oratory training was closely monitored by com- The Investment in People Project.–One of the pany employees—thus providing the assurance results of the CAD/CAM operator program was that they were trained in a manner acceptable to achieved well before the first group of participants the firm. As added benefits, Singer representatives completed their classroom instruction. In October also point to their participation in the selection of 1982, the State Community College Chancellor’s the trainees and the opportunity to observe them Office and the EDD announced that additional over an extended period of time. funds for innovative college programs would be JPL representatives look on the training pro- available under the Governor’s Investment in Peo- gram as a first step in reducing the laboratory’s ple Initiative. Glendale Community College, again dependence on the contract drafting houses that with the help of PIC and the City of Glendale, sub- traditionally performed the manual drafting func- mitted a proposal to expand the CAD/CAM oper- tion now being replaced by CAD/CAM. According ators’ program to adapt it to a wider range of ap- to the manager of the Design and Mechanical Sup- plications (including architectural, piping, and port Section, the section has been able to accom- structural design); to recruit additional applicants modate double its previous workload since the in- and involve more local industry; and to provide troduction of the CAD systems in 1981 and can further training for instructors from GCC to help accomplish much of the work done by the contract the college expand its already developed CAD cur- drafters with a smaller number of permanently em- riculum. ployed CAD/CAM operators. Furthermore, since Appendix A—Sefected Case Studies: Summaries . 457 ———.

the systems themselves are extremely accurate and Singer, demonstrated its willingness to sup- tools, JPL can increase productivity and lower its port its customers in an innovative endeavor while price structure by hiring trained CAD/CAM oper- also helping to provide those customers with ators at entry-level salaries and passing the sav- trained Computervision operators. ings along to its customers. Problems/Solutions.–The necessity of condens- An added benefit from JPL’s point of view is the ing the Computervision courses to fit the time future potential of the trainees. All of those who frame of the college semester and the need to sep- were hired by JPL accepted their positions with arate the classroom and laboratory segments pre- the understanding that they will continue their ed- sented ongoing problems. Although the Glendale ucation by pursuing 4-year engineering degrees students did have 12 weeks to complete four 1- and eventually become part of the engineering de- week Computervision courses, students who at- sign staff in the section. In this way, JPL hopes tend courses at one of Computervision’s customer to achieve a number of long-term results: to pre- training centers engage in intensive 8-hour-a-day vent the CAD/CAM operators from becoming sta- classroom and laboratory work. In the case of the tic; to “home grow” new engineers who will have mechanical design and printed circuit courses, the a working knowledge of CAD/CAM operations and Glendale students received almost as much termi- JPL requirements; and to keep a constant flow of nal time as a regular Computervision customer; new CAD/CAM operators coming into the labor- but in the case of the introduction to CADDS 3 atory by replacing the older operators who have operation course, the coverage was reduced from moved up to engineering design positions. approximately 40 hours to 10. Glendale Community College, by obtaining the It should ako be noted that Computervision rec- Coordinated Funding and Investment in People ommends that its customers’ employees have from grants, now has increased credibility at the State 60 hours of terminal time (for detailers) to 120 level, which may, in turn, help the school to ob- hours (for designers) after they take the basic tain additional funding for further innovative pro- mechanical design course to thoroughly familiarize grams. Of equal importance is the CAD/CAM ex- them with the system before they proceed to ad- perience gained by the drafting instructor during vanced mechanical design. This, of course, was im- his summer-long upgrading program, which was possible for the Glendale students, who, because reinforced by his delivery of the academic-year pro- of time constraints imposed by the 12-week semes- gram. In addition, the college got the opportuni- ter, had to proceed directly from the basic to the ty to integrate computer-aided design into its reg- advanced course. ular drafting curriculum—an opportunity that While the first group of students did not feel would have been greatly delayed had GCC been that the classroom/laboratory schedule was incon- forced to wait until it could obtain its own equip- venient, the students who are attending the sec- ment. ond cycle of the course do have a problem in that Benefits to the Private Industry Council and regard. Those who do their laboratory work at Sing- Computervision were less tangible, but were, nev- er Librascope must attend labs from 11:00 p.m. ertheless, significant. By acting as the broker to 2:00 a.m. because the systems are in constant bringing the major players together and develop- use for production purposes during the first two ing the operating systems that helped the program shifts. This presents obvious difficulties for the to succeed, PIC demonstrated that it could fill the second-cycle students but alleviates the problem needs of the community at large while, at the same noted by Singer employees during the first cycle time, setting the stage for a PIC-funded program of the program, when regular employees were oc- preparing disadvantaged residents to become casionally forced to work overtime in order to drafters who could then take advantage of train- make up for the periods during which the termi- ing programs concentrating on CAD/CAM skills. nals were used for training purposes, A similar The program also aided the Private Industry problem was mentioned by some JPL employees, Council by reinforcing the PIC-built bridges be- who had been accustomed to use the terminals tween the college and local industries and by dem- “dedicated” to training for production design onstrating the PIC philosophy in action, i.e., that work. industrial commitment and academic training re- A final problem related to the course structure sources can be combined to benefit industries, is that the instructor occasionally had difficulty schools, and potential employees. ComputerVision, filling the mandatory 6 hours a week of lecture by participating in a program sponsored by JPL time with constructive material. While the chalk- 458 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workp/ace ——-— board demonstrations of terminal operations and A final problem, one noted by Singer represent- the pen-and-paper exercises were helpful to some atives and by the Glendale instructor himself, is extent, the instructor now feels that 4 hours a that—while the summer-long upgrading course week of lecture and 8 hours of terminal time would provided the instructor with a grounding in the be more appropriate for a course of this type. Computervision courses he adapted for his own While the instructor found ways to address course and a familiarity with the work of the Sing- some of the above-mentioned problems in the sec- er and JPL departments the students would be ond cycle of the program, others were less amena- working in—his training was “barely adequate” ble to immediate solution. The 10 hours original- to the task of training the students in advanced ly devoted to the basic operations segment has techniques. The major difficulty here was not with been expanded to 20 hours. To deal with the prob- the abilities of the instructor, who had years of ex- lem of excessive classroom time, the instructor has perience as an industrial designer and a drafting assigned a term project for the second cycle of teacher and is familiar with the operation of trainees. another CAD/CAM system. However, while he As part of the project, students will write papers was evaluated by both Singer and JPL repre- dealing with the advantages and disadvantages of sentatives to be fully competent in his field and various CAD/CAM systems for specific types of an excellent teacher, he did not have enough “sys- design work, such as mechanical, printed circuit tem time” on ComputerVision terminals to become board, architectural and piping. Each student is thoroughly familiar with all of the operations re- assigned an in-depth research project on a specific quired for both mechanical and PCB design. system for a specific type of application, and the This problem has decreased as the instructor has instructor has arranged for more field trips to en- had more opportunity to work on the system him- able the students to see different systems in opera- self and to observe the types of difficulties his stu- tion. At the end of the course, the students will dents run into on the terminals, and it can reason- make class presentations on the results of their re- ably be expected to be overcome entirely with time search, so that the entire class will have some fa- and experience. Because JPL and Singer designers miliarity with a wide variety of systems and ap- were always on hand to aid the students with dif- plications. Because both cycles of the course were ficult problems, the students did not suffer be- firmly locked in to the college’s schedule by the cause of the instructor’s lack of extensive produc- time the difficulties associated with the classroond tion experience on the system. laboratory ratio became apparent, it was not possi- ble to make the adjustment to the 4-hour lecture/8- hour lab format which the instructor believes Evaluation of Present and Future Capacity would be the best long-term solution to this prob- lem. In spite of the problems noted in the previous Lack of adequate periods of time for terminal sections, the CAD/CAM operator training pro- practice between the basic and advanced mechan- gram can be rated as an overall success. The two ical design segments is a problem which as yet has employers have gained trained employees who fill no solution in a course which is structured to fit what they both term as a “void” in their occupa- into an academic semester. Even if the college had tional structure, and both Singer and JPL pro- a well-equipped laboratory dedicated to training, nounce themselves to be very pleased with the pro- it is unlikely that the students could have logged gram graduates they have hired. The majority of in 60 to 120 hours of terminal time to fully ac- the other graduates have obtained jobs; the col- quaint themselves with the system before proceed- lege has gained experience in teaching a CAD/ ing from the basic to the advanced segments of CAM course and hopes to be able to integrate it the course. It should be noted, however, that the into its regular curriculum; and the Private In- students did have the opportunity to work on the dustry Council has strengthened its position as a terminals for at least 20 hours a week during the “broker” between industry, academia, and those worksite training portion of the program. There- in need of training and jobs. fore, although they may not have been able to Many of the problems cited, are in fact, are nor- make use of the terminals at the optimum period mal “startup” difficulties associated with the ini- in the learning process, they did have up to 200 tial implementation of demonstration programs hours of experience on the terminals in addition with limited development time-frames. The other to the time spent in the laboratory sections of the problems—specifically those involved in coordinat- formal course. ing the resources and schedules of the industries, Appendix A —Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 459 . — .— on the one hand, and the college, on the other— On the other hand, he recognized the instructor’s are currently being addressed by PIC and the col- problem of having students who would eventual- lege and require both long-range planning and flex- ly be working in two different applications (me- ible short-term adjustments to achieve a workable chanical and PCB) in the same class and believes solution (see below). that some grounding in mechanical design tech- Perhaps more important than the program’s niques is necessary for PCB detailers. success in meeting its stated goals, however, is its Overcoming all of his criticism of the program, value in demonstrating that industries and educa- however, was the fact that the two trainees who tional institutions can work together to meet their were hired were, first of all, precisely the type of individual needs and the needs of the community employees he was seeking (young, intelligent, and with mutually satisfactory results. The present highly motivated) and, secondly, were tailor- and future potential for the cooperative endeavor trained to meet Singer’s specifications. The pro- in high-technology training initiated by the college gram was especially valuable from Singer’s point CAD/CAM program and its sister high school pro- of view in that it trained students who had draft- gram, along with student and employer evalua- ing experience but who did not have previous com- tions of the first cycle of the college program, are puter-aided design experience; they therefore did discussed in the following paragraphs. not have to “unlearn improper or unprofessional Employer Evaluations.–Many of the employ- techniques” or techniques specific to another in- ers’ reactions to the program and to the students dustry or another CAD/CAM system. Six of the have been touched on in previous sections of this trainees in the second cycle of the program are now study. This section summarizes and draws togeth- receiving laboratory trainin g at Singer Librascope, er the overall response of the two employers who and the CAD supervisor hopes to hire four of participated as major sponsors of the program. them. Singer Librascope.–Singer representatives Jet Propulsion Laboratory .–Representatives interviewed-the manager of engineering and pkm- interviewed included the manager of the design ning, the supervisor of the computer-aided design and mechanical support section and the technical department who oversaw the laboratory portion group supervisor for computer-aided design. Be- of the formal course and the worksite trainin g, and cause the CAD/CAM operator training program a PCB designer who worked closely with the stu- was conceived and fostered by PIC (which is dents during the worksite training-all believe chaired by the JPL section manager), JPL’s eval- that the trainees did “a great job” and are fully uation may be partially perceived as a parent’s satisfied with the work and motivation of the two report of his child’s progress, On the other hand, trainees who were eventually hired. Even though the section manager, being very much a business- the third trainee could not be hired for security man as well as a scientist, is committed to seeing reasons, the Singer employees said that he, too, a return on his investment in the trainees, and to did “very good work” and that they would have hiring employees whose work meets the standards hired him had he been able to pass the security of precision required in the aerospace industry. clearance. Another factor to be considered in JPL’s evalua- The supervisor of computer-aided design was ex- tion is its philosophy of community participation tremely direct in both his praise and his criticism and its approach to employee training. The Jet of various aspects of the program. He felt that the Propulsion Laboratory is the largest employer in problem created for Singer in the case of the train- the Glendale area, and its managerial employees ee who was unable to get a security clearance could have implemented their sense of commitment to have been avoided if more time and effort had gone the community by serving on the board of educa- into the initial screening process. The classroom tion, educational task forces, and organizations training, in his opinion, was “adequate” but could like the Private Industry Council. have been “more adequate” if the Glendale in- JPL’s participation in the CAD/CAM training structor had received a longer training course him- program, therefore, was motivated not only by its self. His final criticism of the program was that, need for trained operators but by its desire to in- while the trainees got a good “basic taste” of crease the college’s focus on high-technology train- CADDS 3 techniques, the instruction would have ing so that the school could better serve the needs served Singer’s purposes better had it been “more of both the industrial community and the residents focused” on printed circuit board design. of Glendale. Integral to this approach is the no-

25-452 ? - 84 - 31 : or, 3 460 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace

tion that industry should communicate its per- about the current work. All of the students gave spective to educational institutions and work with the instructor an excellent rating, and some added them to address educational needs.* that he was one of the best teachers they had ever Aside from attempting to strengthen industry- worked with. They specifically noted his ability to education linkages in the community at large, the provide clear and concise explanations; his atten- design and mechanical support section manager tion to detail; his willingness to provide personal- has institutionalized upgrade training for all of the ized assistance; and his patience and dedication. employees in his section. Forty hours a year of up- While all of the students rated the course con- grade training for each employee is built into the tent highly, the new Singer hires would have pre- cost structure of the section, and completion of ferred more class- and laboratory-time devoted to that training is an important factor in each em- printed circuit board design. The other problem– ployee’s yearly appraisal. This procedure, which one mentioned by the instructor himself and all of is in essence a mandate that every employee con- the students interviewed —was the ratio of class- tinually upgrade his or her skills, was instituted room to laboratory time. While most of the stu- at approximately the same time that the CAD/ dents found the 6 hours of lecture per week helpful CAM equipment was installed in the section and in the beginning of the course, all stated that more grows out of the manager’s perception of the need lab and less lecture would have been more appro- for engineers and support personnel to keep up priate during the second half. Two students noted with the dynamic advances of the computer-aided that the small size of the class resulted in specific tools of their profession. benefits: personalized instruction and an environ- The JPL representatives who participated in the ment that encouraged the students to help each selection of the trainees for the CAD/CAM opera- other to explore a variety of design techniques. tor program therefore looked for applicants who Others mentioned that the instructional material, were highly motivated and indicated a desire to especially the ComputerVision workbook, were ex- continue their education; and the five trainees cellent and that the class projects were especially hired by JPL were those whose motivation both helpful as learning experiences. to work at the lab and to continue their education Although many of the students were required was most apparent. As noted previously, JPL to travel long distances-both to the college from sought trainees who would eventually become ful- their homes and between the college and the lab- ly fledged design engineers-whom the training oratory sites—only one mentioned traveling as a would provide with sophisticated entry-level skills problem. None of the students felt that the time- and who had potential for career growth. lag between the classroom lectures and the labor- When interviewed halfway through the worksite atory practice sessions created undue difficulties. training period, JPL representatives were well- All of the graduates stated that the laboratory ex- satisfied with the work, the motivation, and the perience was the most beneficial aspect of the pro- potential for success of all eight trainees. At the gram-not because the lectures were not good, but end of the worksite training, the five trainees with because of the necessity to engage in hands-on the strongest desire to pursue engineering degrees practice on the equipment. Two of the JPL stu- were hired. Two months after they were hired as dents specifically mentioned the helpfulness of full-time employees, they were, according to the JPL employees during the laboratory sessions. section’s CAD supervisor, “doing very well” and When, however, the students were asked if they continued to be enthusiastic and motivated. Ten preferred the college-classroondindustry-lab-site trainees in the second cycle are now receiving set-up to a situation in which the lectures and lab- laboratory training at JPL (eight from the Coor- oratory work could have been centralized in one dinated Funding Project and two funded by In- location, all but one said that it would have been vestment in People). preferable that the equipment be located at the col- Student Evaluations.—Individual interviews lege. The dissenting student (one of the few who were held with five session I graduates-the two had not had previous industrial experience) said graduates hired by Singer Librascope and three that the industrial environment provided him with of those hired by JPL. The students were uniform- a greater incentive to work harder and learn more ly positive about the instructor, appreciative of the than would have been possible in a classroom en- experience they had received, and enthusiastic vironment. All of the students, on the other hand, felt that the 7 to 10 weeks of worksite experience *JPL, which is an outgrowth of an educational institution but which operates like a company, is perhaps uniquely structured to create the after the formal coursework was extremely valu- academic-industry linkages illustrated by the CAD/CAD program. able, primarily because they were given “real” Appendix A—Selected Case Studies: Summaries ● 461 . .—— - .—.—

work rather than make-work and because it gave college’s director for special projects have been ac- them an opportunity to learn about the specific tively working on a solution. College representa- working procedures of the two industrial labora- tives believe that the least promising solution in tories. the long run is to assume ~hat they-will be able All of the students expressed their intention of to perpetuate the program indefinitely by relying continuing their education at 4-year colleges or completely on industry laboratories for the hands- universities. One plans to pursue a mechanical en- on p-ortion of the training. They are, consequent- gineering degree, and the others intend to work on ly, exploring the possibility of obtaining donated degrees in industrial design. or reduced-price equipment to be installed at the Present and Future CAIYCAM Training Capaci- college to be used for the training of regularly ty of Glendale Community College.—At the com- enrolled drafting and design students and for oper- pletion of the first cycle of the CAD/CAM pro- ating upgrade programs for industry. * gram, Glendale College, as the program operator, Technical Training Center.–Another possibili- had met most of the objectives set out by the Coor- ty, one which now looks extremely promising, is dinated Funding sponsors. The college, with the the creation of a centrally located technical train- help of PIC and the sponsoring companies, had ing center, supported by-local industries, schools, operated a vocational training program that met and agencies and outfitted with equipment to ad- the needs of specific local employers; had involved dress a wide variety of “high tech” skills including the employers and “other appropriate entities” CAD/CAM, computer repair, and word processing. (PIC and ComputerVision) in plannin g, design, and The center—which until recently was little more implementation; and had provided the participants than an idea conceived of by the chairman of the with effective job skills training and continuing Private Industry Council–is now beginning to employment with career advancement potential. look like it may-become a reality. The final objective of the Coordinated Funding A recently closed junior high school in Glendale Project–to incorporate the resulting curriculum would provide the site; education and business into ongoing college vocational education pro- leaders-and local government officials have infor- grams-has proved to be more difficult to accom- mally agreed on the concept; and a major producer plish. of CAD/CAM equipment has expressed interest in Operating a program combining classroom and the possibility of donating equipment. The current worksite training produced a number of beneficial thought is that the facilities would be shared by results, not the least of which were the availabili- all of the schools in the district and would operate ty of state-of-the-art equipment at the industry on a three-shift schedule, allowing for three, 3%- sites and the opportunity given to the trainees to hour teaching units in each subject per day. Al- acclimate themselves to an industrial environ- though such a center would be challenging to ad- ment. The use of industrial labs and the instruc- minister and maintain, and although students tor upgrade training provided by project funds en- would still have to travel to laboratory sessions, abled the college to demonstrate its effectiveness the problems noted previously with regard to coor- in training vocational education students to meet dinating production and training use of industry industrial needs. The expansion of the program equipment would be solved, and the college would under Investment in People funding also demon- have access to the equipment it needs to continue strated that the college could serve as a resource its CAD/CAM course and to expand into related for training existing industrial employees as well areas. as entry-level candidates. Future Potential.–Glendale College vocational The college, however, is painfully aware of the education instructors and administrators believe possible “self-destructing” nature of a CAD/CAM that a crucial element in the college’s future poten- program operated by a school with no equipment tial to operate vocational education programs is of its own. By the end of the second cycle of the the maintenance and expansion of the communica- program, both Singer Librascope and JPL will be tion channel with loc~ industries, established “saturated” with CAD/CAM operators, at least for the present. In order to keep the program run- *In mid-May 1983, the college made the decision to continue the CAD CAM training program through June 1984, funded with regular district ning, and to truly incorporate it into the ongoing funds. The lecture portion will remain at the college. The lab work will curriculum of the college, GCC will have to find be conducted in the private sector at late night and early morning hours, other sources of equipment. In addition, the college administration is now developing a foundation which will be able to borrow money tQ be used, in part, to build new This potential problem was apparent from the laboratories to house the equipment and to cover equipment inception of the program, and both PIC and the maintenance costs, 462 ● Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace — through such means as the school’s association The synergistic relationship between the college, with PIC and the Coordinated Funding and In- the Private Industry Council, and the City of Glen- vestment in People projects. dale is a major key to the college’s future poten- The open channel to industry representatives is tial. PIC has engaged the support of its board seen as necessary for a variety of reasons. Glen- members to aid the college in obtaining equipment, dale representatives believe that colleges are 5 to This, in itself, becomes a very powerful resource 10 years behind industry in technical expertise and because of the stature of the industries–including sophistication of equipment; and they look on in- JPL, ITT, Pacific Telephone, and banking and fi- dustry as a resource for instructor upgrading, in- nancial organizations-represented on the PIC formation about new industrial advances and hir- board. Whether the final result of the effort to ing requirements, and material and equipment to build GCC’S equipment and laboratory resources implement new courses. takes the shape of a training center to which the The college drafting instructor, for example, be- college has access, or laboratories located on the lieves that within the next few years mechanical college campus, the partners in the school-city-PIC and architectural drafting programs that do not relationship seem committed to making use of incorporate computer-aided design will not be whatever equipment is obtained to serve the achieving their major goal, which is to produce job- broadest possible constituency. ready graduates. In return for industry support, The Glendale Private Industry Council.–While the vocational education division of the college is the formal role played by PIC in the operation of committed to institute whatever ongoing changes the CAD/CAM operator program was relatively are reasonable and necessary to meet industrial minor, the importance of the Private Industry needs and to serve as a training resource for local Council as an informal broker between educational, industries. industrial, and governmental organizations cannot Although the college’s present capacity to teach be overestimated. The idea for the CAD/CAM programs in computer-aided design and manufac- operator program originated with the PIC direc- turing is limited by its almost complete lack of tor and chairman; the PIC chair secured the coop- equipment, the bridge-building activities of the eration of his own organization (JPL); the PIC di- past 4 years (participation in PIC programs and rector enlisted Singer Librascope and Computer- representation on the PIC board, recruitment of vision; and the PIC staff assisted in placing the industrial representatives for college advisory cycle I graduates who were not hired by the par- committees, and participation in programs like the ticipating firms. Coordinated Funding Project) seem destined to Although PIC’S formal mandate is to operate bear fruit in the near future. Local industries that training programs for structurally unemployed have benefited from CETA training programs and displaced workers, the philosophy of the Glen- operated by the college now donate material, dale council encompasses a much wider sphere of equipment, and funds. The success of the Coordi- activity than the direct operation of government- nated Funding Project demonstrated the college’s funded training and employment programs. Inte- ability and may bring more industrial support, gral to that philosophy is the creation of linkages open more industrial labs, and help the school to between the industrial and educational committees win more State funds. to enhance the activities and resources of each and The Investment in People grant, which allowed to serve the community as a whole. the school to expand the CAD/CAM operator pro- In light of this philosophy, the role of the broker gram, is but one example of the college’s poten- is profound, especially when one considers the dif- tial to build on the achievements gained through ficulty of creating matches between the two ends working with local industries and agencies. More of the labor market spectrum: on one end, techno- recently, the college was chosen as one of the possi- logically oriented industries requiring many work- ble west coast sites for the General Motors/United ers to have ever-more sophisticated entry-level Auto Workers retraining projects. The program skills; and, on the other end, the structurally un- proposed by GCC—a year-long electronics techni- employed, * who may have few workplace ski~s! cian course—has been accepted in concept and will be implemented if it proves feasible for 20-laid off —— GM workers to either relocate to or travel to Glen- *Stmctur~y unemploy~ individual are those whose situation re- flects long-term changes in economic conditions, in contrast to the dale for the length of time it would take to com- “cyclically unemployed” who are periodically without work due to short- plete the course. term changes in the general economy. Appendix A —Se/ected Case Studies: Summaries ● 463 . and displaced workers, who may be only semi- time that the need exists. My impression is that skilled. industry loves it if they’re included and that school Occupying the vast middle ground are colleges systems are now put in the position of preparing and high schools requiring assistance to update students for the real world. They’re beginning to their curricula and upgrade their instructors so realize that they’re both part of it and that the they can assist in the job trainin g process; workers responsibility is a shared one. ” with outdated skills who do not meet the Federal To further strengthen education’s knowledge of poverty guidelines and are therefore ineligible for industry, PIC is working to encourage 1ocal federally funded programs; and firms whose work- schools to substitute a work experience program ers require upgrade training but which may not for the traditional sabbatical leave for instructors have the resources to provide that training in- and to provide appropriate promotion credits for house. By taking the broad approach and making such a program. To increase industry’s recognition the most of its formal and informal channels of of the capacities of educational institutions, PIC communication between all of the sectors of the encourages companies to look on vocational educa- community, PIC hopes to have a pervasive effect tion teachers as a training resource and to contract which, in the long run, may create that match be- out in-house training to the colleges. * tween industry’s high-tech needs and the structur- This system, according to the PIC chair, would ally unemployed. cost the companies less than in-house training and At present, PIC is working on a number of would strengthen the schools’ capacity to provide fronts, which, when brought together, may enable industrial-level technical training. While this no- it simultaneously to serve the needs of high-tech tion would not necessarily work for all types of industries and the structurally unemployed. Al- training in all companies, it is likely to work in a though the CAD/CAM operator program did not number of instances if well-managed and proper- serve the structurally unemployed, it did serve ly designed. some displaced workers and some who were below The CAD/CAM operator program illustrates the poverty level. It also strengthened the college’s that industry-education cooperative training en- trairing capacity and aided local industries. In ad- deavors can succeed, in spite of the difficulties that dition, the CAD/CAM program demonstrated the inevitably occur. The problem now facing Glendale feasibility of bringing the various participants Community College-how to continue the course together to create a successful high-technology when the two industrial sponsors are saturated training program and set the mechanism in place and the equipment question is still up in the air— for expanding it. graphically illustrates the PIC chair’s statement This type of activity–working both formally that “nothing is static. ” PIC and the college, how- and informally to strengthen various segments of ever, are ready to move—either to move to other the education and training system and concentrat- companies to keep the program running until a ing on strengthening the links between the seg- permanent solution can be found, or to acquire ments—illustrates another tenet of the Glendale equipment or establish a trainin g center. This type PIC philosophy, characterized by the following of innovative approach to CAD/CAM training, statement by the PIC chair: “There’s a need to rec- which relies on mutual cooperation while recogniz- ognize that nothing is static—once you get into it, ing that circumstances change and resources are you’ve got to be willing to move. The way we’ve limited, may not be guaranteed of certain success, done that is to address needs that are peculiar and but it is most certainly well worth the attempt. particular to industry now, and we ask industry to forecast needs downstream, so we can be ready *In many cases, this would involve providing industrial upgrade train- to alter our training programs to be ready at the ing to the teachers, as was done in the case of the GCC instructor.