7.29.08--Nearly three years ago, executives from BMW’s manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, SC spoke with the local Spartanburg Community College’s Dave Just to address how the school could better serve its local manufacturing industry.
"Bascially, they needed mechatronic technicians,” said Just, the vice president of corporate and community education at Spartanburg Community College. “They said colleges were using outdated curriculum and equipment and that to better serve the local industry, they really needed to be updated to focus on advance technology like mechatronics.”
In response, this September a consortium of technical colleges in the South Carolina will launch a new advanced technology degree program in mechatronics.
Mechatronics is an interdisciplinary engineering field that encompasses embedded control, electronics and mechanical systems which can integrate product design and automated manufacturing processes. Because industrial applications are becoming more complex and involving more complicated technologies, industries need technicians with skills that span several engineering technician disciplines.
The colleges, Greenville Technical College, Piedmont Technical College, Spartanburg Community College, Tri-County Technical College and York Technical College are all located in upstate South Carolina where typical manufacturing jobs are turning to high-tech engineers and technicians.
All schools are working under a collaboration called TechReadySC, developed with a $2.5 million grant from AdvanceSC, the foundational arm of Duke Energy. As part of the new program, the five colleges use the same standardized curriculum that meet industry standards. Students are also trained on the same state-of-the-art mechatronics equipment from suppliers including Kuka Robot Group, Festo US learning Systems and Siemens.
Just said all five colleges will offer the same degree and curriculum, allowing students to transfer colleges as a way to ensure the upstate economy will see a strong turn out of mechatronic technicians.
While BMW was a help identifying a need for more mechatronic technicians, TeachReadySc has several business partners that have helped shape this program, AdvanceSC, Bosch, Fujifilm and Tyco. There are no formal agreements or guarantee that any of these students while in school or after will be given a job, says Just.
According to Just, 95 percent of the BWM plant is robotic. “You have to have people who know how to maintain and run robots—you need people who have a high-level skill set,” he says.
Earlier this year, BMW Manufacturing announced it would expand and invest $750,000 to build a new 1.2-million-square-foot assembly facility adjacent to the 1,150-acre campus’s original factory. This building will accommodate the next generation BMW X3 Sports Activity Vehicle. With completion of this construction, BMW's total investment in South Carolina is nearly $4.4 billion.
John Davidson worked at Spartanburg’s BMW plant before joining Greenville Tech as a Mechatronics Instructor and has been preparing the new program. He says earning a two-year technical degree in mechatronics can turn into a lucrative career for graduates.
“You can make $15 to $22 an hour to start and with some experience they can make more,” says Davidson. “Sometimes these graduates can make more than what someone with a four year degree can make.”
Davidson, who has an associates degree in electrical engineering worked at BMW for eight years, first as a maintenance technician and later as a manager. He says industrial technology has changed so much that students need to know how electrical, mechanical and software work together.
He says students need to learn controls, dc ac, electronics, mechanical, electrical, pneumatics, hydraulics, controllers and how they all merge together.
"You need to have all these skills – this is what the industry wants,” says Davidson.
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5th batch of Mercedes-Benz Automotive Mechatronics apprentices graduate from Mercedes-Benz Malaysia�fs Apprentice Training Centre
Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Apprentice Training Centre (ATC) honoured its 5th batch of Mercedes-Benz Automotive Mechatronics graduates in a ceremony at The Saujana Kuala Lumpur recently. The 25 apprentices who successfully completed the 3-year Mercedes-Benz Automotive Mechatronics Programme represent a select group of highly skilled individuals who have been trained in complex areas involving Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz produces some of the world�fs most technologically-advanced vehicles and this demands specially trained technicians to oversee and ensure that every aspect of its vehicle from its intricate electronics, safety and performance standards to its performance levels are always at its peak. ATC graduates fulfill this need and play a vital role in the company�fs customer service set up ensuring Mercedes-Benz standards are maintained at all times and customers continue to enjoy the Mercedes-Benz experience. �@
Through the Mercedes-Benz Automotive Mechatronics Programme, talented young individuals are given the opportunity to develop their passion for cars into rewarding automotive engineering careers. The highly-trained ATC graduates will be based at selected Mercedes-Benz Malaysia dealerships nationwide ensuring the company�fs dealers�f network is equipped with the necessary resources to provide customers the best service for their vehicles.
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Volkswagen DSG – 6 Speed Mechatronic Control Unit
Clutches and gearbox units are operated hydraulically. This function is performed by the gearbox mechatronics, housed in the DSG. The term “mechatronics” is derived from a combination of mechanics and electronics. And this is exactly how the mechatronics module is structured: the electronic transmission control unit, various sensors and the hydraulic control unit form one compact unit.
The control unit uses information such as engine speed, road speed, accelerator position and driving mode to select the optimum gear and to determine the ideal shift point. The hydraulic control unit then implements the shift commands in a complex sequence of individual, precisely coordinated actions.
Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH, headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany – an international supplier of electronic chassis components for the automotive industry – employs Ultradur® B4300, a BASF polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), in the manufacture of the integrated control unit for its new double-clutch transmission. The transmission control unit is a sophisticated, compact mechatronic component installed directly on the gearbox, meaning that it is immersed in hot trans-mission oil. Two variants of this BASF plastic offer the requisite high-temperature and chemical resistance. This innovative automatic transmission – serially produced at VW for the first time in 2003 – has now found its way into the Golf, Touran, Passat, Jetta and the new Eos models.
Two clutches – eleven sensors – one control unit
The double-clutch transmission consists of two subgearboxes, each with its own clutch, that work together to shift the gears. The integrated electronic control unit that Temic developed for this transmission comprises 11 sensors and 11 actuators (e.g. valves) in one single component whose main function is to open one of the clutches and to close the other at the right moment. This results in smooth shifting without interruption of the tractive force. The electronic unit processes the sensor signals, measures the rpm’s, the speed and the load on the transmission, ascertains the positions of the mechanical components and electromagnetically operates the valves and slides of the hydraulic gear mechanism.
Such highly integrated mechatronic parts are only possible with the use of high-performance engineering plastics: Only a material that can be freely shaped is able to protect the electronic components while combining actuation and sensor technology in an extremely small space and in a single part. The wiring is simplified, the number of cables and plugs is drastically reduced, and interfaces are rendered unnecessary, thus yielding a component that is small, lightweight and reliable.
One plastic – two uses
Ultradur® B4300, a PBT made by BASF, fulfils a number of mechatronic functions in the control unit produced by Temic. The standard variant, B4300G6, containing 30 percent glassfibres, has all of the mechanical and chemical properties, for instance, dimensional stability, needed to withstand hot transmission oil. Semiconductor sensors secured in place with this plastic must not shift their position, even when exposed to high temperatures and oil. In contrast, type B4300K6, which is reinforced with glass beads, has to be highly isotropic, so that no oil can get into the structures. The Swoboda company located in Wiggensbach in the Allgäu region of Germany is in charge of the injection moulding of this plastic.