Alenia Spazio Uses CATIA and ENOVIA in the Development of the International Space Station

Alenia Spazio is the major European contractor for the International Space Station and is building nearly half of the pressurized elements.

The engineering activities are performed using CATIA and ENOVIA Solutions has been selected to manage its configured digital mockup process for the design and manufacturing of subsystems of the Space Station. Alenia Spazio engineers will use CATIA and ENOVIA to manage the Crew Rescue Vehicle's (CRV) virtual product development. The CRV is a space shuttle like vehicle that enables crewmembers to return to Earth in the event of an emergency.

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Education is NOT Training

I was in an ERP program launch meeting the other day, when the topic of skill transfer hit the silver screen. The bullet point said "Training, Training, Training" followed by, "and still more training". One of my colleagues spoke up, and said he disagreed with the emphasis on training, which naturally caused a lot of mumbles and raised eyebrows. "Training" he said, pausing for emphasis, "is what you do for an animal, education" he continued, "is what you need for intelligent beings."

Pause and reflect on that notion for a minute, and you can hardly disagree, that many of the highly skilled and motivated individuals in the world can be described as highly trained. You can understand this as the distinction between knowing what button to push from knowing why the button should be pushed and when is the correct time. This is an art form that is becoming lost in the professional societies, and is perhaps a sign of failure in the foundation programs available to people today.

The Fall 2001 conference in Orlando, Florida, will debut The COE Education Center. This will become a standard fixture at COE, and become a central focal point and starting place for all forms of CATIA, ENOVIA, and Delmia education. Recognizing that there will be many different reasons for attending, from curiosity and introductions, to feasibility and in depth knowledge, we will be building a foundation for whatever your particular purposes in participating may be. Some of you may be asking: "Foundation? You mean there is more?" Stay tuned, as The COE Education Center will be building on this foundation in the future.

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