learning curves

Moldflow Corporation and Western Michigan University - A Win/Win Partnership

By Cathleen Smith, Communications and Marketing Specialist, Western Michigan University

For nearly 20 years, a collaborative partnership has existed between Moldflow Corporation and Western Michigan University, a Carnegie doctoral/research extensive university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. One of only two Moldflow training facilities in the US is located on its campus. The Moldflow Center for Design Excellence is located in Kohrman Hall, the home of WMU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS), and it serves as a training facility for Moldflow’s North American customers, primarily in the use of Moldflow Plastics Insight® (MPI®) and Moldflow Plastics Advisers® (MPA®) software.

The History

Although the Moldflow Center for Design Excellence has only existed formally since 1998, Moldflow’s relationship with the college goes far beyond offering training classes on campus. This partnership stems from the early 1980s, when Jay Shoemaker, now Education Manager for Moldflow, was a recent WMU graduate and newly hired by Moldflow. Shoemaker maintained contact with Paul Engelmann, then part-time instructor and graduate student at WMU. Engelmann was appointed to teach a class in mold design and construction, and he asked Shoemaker to help him put together the instruction for the class. Because of the cutting-edge technology that Moldflow software offered, the college sent Engelmann to Bridgeport, CT, for training at Moldflow’s first US headquarters.

In the years that followed, Shoemaker and Engelmann teamed up to offer seminars in plastics part design at WMU. During some of these seminars, WMU’s plastics labs were used to demonstrate the predictive nature of Moldflow software. Engelmann could create a clear-plastic molded part and demonstrate what the software was simulating: the flow progression and stress concentrations that occurred during manufacturing. "Moldflow’s software has the ability to really identify what’s going on during the manufacturing of a part," says Engelmann.

Since then, Shoemaker has become an Adjunct Professor for the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and according to Engelmann, who is currently Interim Chair of the department, the majority of Moldflow training for WMU students is conducted by Shoemaker. Shoemaker is able to use the IME 459, Mold Design and Construction course as a test-bed for Moldflow training. Using the structure he has developed for training WMU students, Shoemaker is able to develop and refine training modules that are then sent on to other universities for Moldflow software training.

Jay Shoemaker (center), Education Manager for Moldflow Corporation, compares a plastic part to its on-screen design in the Moldflow Center for Design Excellence in WMU’s Kohrman Hall. Photo copyright Keith Mumma. Used by permission.

Collaborative Research Activities

Since the mid-1990s, Engelmann has led a team of researchers in the production of more-efficient molds using high-strength, high-thermal-conductivity copper alloys. Because the cooling relationship is difficult to predict mathematically, WMU has made its data available to Moldflow for its use in developing software.

Over 100 students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels have been involved in this research. The college’s requests have had some impact on the software, states Engelmann. Only a small handful of universities perform research that actually impacts Moldflow’s code.

Establishing the Moldflow Center for Design Excellence

After several years of offering Moldflow training at the college, a formal agreement was entered into early in 1998 to establish the Moldflow Center for Design Excellence. Although Moldflow had considered other locations for their training center, the company chose to establish the Center at WMU because of its long-standing relationship with the university. Both Engelmann and Michael Atkins, Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences, agree that Shoemaker was the catalyst for bringing the Center to WMU.

As part of the agreement, Moldflow donated $2.9 million worth of computer hardware and software to the college. The Center was originally equipped with five computer workstations and 25 seats of Moldflow analysis software. In addition to providing all the start-up equipment and expenses, the company also provided for annual maintenance costs. The Center currently houses seven workstations and Moldflow has contributed over $15 million to the College in software and hardware donations. Clients, including Cascade Engineering, Johnson Controls, Inc., Ford, General Motors, Dow Chemical and Motorola, can easily travel to the Center because Kalamazoo is geographically located near the center of the US plastics industry. As industry representatives come to WMU’s campus for Moldflow training, WMU students are able to see firsthand the importance of life-long learning.

The Center has served as a model for the College’s collaborative relationships with others. "Whenever we are contacted by a company for a possible collaborative relationship, we cite the Moldflow Center for Design Excellence as an example of a successful collaboration," states Atkins.

Looking to the Future

The College is preparing for a move this summer to its new home at the University’s Parkview Campus. In addition to space for the Moldflow Center for Design Excellence, the $72.5 million facility will feature instructional and research laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls, break-out rooms, distance learning classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, study space, and resource centers. The new building will house the greatly expanded plastics processing laboratory. This 8,000-square-foot facility has a 29-foot ceiling with a five-ton bridge crane to service the various molding cells. The laboratory has been designed to accommodate up to 625-ton molding presses. Furthermore, the floor in the crane area is constructed as a series of six isolation pads to facilitate concurrent research and instructional activities.

A new home for WMU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences is currently under construction on the University’s Parkview Campus. This new facility will house an 8,000-square-foot plastics processing laboratory.

The new engineering complex is located adjacent to the Business Technology and Research (BTR) Park. The BTR Park is home to high-tech companies in the areas of advanced engineering, life sciences and information technology. This proximity will allow for easy and frequent collaboration between students, researchers and businesses.

For more information about Western Michigan University and its College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, visit http://www.wmich.edu/engineer.