Engineering degree 4.0 – Siemens provides university with comprehensive software package

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is a public university which offers its students approximately 250 different courses in the fields of engineering and technology, as well as medicine and dentistry. For the field of engineering, IUPUI has developed a unique curriculum so that students can study the digitalization of the system engineering process. To achieve this, the university uses solutions from the Siemens Digital Industries software portfolio which has increased student uptake in this area. This modern solution benefits students by providing technology which allows them to learn how to develop real products.

Students use NX to produce a 3D model of a skateboard.

Siemens has provided IUPUI with a range of software solutions, including the Teamcenter product lifecycle management system software as well as NX, a CAD/CAM/CAE system (extended version). Simcenter Amesim, Simcenter Star-CCM+ and Heeds Nastran (for use with finite element methods) as well as Tecnomatix, including the Plant Simulation, Jack software, and Process Simulate simulation applications have also been included. After receiving the software package, the university established the Initiative for Product Lifecycle Innovation (IPLI) institute with the aim of this becoming a center of excellence in model-based engineering.

The entire material flow is visualized on Tecnomatix Plant Simulation.

Uniting theory and practice
IPLI has developed a simulation testbed which uses Siemens solutions together with applications from third-party providers. This allows the students to learn at a high level how data exchange and digital product development work. Teamcenter is used here not just to manage the project and its development. The software also allows students to learn about PLM workflows and configuration management. Course leaders are convinced that these study programs improve students’ ability to combine the practical with the theoretical, and to develop real-life products using this knowledge. To this end, the curriculum covers the entire product development process – from system architecture modelling, via the system architecture of a multi-domain simulation, to multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization.

Competitive and practical
IUPUI’s curricula and study programs aim to present both the university and its students in the best and most attractive possible light for industry. The university is therefore planning to establish a simulator for digital businesses which will be able to demonstrate the optimum development process for modern products.

Process design and validation is completed using the Tecnomatix Process Simulate solution.

The system simulation model is generated using Simcenter Amesim.