Education & Training needs to fill the
Missing Middle in Digital Manufacturing
Ashok Krishnamurthy
OSC/OARnet
Agenda
• OSC Industrial Outreach: Blue Collar Computing
• Polymer Portal
• National Digital Engineering and Manufacturing
Consortium (NDEMC)
• Lessons learned
• Certificate and training programs
• UG minor
• Professional MS
OSC Blue Collar Computing Program
• OSC partners with Ohio industry through its Blue Collar
Computing™ program so that companies can leverage
High Performance Computing, Modeling, Simulation and
Analysis to be more competitive internationally.
Customer
(Re-) Design
Generate a
Analyse
Needs
the Part
Numerical Model
the Model
OK?
Yes
Prototype
No
Test the
Use Experience
Explore
Digitally…
…Confirm
Physically
Build a
Prototype
& Numerical Results
No
OK?
Yes
Release to
Production
3
PolymerPortal: Advanced Modeling and
Simulation for Manufacturing Program
• Funded by NIST MEP for PolymerOhio and OSC
• Mission:
– Raise awareness of MS&A in Polymer industry and MEP system
– Make cost-effective computational methods available to SMEs
• 3 year project
Projects
(6 Projects)
Outreach
to Industry
(50 Visits)
Productivity
Audits
Training
(4 Courses)
(24 Audits)
App Access
(5 Apps)
Resulting case studies will
provide an MEP model to:
• Illustrate MS&A value to production and
profitability
• Assist companies in application selection
• Develop training for high value-added
MS&A apps
• Engage companies in employee training
for MS&A
• Provide broad access to low-cost,
productivity-enhancing apps
NDEMC: A Private Public Partnership
National Digital Engineering and Manufacturing Consortium
– $5 million U.S. Department of Commerce Economic
Development Administration project.
– Lead by Council on Competitiveness
– Members: CoC, P&G, GE, Lockheed Martin, John
Deere, State of Ohio, OSC, NCSA, Purdue, NCMS
– Pilot program to promote the adoption and
advancement of modeling, simulation and analysis in
the U.S. manufacturing supply chain.
– Initially focused in the American Midwest.
– OSC is currently involved in 10 NDEMC projects.
5
Partial list of OSC Industrial Clients
• P&G
• EWi
• Rolls Royce
• Nimbis Services
• Goodrich
• Plastipak
• AltaSim
• Greenlight Optics
• TotalSim
• Large auto manufacturer
• Hunter Industries
• Crown
• Scienomics
• Applied Sciences
• SC Solutions
• PTI
• Midwest Precision
6
Some Lessons Learned: Industry Engagement
• Modeling, simulation, and analysis can improve the
economic competitiveness of businesses, but barriers
remain for ready adoption
• Access to High Performance Computing systems to run
simulations at a scale that provides “true” ROI
• Access to commercial software licenses
• Access to expertise
• Access to education and training specific to modeling
and simulation
7
So what type of education and training is
needed?
• Modeling and Simulation Analysts
– Workforce retraining through certificates
– Undergraduate Minor
• Modeling and Simulation Developers
– PhD level training
– Professional Masters
OSC Ralph Regula School Education &
Training Programs
Continued work with
campuses on undergraduate
programs
• Undergraduate minor
• Associate concentration
Certificate programs for
business
• Completed first offering of
basic certificate in
computational science
• Advanced certificate in
Polymer applications in place
• Working on second advanced
certificate in metal forming
9
Feeding the Workforce Pipeline
• Defining the requirements
– Ohio program – interdisciplinary group to define
competencies for undergraduate computational science
minor program
– Review by industry advisory committee
– Initiation of multi-university minor program in
computational science in 2007 at nine institutions
– Associate degree program initiated at three institutions
in 2010 focused on encouraging further work toward
bachelor’s degree programs
Adding to the Workforce
• Translation of program into first part of “stackable
certificate program
– Basic certificate
• Portions of undergraduate minor program repackaged as basic course for industry personnel
• Offered through Ralph Regula School of
Computational Science at two community colleges
• Structured to review basic modeling principles and
methods for those who need to update their skills
• Offered via distance learning to serve a statewide
audience
Basic Certificate Structure
• Three distance courses
• Offered starting summer 2011 through Columbus
State Community College and Sinclair Community
College
– Introduction to Modeling and Simulation
– Computational Methods
– Programming and Algorithms
Advanced Certificates
• Oriented toward particular industries and
applications
• Requires ties to industry trusted advocates to
encourage participation
– Cannot and should not build those relationships from
scratch
– “Supercomputing” is a scary word to small
manufacturers
• “Does not apply to me”
• Have to introduce the tools and their potential benefits to
business
– May not require HPC resources to start
Building the Advanced Certificate Program
• Started with the polymer industry in partnership
with universities and a statewide industry
association – Polymer Ohio
• Major steps
– Define the areas of greatest interest to the industry
through a survey of major leaders
– Focus instructional efforts on two leading areas
– Tie the materials to required software, hardware, and
support requirements
– Trial run of course materials with university students
Training Opportunities
• Finding training
opportunities is easy
– List of available
courses
– Search for specific
types of polymer
solution
(eg Injection Molding
as seen in next slide)
Adding a Class is Easy
• Just create a Portal Account, click on Add to cart,
and pay for the class
• Attendee will receive email with training details
Distance Education made Easy
• Moodle web
courseware
• Requires:
– a computer
– web browser
– and 3-6 mbps
(standard cable
modem) network
connection
• Browser based,
runs on PC,
Mac & Linux
The Training Environment
Virtual
Machine
running
relevant
software
Video
lectures with
live instructor
available
allowing for
real-time
interaction
and Q&A
Course materials/exercise management
Accessing VM & Software is easy!
1• Go to https://connector.osc.edu
3 Enter Address: connector.osc.edu
4 Enter Username and Password
2 Open VMware View Client
You are in!
Undergraduate Minor Program in
Computational Science
• Steve Gordon talked about the UG minor being
offered at Ohio universities
Professional MS in Computational Engineering
• Today, developing models and HPC simulations in
many areas requires PhD level training
• PhD production latency is high, and output is low.
PhD training is not necessarily well matched to
industry needs
• Suggested alternative: A 3 semester professional
MS program – 10 courses during the 1st two
semesters and a hands-on, industry sponsored
program in the final semester