Episode 13 - Make Engineering Cool Again for Aspiring Engineers with Randy Mees

In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy Deo engages in an insightful conversation with Brian Geary, President, and Owner of Stretch Forming Corporation, and Mike Russell, General Manager. They delve into the company's history, growth, and its key role in complex metal forming, machining, and innovative solutions for the aerospace, defense, and space industries. The discussion touches on their experiences, the recent recognition by Boeing, upcoming projects, and how they balance technological advancements with the personal touch in a dynamic industry. They explore future technological trends like 3D printing, AI, and robotics, emphasizing the thrill of challenges and the immense satisfaction of physically creating components used in aerospace engineering.

HUMANIZING MESSAGES

"Nothing makes us happier than walking into the shop and seeing our product being made, and figuring out how to do it." - Brian Geary
"You'll never be bored in manufacturing work." - Michael Russell
"There's a sense of pride that I think manufacturing gives you that a lot of other career paths may not give you." - Michael Russell
"There's no better feeling than walking through the factory and looking at all the products and the great cool stuff going on, cool programs all over the world." - Brian Geary

Get to know our guests, Brian and Michael, and what they’re up to:

Brian Geary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-geary-a3025356/
Michael Russell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-russell-9a479597/
Website: https://www.stretchformingcorp.com/

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andydeo/
Saratech: https://www.linkedin.com/company/saratech-inc/
Saratech.com: https://saratech.com/customer-enablement/

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Teach kids how cool it is that engineers get to MAKE stuff! 

In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Randy Mees, the Director of Design, Transcatheter Heart Valves at Edwards Lifesciences. He shares how luck would bring him to the world of engineering and his early experiences with CAD and other tech.

Randy then talks about his approach to tool design and getting the input of operators to get their feedback. As an educator, Randy also discusses the need to get more young people into engineering and make the base skills in machining accessible starting at the high school level.

HUMANIZING MESSAGES

RANDY: Get the input of operators on your designs

"The other person who I felt was the most important was the operator. They're the ones that use my fixture for 8 hours a day and you want to design something for them that they're going to like. If they don't like it, if they're fighting a process, they're not going to have a good day, number one, and then they're probably not going to have a good product at the end of the day."

"So you want to give them something that they're going to like even better. You want to include them into that design process, bring them a prototype. We used to show the 3D model to them and say, what do you think? You think this is going to work? Get their input because they know it far better than I know it."

RANDY: Community colleges are very good for building engineering skills

"My suggestion again, because I'm a huge fan of community college, is to find the local community college. Oftentimes they have those 16-week [CAD or engineering] courses and build up that strength."

Get to know Randy and what he’s up to:

LinkedIn | Website

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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Finding validation in designing for the greater good of humanity   

In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Kevin Saginian, a mechanical engineer at Saratech. Kevin shares his unique experience of finishing college through the pandemic and the adaptability and motivation he needed to finish mechanical engineering.

He also gives his insights on how different school was compared to the real world of mechanical engineering where he gets to contribute his expertise for the greater good, such as his work on the Sierra Nevada Dreamchaser. He also gives advice to upcoming engineers on enjoying lab work because of how practical it is in actual engineering.

HUMANIZING MESSAGES

KEVIN: Working on the Sierra Nevada Dreamchaser is validating experience

"Finally touching something that was a part of something that big like the Sierra Nevada Dreamchaser, that was like my, oh man, whatever I'm doing in this field is usually going to be attached to something very prominent, like something very big for humanity. And that was really the validation I wanted for getting into this."

KEVIN: Keep an open mind on the lessons learned in class

"Just really open your mind to what it is you're learning. I feel like when I would get into a class or I'd be taking a class, I might initially be kind of stressed out at first glance, like oh my gosh, this is so technical, and just so worried about how am I going to get a good grade. But then, I would get through it and it'd be a stressful, difficult process, but then the next semester, I would look back at the textbook from that class and I'd be like, man, this wasn't so bad."

Get to know our guest, Kevin, and what he’s up to:

LinkedIn

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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PLM is not the same as deploying IT software   

In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Sassan Khoubyari, Senior Manager of PLM Solutions at Saratech. He explains that PLM is not just an IT initiative, but a business process transformation initiative that needs to be understood and executed by the CEO and other executives in order to be successful.

Sassan also discusses some misconceptions about PLM. For instance, PLM systems must be understood as a core part of business process transformation. He also cautions that implementing a PLM system will not automatically fix broken processes - it is only a tool to support a well-functioning workflow. Finally, Sassan defines what digital twin means and how it is implemented in a practical sense.

HUMANIZING MESSAGES

SASSAN: PLM must start small then grow into more integrated processes

"Sometimes we see that companies are trying to do too much at the same time altogether and that really put a lot of pressure on their organization because, as I said, the involvement of process owners, engineers on different levels, and integration between applications, are really key and important. So for that reason, we work with the organizations to put together a roadmap. It might be a 2-year or 3-year roadmap, and we walk them through what are the maturity levels that an organization can go through in PLM."

SASSAN: The concept of Digital Twin defined

"The concept of digital twin as actually defined by Dr. Michael Grieves back in 2003 and it's really about 3 main parts. It's about physical products in real space, virtual products in virtual space, and the connected data that tied the physical and virtual product together. So digital twin or virtual replicas of physical devices that are kind of bringing it together with your digital environments."

Get to know our guest, Sassan, and what he’s up to:

LinkedIn

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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Get it right the first time with design engineering   

In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Jed Bullwinkle, Director of Design Solutions at Saratech. Jed discusses the creativity needed to find the best possible solutions to solve a single design problem. 

He then takes a deep dive into his involvement with the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program and the advancement and complexity of CAD today. Lastly, Jed digs into the skills aspiring engineers need to be successful which include a holistic understanding of materials, sciences, and how one component affects the future state as a whole. 

HUMANIZING MESSAGES

JED: NX has now set the standard for CAD

"I got into NX, back in NX 4 so pretty early on, and it still had a lot of growing pains. There were a lot of things it needed to improve. And what happened was, along the way, NX grew exponentially." 

"Siemens did a great job of developing it. They listened, I think, to the issues that people were having, the designers were having, and they solved them."

JED: A career in engineering requires a bigger-picture perspective 

"I think just understanding that future state like you said, that DFMA, understanding holistically what that process looks like, and being able to think a little bit beyond just what's directly in front of you."

Get to know our guest, Jed, and what he’s up to:

LinkedIn

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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Smart robots bridge the gap in the manufacturing workforce  

In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Dr. Ariyan Kabir, Co-Founder, and CEO of GrayMatter Robotics. Ariyan combines available robot sensors and tools with their proprietary AI technologies to turn them into smart robotic assistants, a critical role given the increasing lack of skilled labor in manufacturing.

Ariyan discusses the concept of robots as a service, which is essentially hiring robots to do the work instead of people, primarily due to the lack of skilled workers available. He digs into how COVID created general awareness of the need for automation and how he and his company help create a better quality of life for people. 

HUMANIZING MESSAGES

ARIYAN: Robots let humans focus on higher-value work

"With the new technologies coming in and creating solutions to allow, let's say robots, to take care of the tedious... tasks, what's that doing is creating the new opportunity for humans to focus on high-level, higher evaluated task, and creative decision-making."

ARIYAN: People have a better quality of life by letting robots do the work

"What has COVID done is really helped everyone understand and embrace the concept of automation and the need to realize the need for automation. And what has it done also is helped people to think about what am I doing with my life and how should I be contributing and how can I have a better quality of life and contribute in a meaningful way." 

Get to know our guest, Ariyan, and what he’s up to:

LinkedIn | Website

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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THE EXCITING FUTURE OF 3D PRINTING

In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcome another 3D expert, Isabel Sanz-Ananos. Isabel is a 3D Category Business Manager at HP and will be talking to Andy about additive manufacturing technology, education, STEM, exciting projects, and the future of 3D printing.

HUMANIZING MOMENTS:

• Introducing Isabel Sanz-Ananos 
• What drove her interest in technology
• The gender gap in the industry
• Misconceptions about 3D printing today
• The innovation process of 3D
• How does 3D printing fit into the digital transformation process
• What’s coming down the pipeline in 3D printing

HUMANIZING MESSAGES:

ISABEL: Advice to companies without 3D processes yet

“I think the first thing is about education and getting exposure to what is available out there. Definitely go to events, for example, that are related to additive manufacturing, to see what are the use cases and how other companies are using that today…”

ISABEL: The importance of education

“If you really want to push the boundaries, like the example of things that we were mentioning before, you can like totally redesign and reconsider your concept to create something that can probably add some additional benefits that you didn't think about because you didn't know that it was possible. So that's why education is so important because it really opens and changes the mindset of what is possible to be done.”

Get to know our guest, Isabel, and what she’s up to:

Isabel Sanz-Ananos | HP | HP.com

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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From developments in  CAD and Siemens NX software to communicating between teams, there's a lot that goes through the Saratech Customer Support Team's day-to-day.

In this episode of The Human Side Of Engineering & Product Development, we are joined by Chad Evans, Technical Manager for the Customer Care Team at Saratech to talk about the increasing complexity of the software being used and how the team approaches customer support.

HUMANIZING MOMENTS:

• Chad's interest in engineering and how he went from the Air Force to Saratech
• Staying up-to-date with CAD and Siemens software
• The support team's approach to customer cases
• Chad's recommendations to avoid common issues in handling servers
• What administrators should pay attention to before implementing changes

HUMANIZING MESSAGES:

CHAD: Educating the team and learning at the same time

“I've been on the sales end of it, I've been on the user side of it, I've been on the design side which is good because I can interact with a lot of our salespeople too. And a lot of our salespeople will come to me directly and say 'I'm giving a proposal on this license, am I correct?' and that's where I can validate our sales teams.”

CHAD: Making the customers happy is the top priority

“We always wanna contact that customer within minutes, figure out the issue, and then move on. And then when we're done, we always send out a survey too because we want to make sure that we did the issue properly, our communication was fast, and that the customer's happy with our results.”

Get to know our guest, Chad, and what he’s up to:

• About Chad Evans 

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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Welcome to another episode of The Human Side Of Engineering & Product Development. In this episode, we welcome a guest who brings the best of both worlds, 3D printing technology, and medicine, Dr. Justin Ryan, Director of the 3D Lab at Rady Children’s Hospital.

HUMANIZING MOMENTS:

• Meet Justin Ryan, PhD, Director of the 3D Innovations Lab
• 3D technology really helped out during the pandemic
• Creating surgical models for doctors and surgeons before surgery
• Using 3D printing to create models of patients’ anatomy
• Daily challenges of the 3D Lab
• How far 3D technology can go
• Collaborations with the 3D manufacturers to give insights

HUMANIZING MESSAGES:

JUSTIN: Presenting 3D Tech as a viable tool in the hospital

“My previous experience is very much that where you were kind of fighting to prove this emergent technology as a viable tool. By the time I presented a plan here at Rady Children's, we had quite a few clinical champions who also wanted the technology. So they're very strong. Supporting agents for proposals and leadership quickly signed on.”

JUSTIN: The community working as one amidst the pandemic

“It was incredible seeing the community come together, we were all really, really focused on a lot of similar challenges. So we had these distributed communities where we're sharing CAD models, designs, and methods. So it was yeah, it was quite incredibly in one facet to see the greater scientific community come together to share information to overcome these common challenges.”

Get to know our guest, Justin, and what he’s up to:

Dr. Justin Ryan | Rady Children’s Hospital | rchsd.org

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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“I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER WHEN YOU LIVE HERE ANYMORE”

These are the words of Dr. Saeed Paydarfar’s daughter, Sara, that pushed him to the edge and decided to leave his job, and start a company of his own so he can spend more time with his family. Saeed is the CEO and Founder of Saratech. He will be sharing his engineering journey and how his human side gave life to Saratech, only here, in The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development podcast.

HUMANIZING MOMENTS:

• How Saeed became an engineer
• Doing surprising things for people and being creative
• Solving problems from angles that no one saw
• A data manager’s life in the 90s and early 2000s
• Delivering positivity to find the positivity
• Leaving his job to be with his family, and bringing Saratech to life

HUMANIZING MESSAGES:

Saeed: Data management, then and now

“We’re more about those process management, and being able to move information from team to team and making sure the information moves fast, accurately, the right, the right data, the right formats, all those things, that now becomes a much bigger challenge.”

Saeed: Find positivity in everything you do

“I think part of the reason people can be successful is if you really find a way to enjoy what you're doing both what you're doing, and with the people you're doing it, your career is going to be much better than if you're constantly complaining about things and complaining about people. So I find delivering that positivity is also an important way of finding the positivity and sticking with the positive stories.

Get to know our guest, Dr. Saeed, and what he’s up to:

Saeed Paydarfar, PhD

Learn more about our host and his Human Side:

Andy Deo | Saratech | Saratech.com

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