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sTEm–at-Work (Answer Puzzle #36): Gasket Response to an Applied Test Pressure Pattern

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Sunday, October 6th, 2013 at 04:25 PM 
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Problem
    
Analysis
To be fair to long time puzzle followers, sTEm-at-Work Puzzle 36does violate the rules for sTEm-at-work puzzles. The solution to the puzzle is supposed to be provided in the combined information presented in the puzzle text and the puzzle plot(s). For puzzle 36, the reader needed to also know that when pressure is applied to a fluid the fluid demonstrates a capacitive like effect. The magnitude of that “RC” effect depends on the properties of the fluid, and when necessary, can be reduced but not eliminated. This valve does leak, but the “RC” rounding of the edges of the square wave shape is not because the valve leaks. The rounding is because of the capacitive effect of the hydraulic fluid. This is the reason for the suggestion in last month’s answer text that sTEm-at-Work puzzle 36represents a great segway for lessons on related RC time constant concepts including the material properties and mathematics that generate and predict an RC response, respectively. Since a material’s “RC” type response to an applied forcing function like pressure, or voltage is so common, taking the time to have students explore the concept in as much detail as can be assimilated is good use of instructional time.
Solution

The Tech rejected the actuator because the test results shown below were not the same shape as the applied pressure test pattern shown above. NO   


         
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FLATE’s IAC Serves as a Confluence of Ideas to Educate/Train Manufacturing Workforce

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Sunday, October 6th, 2013 at 01:42 PM 
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FLATE’s Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC) has served as a vehicle in incorporating voices of industry

and education to streamline its curriculum, outreach and professional development efforts. The IAC consists of industry partners from the manufacturing community, representatives from related professional and industry organizations, and others in the community interested in advancing technician education and training of the manufacturing workforce in Florida. Tina Brudnicki, current Chair of the IAC and a member since 2005 says the role of the IAC is “to promote and support the education and training of the current and future manufacturing workforce.” Brudnicki views the IAC as a strategic partner with local industry to lay a strong foundation for a qualified workforce in Florida.


Meetings are held two/three times a year at state/community colleges, or at a local manufacturing facility which helps area manufacturers showcase some of their high-tech operations, and make it accessible for members across Florida to attend either in person, or remotely. The Committee works largely under the guidance of Brad Jenkins, program director for the engineering technology program at St. Petersburg College and one of FLATE’s principal investigators.

Most IAC meetings serve as a dynamic marketplace to exchange ideas between industry leaders and educators. Discussions center on technology and workforce trends for technicians, industry certifications, updates from regional manufacturers associations and/or industry partners, or any topic considered relevant to manufacturers across Florida. For members like Dale Toney and Tina Brudnicki the IAC meeting represents a confluence of ideas between educators and local industry.

From his participation at the recent meeting, Toney notes a need for a game changer in terms of how

companies conduct daily business and devise a plan to reach out to the emerging talent pool. Toney, who has been a member for the past three years and an instructor at the Robotics & Automation Design Academy which is affiliated with Marion Technical Institute in Ocala, FL., says “creating awareness and cultivating interest from the get-go is key.” He makes an interesting point in noting that traditional communication tools like newspapers, journal articles, or television are less effective in reaching out to teenagers. Most teenagers he says get their staple diet of news via word-of-mouth from teachers, career counselors, and more recently via social networking. These coupled with a younger, a fresher voice he says will connect better and attract younger students to manufacturing.


Voices of educators and industry leaders like Toney and Tina play an important role in dictating IAC meeting agendas and maneuvering FLATE’s curriculum projects. Both Toney and Brudnicki appreciate FLATE’s efforts to ensure representation of educators and industry at these meetings. Then too, equally, if not more important, they say is the need  to incorporate the voices of local legislators, vocational directors, principals and superintendents who in essence function as decision makers and financial planners in the educational continuum.

For future meeting discussions, Toney hopes to see a defined/structured list of skills that educators need to

be concentrating on so they can streamline curriculum and instruction at the high school level. He also encourages industries to come to the classroom and talk to students about certifications and skills set they are looking for in current/future employees which in turn would help students align their educational goals to match industry needs. Tina, on the other hand, hopes the statewide A.S. degree in engineering technology, which represents the culmination of a joint effort between FLATE and the IAC, will eventually serve as an incentive for industry to find qualified workforce and relocate to Florida.


For more information on FLATE IAC visit www.fl-ate.org, or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org. 
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Season for Sports for the Mind Sizzles with Regional Robotics Competitions

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Sunday, October 6th, 2013 at 01:33 PM 
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As football season is heating up, line-up of robotics competitions in the region are also warming up. FLATE

Photo Courtesy: FTC Facebook

  will be sponsoring a number of local robotics teams. The 2013-2014 robotics season starts with FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) qualifying round of tournaments in November and lasts through January, 2014.There are over 500 teams registered in Florida. The FLL challenge is based on a real-world scientific topic. Research theme for this year is “natural disasters.”

Each challenge has three parts: the Robot Game, the Project, and the FLL Core Values. Teams of up to ten children, with one adult coach, participate in the Challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field (Robot Game), developing a solution to a problem they have identified (Project), all guided by the FLL Core Values. Teams may then choose to attend an official tournament, hosted by one of our Operational Partners. An official listing of qualifying tournaments are listed on the Florida FLL website https://flrobotics.org/tournaments/QualSched.html.


The Florida First Tech Challenge (FTC) season in Florida just started in September and runs through

FTC Season Kick Off (Photo Courtesy
FTC Facebook Page)

February. The Kickoff for local FTC was September 21st at Middleton High School for the Tampabay Area teams. Middleton High School has FRC, FTC, and VEX. The FRC and FTC teams have had their kickoff meetings and are adding new team members. FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®) is a mid-level robotics competition for high-school students that helps them learn to design and build robots with both driver and autonomous controlled behavior.  FTC robots are built with the TETRIX® or MATRIX® robot kits and are controlled by the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT Robotic System with a choice of 2 software platforms; ROBOTC or LabVIEW. Student teams develop robots that can perform the tasks defined in the Challenge, then compete with, and against, other teams in qualifying competitions and a state championship. The purpose of FIRST Tech Challenge is to give high school age students an opportunity to experience the fun and excitement of complex problem solving in a positive and supportive team environment. Visit the FTC web site for more information.


Kick-off for FRC 2014 (FIRST Robotics Competition) starts in January. FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) has been referred to as the super bowl of the mind. Over 2,500 teams compete worldwide in an annual challenge where each team must each build a remote controlled robot out of a standard kit of parts. The 2013 FRC South Florida regional will take place on March 28-30 at Fort Lauderdale Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and is expecting between 45 to 50 teams. 


Strawberry Crest High School is participating in FTC and BEST this year. October also marks the season 

kick off for BEST robotics competitions across the state. Nearly 100 robotic enthusiasts showed up at the HCC Brandon Campus in October with 12 HCPS teams lining up at the starting line for the 42 days of BEST Robotics Competition. Eleven of the teams are led by HCPS science teachers plus the 12th team of the heavily favored All Girls team, Brandon Vibots composed of alums from the McLane robotics engineering club. This year’s BEST Competition theme titled, GateKeeper, is focused on building of a 32 bit CPU using logic gates. BEST tournaments are scheduled for Nov. 1-2 at Lennard High School in Ruskin, FL. 

Additionally FIRST Coordinator Terri Willingham is promoting a Robocon, and various VEX tournaments are also being organized across the state. For more information on robotics competitions happening this Fall and Spring visit www.fl-ate.org, or contact Desh Bagley, outreach manager for FLATE at bagley@fl-ate.org, and Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org.







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FLATE’s Communications Line

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Friday, October 4th, 2013 at 08:54 PM 
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FLATE has a dedicated group of professionals who make everyday tasks as well as complex projects appear seamless to the outside world. Janice Mukhia, FLATE’s communication specialist started her 7th year with FLATE late last month. Janice accepted a half time position in September 2006 with the charge to develop a quarterly newsletter for FLATE.  Two years later, armed with her bachelors degree in communications, she joined the FLATE team in a full time position and was charged to migrate our FLATE Focus from a quarterly paper based version to a monthly on-line blog format. For the last 3 years, the award winning FLATE Focus has set the mark of excellence for newsletters of its kind. 

Although the newsletter is a joint effort of the whole FLATE team, Janice does most of the writing, interviewing, layout, distribution and data capturing. When not working on the newsletter, Janice is busy pitching press releases to local/statewide press, sending news alerts to FLATE’s stakeholders, and working on articles for other regional and national publications. She works closely not only with the FLATE staff, leadership team and stakeholders, but also with the media and external affairs team at Hillsborough Community College and consortium of our partner colleges.

Thank you Janice for taking new challenges in stride, leading us in the world of social media, and keeping us always on deadline so our message is regularly distributed to FLATE’s stakeholders. Thanks for your constant smile, always being willing to help, and making all of us at FLATE “look good”.

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Concluding a Three Part Series in Defining Workable Education Models

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Wednesday, September 4th, 2013 at 08:48 PM 
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Previously we explored the details and definition of formal licensed apprenticeship (FLATE FOCUS June 

2013) and formal student internships (FLATE Focus July 2013). This month we will look at less formal work experiences for students. These experiences differentiate themselves from apprenticeships and internships by the important fact that they do not have any tie to a particular credit-bearing course (as an internship would be). These less formal work experiences can certainly add important related work experience to a student’s resume. These opportunities can be thought of as regular part-time jobs that happen to be in the student’s field of study.


One option is college work-study programs, which provide on-campus, part-time jobs for students that

qualify for the federal program. On-campus jobs of interest to students in technical programs could include the laboratory technician helpers, or positions in the college utilities, or information technology departments. Work-study programs and campus student assistant positions have the advantage of providing a work experience at the same location that the students attend classes, but is not necessarily work in a “real manufacturing company.” Additionally, there is no connection to a college course, so there is no specific set of skills and work experience expectations, and no assessment by a faculty, or instructor as would happen in a formal internship program.


Many faculty will help their students find part-time jobs with their industry partners trying to match students’ interest directly to a company’s needs. These situations often result in informal, or formal employment-related mentoring by the industry partner and/or the faculty. This arrangement can increase the value of the part-time jobs, and provide additional guidance for the student that they would get in a formal internship.
This leads us to job shadowing. Job shadowing is a career exploration activity that offers an opportunity to spend time with a professional currently working in a student’s career field of interest. Job shadowing offers a chance to see what it’s actually like working in a specific job, observe the day-to-day activities of someone in the current workforce, and also get some of their questions answered. Categorically, a job-shadow experience is an extended informational interview. Most informational interviews are approximately 30 minutes, while a job-shadowing experience is typically a few hours to a full workday. Job shadowing is considered a good career awareness/exploration experience for middle, or high school students who are not yet old enough to legally work, but can be good experiences for college, or technical school students as well.  
For all student jobs: internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing and co-operative education experiences, it is important for both the student and the employer to prepare for the experience. Students should research the company, ask about work expectations, work hours and behaviors, etc. The company should be willing to provide personnel time and energy to orient the student to the work environment, to train them for the work expected, to oversee the student’s work, and mentor the student during the experience.

Certainly most companies can identify and implement one, or more of these student-focused opportunities to help our youth learn how interesting and exciting it can be to work in the manufacturing field, understand the breadth of the industry just by being part of it, and possibly recruit future workers. Hiring students also provides direct connections to school curriculum that manufacturers can then influence to meet their needs. It’s up to all of us professionals in the field to help grow the next generations of manufacturing professionals. If you have specific questions on how to get stated with any of these, please feel contact me at barger@fl-ate.org.
We know all you educators are super busy with the start of a new school year, but we hope you take time to read the articles in this month’s newsletter that has a little something for educators, industry colleagues as well as students. Above all we hope you will join FLATE in making Manufacturing Day in Florida a huge success. We have many activities lined up, so be sure to check them out in this edition of the Focus. 
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Manufacturing Day is October 4. Sign up NOW!

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Wednesday, September 4th, 2013 at 08:21 PM 
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It’s not too late to sign up for Manufacturing Day in Florida. FLATE, the National Science Foundation Center of Excellence at Hillsborough Community College in Brandon and the Manufacturers Association of Florida are working with industry partners and educators across the state to make a big, statewide splash for students on Manufacturing Day which is on Oct. 4, 2013. This event is the perfect opportunity to expand knowledge about and improve public’s perception of manufacturing careers.
Manufacturers and stakeholders across the state are strongly urged to participate, organize a regional team of manufacturers, schools, other community groups, and join in the celebrations in a number of ways.
  • Schools/districts can provide transportation and chaperones for students
  • Manufacturers can host a “Made in Florida” tour, and provide lunch for student groups. If you have not signed up to host an event, please do so here
  • Regional manufacturers can support the cost for Manufacturing Day regional t-shirts for students. If you’d like to sponsor and/or have your organization’s logo imprinted on the t-shirts please sign up here
  • Organize a regional team of manufacturers, schools, other community groups
  • Send any adopted school information to Dream It! Do It!  at jwolfe@sfma.org
  • Have your County Commission Proclaim Florida Manufacturing Day

FLATE is also working with regional “Manufacturing Day teams,” helping to connect schools with

local companies, arranging media publicity, designing and delivering t-shirts, and surveying students to assess the impact on students in specific regions as well as the overall impact on all participating students. The t-shirts also serve as a tangible and long-time reminder of the significance of Manufacturing in Florida. And, of course, it all helps put the “fun” in manufacturing.

The official guide to organizing Manufacturing Day open houses, the most frequent type of Manufacturing Day event, is available at www.MfgDay.com. For local/Florida based manufacturing day events, visit the “Made in Florida” site. Here you can access resources that answer common questions and outline steps that every Manufacturing Day host will find useful, such as: 
FLATE will recognize participating companies and organizations on this webpage. If your company can host a tour and provide student lunches, or your assist with purchasing t-shirts for the student participants, publicity support, or anything else, please sign up here, or contact Desh Bagley, FLATE outreach manager at bagley@fl-ate.org or (813) 253-7838. Desh will follow up with all participants with additional information regarding statewide manufacturing day events. 
We look forward to everyone’s participation in Manufacturing Day celebrations in Florida.
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Study Reveals New Hires in Manufacturing Sector Earn More Compared to Other Industries

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Wednesday, September 4th, 2013 at 08:20 PM 
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Looking for ways to attract students to your manufacturing programs and to manufacturing jobs? A new study by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Economics and Statistical Administration offers a different and positive light on wages and salaries in manufacturing. Although comparisons between new hires and incumbent workers probably won’t mean much to students, strong worker earnings for the manufacturing sector between 2000-2011 are something to think about.
Manufacturing jobs continue to earn their reputation as “good jobs.” To most, a “good job” offers above

average wages and benefits, full-time hours, and stable employment. A relatively new data source, the Quarterly Workforce Indicators, reveals that new hires in manufacturing sectors earn more than new hires in other industries. Key points include a notable premium for new hires in manufacturing (38 percent) at the end of 2011. Additionally, new hires in manufacturing make approximately 70 percent of incumbent worker earnings compared to new hires in other industries that average only 60 percent of incumbents. Since the recession began, new hires and incumbents in manufacturing have had real earnings grow 3.5 and 2.4 percent points. New hires in other industries saw no growth in earnings while incumbents actually have seen a decline in real earnings during the study time period 2000-2011. 

Other good news can be gleaned from the data.  The smaller gap between new hires and incumbents can

indicate a higher skill and/or education level of the new hires joining the manufacturing workforce. This reflects the industry’s need for multi-skilled technicians to operate and maintain the increasingly sophisticated automated machinery that is being added to most manufacturing facilities across the country. This is certainly the direction we see with our manufacturing partners in Florida who are looking for more skilled and educated workers to grow their workforce. 

The full report is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration at www.esa.doc.gov. Write your thoughts and continue the discussion below this blog post, or on our Facebook page. 
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sTEm–at-Work Puzzle #36: Gasket Response to an Applied Test Pressure Pattern

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Wednesday, September 4th, 2013 at 08:00 PM 
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In sTEm-at-Work Puzzle #35 the technician for Sun Hydraulics performed the quality check on a hydraulic

driven actuator before it was to be shipped to the customer.  After examining the test results shown in the graphic below, the Tech did not send the actuator to the customer, but instead, sent it back for rework because the actuator leaked. The leak test involved the application of the pressure pattern shown to the right.  The Tech knew that the value was not supposed to leak when the pressures in the test pattern were applied to the hydraulic fluid in the actuator.

    
The Tech rejected the actuator because the test results shown below were not the same square wave shape as the applied pressure test pattern shown above.     

Yes or NO. Submit your answers below the blog post, or at www.fl-ate.org.     

                     
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Hillsborough-Pinellas Manufacturing Gap Analysis

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Wednesday, September 4th, 2013 at 07:58 PM 
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According to a recent study conducted by the Hillsborough and Pinellas counties’ leading economic and workforce development organizations, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are home to 2,074 manufacturers, representing 50,803 employees. Manufacturing employees have a total income contribution of almost $9 billion to the local economy, and each manufacturing job created results in the creation of an additional 2.65 jobs. The study states the economic recovery is leading manufacturers to increase production, but they are facing challenges in hiring qualified workers for critical positions. Almost 40% of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties’ manufacturers say that the skills gap is limiting business growth.
To take a closer look into the situation, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties’ economic and workforce

development organizations recently conducted a comprehensive skill set needs assessment for Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. The report was published in August 2013, and was sponsored by Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation, Pinellas County Economic Development, Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance, WorkNet Pinellas, Tampa Bay Partnership and Florida High-Tech Corridor. The Hillsborough-Pinellas Manufacturing Gap Analysis was targeted to quantify the areas’ difficult to fill manufacturing skills set. In total, 107 skill sets across 16 job type categories were surveyed. There were 109 responding companies, representing 14,715 employees, or 28.9% of the entire manufacturing employee population in the two county area.

Data from the analysis showed an increasing shift from traditional manufacturing methods to more advanced methods. The highest 12-month vacancies were for production solderers, which work predominately in the areas component manufacturers. CNC machining positions were ranked as having the second and fourth highest vacancies, underscoring the shift from traditional to advanced methods. Maintenance mechanics had the third highest 12-month vacancies. Mig and Tig welders were tied as having the fifth highest 12-month vacancies.
Based on the interviews, the organizations determined three action areas and possible solutions, where they believed they could make an impact to improve the manufacturing talent pipeline.
Areas for improvement included:
1. A lack of interest in manufacturing is causing a shortage of skilled workers.
2. Workers lack knowledge of industry.
3. There needs to be a greater connection between industry and education.
Solutions:
1. Organize manufacturing job opportunities public relations campaign.
2. Increase internship and apprenticeship offerings.
3. Improve coordination between industry, education, and government.
The study also points to valuable resources and possible partnership opportunities manufacturers can avail of

in the area to address the skills gap. Among these, FLATE the National Science Foundation Center of Excellence at Hillsborough Community College (HCC) was named as the go to organization for manufacturing and advanced technical education. FLATE developed and continues to support the comprehensive Engineering Technology associate of science degree and certificate programs offered at HCC, St. Petersburg College and 14 community & state colleges in Florida. These programs offer training in many of the high vacancy jobs identified in the survey that include machining, electronics, and quality.

For detailed information on core courses and certificates offered by the A.S. degree in engineering technology visit FLATE’s “Made in Florida” site. The site is part of FLATE’s statewide outreach campaign aimed at changing community perceptions about manufacturing, and recruit students into high-tech, high- wage STEM career pathways that support manufacturing. For information on current skills gap in the region read the Tampa-Hillsborough EDC detailed report.
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Symposium Offers Educational & Career Options in Technology & Robotics for Girls

Posted by SystemAdministrator 
· Wednesday, September 4th, 2013 at 07:38 PM 
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There is a song in the Disney Junior channel which beats to the tune of “you can be who you want to be.” That was exactly the kind of message 36 girls enrolled in the PACE program received during their one day visit to FLATE’s, Careers in Technology and RoboticsWorkshop.  The workshop was held in August and involved PACE students and teachers from Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Polk counties. PACE Center for Girls, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 corporation that provides a non-residential delinquency prevention program in locations statewide, targeting the unique needs of females 12 to 18 who are identified as dependent, truant, runaway, delinquent, or in need of academic skills. Its purpose is to intervene and prevent school withdrawal, juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, substance abuse and welfare dependency in a safe and nurturing environment. (Source: PACE website)
During the day long visit to FLATE’s manufacturing and engineering technology laboratory at Hillsborough

Community College in Brandon, the girls programmed Lego® Mindstorms® robots, and got an overview of educational and career pathways in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). “Our goal is to provide students with hands-on robotics experiences while emphasizing how robots are used in manufacturing” said Desh Bagley, outreach manager for FLATE.  To that effect, students got a wealth of information on applications of robotics technology in everyday settings and in manufacturing operations, and witnessed a demo of the NAO humanoid robot in action. To give a real-world view of engineering and technical professions, Dr. Sylvia Thomas, professor of electrical engineering at the University of South Florida in Tampa, gave a first-hand account of a “day in the life of an engineer,” and the skills set and knowledge required to pursue STEM based careers and educational pathways. “I’m here to encourage each of you to dream and to become the great young ladies that you are” said Thomas.

With that in mind, the girls were encouraged to dispel the myths associated with becoming an engineer and/or

STEM professional. The students also got an overview of local high-tech companies, like Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, Featherlite, Tampa Armature Works and Tropicana that they could work for in the future.  “It’s all about discovering who you are and the choices that you have” Thomas said.

Preliminary survey from the workshop showed more than 90% of the students agreed/strongly agreed that the workshop made them think about how STEM is used outside the classroom. More than half the participants also agreed/strongly agreed that the workshop made them consider a career in advanced manufacturing. More than 90% of the respondents also stated learning about robotics made them think about the applications of automated systems in advanced manufacturing settings.
For more information on FLATE’s robotics programs for middle and high school students, visit www.madeinflorida.org, or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org and Desh Bagley, outreach manager at bagley@fl-ate.org. For information on PACE Center for Girls visit www.pacecenter.org.
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