young engineers

Welcome! Welcome to the first episode of our new Mini-Series of Fireside Chats in Collaboration with Indian Racing League Official. In this miniseries we will get you many stories and behind the scenes and track the upcoming F4 Championship and Indian Racing League.

In this episode we discuss the inspiration behind starting the F4 Championships in India with special guest Akhilesh Reddy, is the brains behind it all. We highlight the lack of opportunities in Indian motorsports and the goal of creating street circuits in multiple cities. We talk about the affordability aspect of the championships, offering discounted seats and scholarships for Indian drivers. We also touch on initiatives for gender equality and supporting young engineers and mechanics. Stay tuned for more exciting stories and updates on the IRL podcast.

Follow The Indian Racing League at: Indian Racing League Official (@indianracingleagueofficial)

We hope you enjoy this new mini-series! 

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Music

Intro: Howling (Sting) - Gunnar Olsen
Outro: Your Intro by Audionautix

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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