Training Courses

"Michael seems to have vast, widely varied experience. Where the audience was somewhat diverse in experience, he managed to present examples relevant to each core group."

--Eric Fortner, Senior Design Engineer at Caterpillar

Rather than just the language of GD&T, we teach the reasoning behind it so your engineers and shop can understand how, when, and why to add marking to prints without copying errors from one print to the next. In our training and in our work, we use GD&T as a way to communicate functional requirements, not as an end unto itself.

Classes are available for teams as well as groups of individuals. Class sizes are flexible, generally 10-20 students with 1-2 instructors. Please contact us for details, pricing, and to see if there is already a class scheduled near you.

All our classes are valuable for engineers and many are also applicable for detailers and shop floor workers. This saves your company and engineers time by closing the gap between engineering and manufacturing.

Once trained, your company will benefit from a more efficient, higher quality development cycle and your engineers will know how, where, and why to apply Sensitivity-Based Design, variation and sensitivity analysis, and GD&T. Of course, we are always happy to help with any tricky, interesting, or exciting challenges you encounter.

Sensitivity-Based Design Classes

How to Embed
Goal: Ensure your company’s design process embeds quality with a high-level understanding of Sensitivity-Based Design processes as well as how and where to incorporate tools.
Content: This class lays out a path for integrating Sensitivity-Based Design into your company to proactively improve quality of designs instead of reacting to problems at the production stage. The focus is on refining your product development cycle, building and developing process alignment, and cultivating expertise within your company. Key concepts:
  • The elements of Sensitivity-Based Design and who should be involved.
  • How, where, and the value of refining your current design process by integrating Sensitivity-Based Design.
  • How Sensitivity-Based Design integrates with other design-analysis processes.
  • How to develop expertise, select the right people, and embed Sensitivity-Based Design into your processes.
Audience: Engineering and quality managers, engineers, Process Managers, Six Sigma Black Belts, process champions
Duration: 2 hour introduction. 1st stage evaluation: 1-2 weeks, then custom-tailored to your company's needs.

Sensitivity Analysis
Goal: Predict performance variation through multi-physics variation analysis. This class is the capstone of Sensitivity-Based Design training.
Content: Learn the principles behind calculating sensitivity of measurements to variations in systems. Learn and practice how to calculate and estimate sensitivities in tolerance stacks, then how changes to geometry and dimensioning scheme can affect sensitivities and variations.
Key concepts:
  • Sensitivity and how it interacts with variation
  • Using changes in sensitivity to create better designs
  • Applying sensitivity to tolerance stacks
Audience: Design and product engineers, fixture designers, manufacturing engineers
Prerequisites: Knowledge of tolerance stacks and of GD&T language and application.
Duration: 3 days

Dimensional Management
Goal: Correctly and deliberately communicate functional requirements of parts and assemblies, building on an understanding of GD&T symbols and formatting.
Content: Learn to use form, fit, and function to create dimensioning schemes that reflect engineering intent. This class teaches you how to determine the critical functional requirements of a system and communicate the requirements through the appropriate application of GD&T. It introduces the principle of sensitivity. This is critical information for GD&T as a useful communication tool -- the missing link in many GD&T curricula.
Key concepts:
  • Consequences of GD&T in manufacturing and inspection.
  • How to choose an optimal datum scheme.
  • How to apply standard GD&T patterns to multiple types of components.
  • How to choose GD&T callouts and references using the form-fit-function doctrine
Audience: Design, product, and manufacturing engineers; detailers; fixture designers.
Prerequisites: Knowledge of the language and grammar of GD&T.
Duration: Typically 3 days. Course tailored to company requirements.

Tolerance Stacks
Goal: Create, solve and interpret tolerance stacks using worst-case and statistical methods.
Content: Develop an understanding of the combined, quantitative effect of component variation on critical measurements in your systems. Then learn how to make design or tolerance changes to reduce measurement variation within acceptable levels. This class is taught through examples tailored to prepare you for the most common real-world problems.
Key concepts:
  • When to use a 1-D, 1.5-D, or 3-D tolerance stack.
  • How to perform 1-D and 1.5-D stacks.
  • Where to measure to effectively analyze a problem.
  • How to create a correct vector loop.
  • A system for tabulating and calculating vector variation.
  • How to calculate using statistical and worst case methods.
  • How and when to include GD&T in the stack.
Audience: Design and product engineers, Detailers, Manufacturing engineers, fixture designers.
Prerequisites: Knowledge of the language and grammar of GD&T, basic arithmetic.
Duration: 3 days.

GD&T Foundation Classes

Basic GD&T
Goal: Learn the symbols, decode simple GD&T.
Content: This class is an introduction to GD&T for engineers or others with technical background. Understand the elements of GD&T, its reasons for existence, basic definitions, and methods. Learn how to use common controls.
Key concepts:
  • What GD&T accomplishes and why it exists.
  • Understanding datums.
  • Common controls: profile, true position, parallelism, perpendicularity, and flatness.
  • Formatting, definitions and best practices.
Audience: Engineers, managers, machinists, drafters, technicians, purchasers, and assemblers - anyone who interacts with engineering prints.
Duration: 3 days.

Advanced GD&T
Goal: Develop the ability to decode and correct advanced GD&T.
Content: This class continues beyond the basic class, covering definitions and use of the full range of GD&T controls. Learn patterns, datum mobility, and refinements, in addition to advanced controls.
Key concepts:
  • Definitions and uses of all GD&T controls.
  • Meaning, effect and proper use of material modifiers and multisegment controls.
  • How patterns interact with GD&T.
  • Advanced controls: angularity, concentricity, cylindricity, roundness, run-out, total run-out, and straightness.
Audience: Engineers, managers, machinists, drafters, technicians, purchasers, and assemblers - anyone who interacts with engineering prints.
Duration: 2 days.

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