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In March 2000, Professor Vito Leo, Ph.D. (Brussels,
Belgium), established the Brussels Injection Molding Sessions
(BIMS-Seminars) business. BIMS-Seminars provides seminars
based on Leo's 20+ years' experience in the injection molding
and plastics industry and what he says is a real need for
non-traditional training. His seminar called "Understanding
Injection Molding of Thermoplastics — The Key to Optimum Plastics
Part Design," provides an explanation of the mechanics and
physics behind plastic injection molding processes. Leo is
a physicist by training and has extensive experience in polymer
processing. He is particularly active in the field of injection
molding of thermoplastics and the use of thermoplastic finite-element
numerical simulation.
"During my career at Solvay as a Principal
Scientist at the Brussels-based company," says Leo, "I realized
that there was a real need for a seminar that thoroughly explains
some very complex phenomenon in fairly simple terms. People
are extremely interested in attending this kind of seminar.
It's not traditional injection molding training. It's not
flow analysis training. It's not pure theory. I really try
to fill a gap. People have real problems every day. How do
they solve them? For many, it's been years since they graduated
from their university. They may know a little bit about plastics,
or they may know a lot. However, they don't have time to investigate
rheology details and thermodynamics of polymers, crystallization
and other complex issues.
"For me, there are clearly two very separate
worlds when it comes to plastics professionals — those who
make products but don't know physics fundamentals, and those
who work in institutes or universities who are very interested
in fundamental work or equations but don't know much about
real life and real problems in injection molding. So, my material
fits between these two entities," adds Leo.
As a result of this unique approach, Dr.
Leo has attracted a diverse range of seminar attendees in
the nearly two years he's been in business. The seminars generally
attract engineers, designers, and shop floor operators. However,
university students and professors attend them as well. "They
all seem to take added value back to their workplaces after
a seminar," says Leo.
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Each two-day BIMS-Seminar includes the use
of Moldflow Plastics Insight (MPI) software to show MPI/Flow,
MPI/Cool, MPI/Shrink, and MPI/Warp. "I always envisioned Moldflow
as part of the seminar because of its valued use over the
years at Solvay," notes Leo. "The software is very useful
to understand the process and the complex physics behind the
analysis even though the accuracy of some predictions is not
always perfect. It's an extremely useful tool to assess, for
instance, the relative importance of various contributions
in the warpage trend you predict with a given part."
Upon initiating his seminar business, Leo
agreed not to use any Solvay resources or provide any proprietary
Solvay information as part of any BIMS seminar. He relies
on MPI software to build examples to illustrate the ideas
discussed at the seminar. To make sure attendees get useful
practical information, he asks known Moldflow consultants
(NKT Research in Denmark and Promold in France) to conduct
an evening session based on case stories at the end of the
first training day.
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The BIMS-Seminars offer a complete description of the
physics behind injection molding. "I try to clearly show the relationship
between material structure and the problems users can encounter in
injection molding. The seminar includes extensive descriptions of
amorphous, crystalline, filled and unfilled materials. Also, I try
to show how different these four classes of materials can behave with
respect to filling, packing, shrinkage and warpage. The very different
behavior of glass-fiber-filled polymers compared to unfilled plastics
is striking. Understanding the physics of these composite materials
is the only way to design good parts and optimize the molding process,"
adds Leo.
He started his business with a private seminar at
Nokia in Finland where 30 attended — 20 designers and some of their
subcontractors such as molders. Leo noted, "There was a lot of positive
response as a result of that session. Some attendees said it was
the best seminar they ever attended in the field of injection molding."
BIMS completed six seminars in 2000 and seven in
2001. Many were held in Scandinavia because of the strong mobile-phone
industry interest and the training strategy as a whole in the northern
European countries. A Danish institute organized five BIMS-Seminars
in Denmark. BIMS-Seminars also organized two public seminars in
Brussels and Paris, and the first Italian seminar is scheduled for
Spring 2002. Overall, about 210 people have attended the seminars
so far.
Leo uses Moldflow during his seminars, not because
he is trying to sell the product, but because it's an extension
of what he is trying to explain. "It's important to understand the
assumptions on which any software package is based," says Leo. "A
lot of the commentary during the seminar is about the physics behind
the present state of the art in simulation and why, under certain
circumstances, its capabilities may be limited. MPI is definitely
helpful."
Leo says that he promotes extremely useful tools.
He adds, "As soon as you can understand the trends, and trace the
physics as to why you are experiencing a particular problem, then
Moldflow will be extremely useful. However, you need to understand
the fundamentals first."
He relates that when he trained the staffers at
a large Finnish company, some of those in attendance claimed they
didn't really want to understand the software. They just wanted
the software to do the work for them. "That is exactly what I am
fighting against," adds Leo. "The point I try to make is that you
don't need to have a Ph.D. to understand the physics. But you might
need someone who has a Ph.D. to explain it to you. That's what these
seminars and I are all about."
As a result of the seminars at Nokia, Ericsson,
and Bang & Olufsen, Leo says that designers have a much better understanding
of the process. Flow analysts in these companies are using Moldflow
much more effectively. He says, "Since the seminar at Ericsson,
the company purchased a Moldflow license. I can't claim that's because
of my seminar. However, I am pretty convinced that my contribution
must have been important because they came away from the seminar
feeling that even though the software isn't perfect, it will be
very useful if you understand what you're doing."
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Apparently, people from all over Europe are
happy to find all this information within a single framework
of one seminar presented in a consistent way. Leo says the
enthusiasm for more seminars in more locations is growing
despite a tight worldwide economy.
"As companies strive to work smarter in a
challenging economic environment, they realize that doing
better quality work up front is very important," adds Leo.
"Taking a serious approach to conducting simulation relates
to reducing costs. Error-riddled and expensive prototypes
can be eliminated. I have first-hand experience with this
phenomenon at Solvay using Moldflow.
"Recently, we experienced a slow-down in sales
due to the general economic trend. However, during that same
timeframe, we had a strong increase in Moldflow simulation
requests. So even though sales are lagging, people are busy
preparing for the future, trying to develop parts with better,
more cost-effective designs at a faster rate. And with the
right training, Moldflow is a perfect way to do just that."
While the seminars are a completely separate
business from his work at Solvay, Leo says that the sessions
work in favor of the plastics business as a whole. "I am just
trying to increase the level of understanding of the process
that I believe can only benefit the industry as a whole. Concurrent
engineering will prevail when all the involved parties speak
the same language and share a common knowledge base."
For more information about BIMS-Seminars,
to view a complete list of customers to date, or to arrange
a session, visit www.bims-seminars.com
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News Flash
The first edition of Flowfront
was a big hit at the Office of Continuing Engineering
Education at the University of Chicago at Urbana-Champaign.
Professor Jonathan Dantzig of the Department of Mechanical
and Industrial Engineering will be using Flowfront as
part of his teaching materials. Notably, Professor Dantzig
will use information in the first edition for teaching
engineering students in his class called "Modeling in
Materials Processing," Mechanical Engineering 351, which
began in the fall semester of 2001 and continues through
the spring semester of 2004.
At the school, engineering
course lectures and course materials such as lecture
notes, assigned readings, and handouts are made available
to registered University of Chicago students over the
Internet. The school will be making Flowfront available
to students as a reference to the lead story "Introducing
Moldflow Plastics Insight 3.0.”
This unique approach to
providing engineering students with valuable, real world
information about state-of-the-art technology will help
students gain insight to how innovative software products
and methodologies are being used in product development
today. This is a great example of how partnering industry
with academia can enrich learning and strengthen undergraduate
skills as preparation for real-world application of
their knowledge and attaining excellent positions after
graduation.
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