Video: Mold Design, Engineering and Virtual Learning

MoldMaking Technology Editorial Director Christina Fuges sits down virtually with co-host Ryan Delahanty, publisher of MMT, and several guests in the moldmaking industry to discuss hot topics, trends and challenges in 2020. Our guests in this session are moldmaking professional Don Smith, North American senior tooling manager for Scholle IPN (Northlake, Illnois) and Davide Masato, assistant professor of plastics, mold design and engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell). Both Don and Davide are also MMT Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) members. 

This “session … [is] more of a candid conversation about the changes in mold design and engineering, education and training over the years now, especially since COVID-19 hit, because as we all know, people and businesses and schools have all had to get creative, including going virtual,” says Christina Fuges. “So, our guests are going to share their insight and experience with mold design and engineering education.”

Some key highlights to tune into when watching this session:

• People learn in different ways. You have to adapt to how people learn (Davide shares his virtual mold design learning strategies) and create something that people will understand and feel free to ask questions about. The best way to learn is to try something, do it wrong and then fix it.
• Project planning is a lot nowadays. It’s sequential. Don’t look at the big picture, but break it down into individual steps and clarify the process. No matter what you do, everything can be defined in a process.
• The lean manufacturing methodology and mindset is that it is okay to fail, speak up and give feedback. Without that feedback we can’t correct the process.
• COVID-19 was a challenge across the board but it was also an opportunity to do something different, to explore new methods of teaching and communication. For teachers, there was more time to dedicate to students and more time students could dedicate to design work. The records of 2020 will be useful to help future students learn and grasp knowledge at their own pace off campus or on campus. It gives the ability to never stop learning.

Taken from the 2020 MMT IMTS Spark video series “What’s New and What Works in Mold Manufacturing,” this video session is number three of six sessions presented by Mobikin Technology on the IMTS Spark platform.

Additional related content includes:

• SPE ANTEC 2020’s engaging October conference, with identifying and testing innovative injection mold surface properties becoming an unexpected theme. 
• The history behind how Industry 1.0 became Industry 4.0.
• What tooling 4.0 is, and how to put it into practice.