Reflections on Attending an SAWE International Conference
There are still many Canada Chapter members that have never participated in an international conference for various reasons. Hopefully, the comments made by two of our newer members, Chandan and Lindsay, will give you more reasons to pursue this opportunity in the future!
Introduction
Chandan Deol and Lindsay Johnston both work for Robert Allan Ltd, a naval architecture and marine engineering firm located in Vancouver, BC. They have been involved in developing tools to improve the weights process for about 3 years now. Both were first time attendees at the SAWE International Conference held in Norfolk, Virginia May 18-23, 2019. They have shared their thoughts on the conference and the benefits of attending.
What were the major highlights? What surprised you the most?
Major Highlights: Meeting engineers from other industries and finding commonalties in our problems and solutions. For example, the issue of trusting supplier data is common to the marine and aeronautics industries. One of the common solutions across the industries finds its foundation in statistics and more specifically, regression analysis. As a consequence, the problem of formulating and filtering the independent variables is also common to the different disciplines. This filtering process, which forces weight engineers to put their data investigation hats on, is one of the most interesting and fulfilling parts of the process.
Additional Highlights: Hearing weights related stories, both old and new, from veteran and junior engineers was very entertaining. Seeing the variety of different industries represented and the scale difference between our projects and others even within the same industry.
Most Surprising: The use of 3D models to calculate weights, CG’s, and other properties is common but the methods of separating the systems and their respective components, the types of information to include and exclude in the models, and the definitions of common weights properties has not been agreed upon by the builders, suppliers, operators, or owners.
Any papers/presentations that were beneficial?
Applications of Basic Parametric Methods by Douglas Fisher and Methods of Determining Parametric Equations from Data with a Worked Example by David Hansch were very useful. This was because they not only confirmed that our approach at Robert Allan Ltd. was going in the right direction, but also introduced us to certain facets of the methodology we weren’t aware of. For example, going from a single variable parametric analysis to a multivariable analysis requires the designer to pay attention to additional statistical markers. Unfortunately, we were unable to stay for the final day of the conference and it sounds like we missed several other interesting papers.
Can you provide feedback on the training that you took and those that are still available to you?
The training course we attended was titled Marine Vehicle Weight Estimating Methodology and it was taught by David Hansch. David was very knowledgeable, approachable, and professional. The course provides a good overview of the various methods utilized in calculating weights and CG’s. We were able to compare the methods presented with the methods we are currently using for weight estimating and gave us ideas for improvement. Furthermore, David provided examples of each of the approaches to really bring home the concepts. There were several worked examples incorporated into the course as well. Course notes along with a number of useful technical papers and reports were provided by David at the end of the course.
What are the benefits of having various opportunities to network with others?
There is of course a myriad of advantages to networking with other weight engineers. I find one of the most rewarding is having access to several mentors who are more than willing to share technical and practical advice whenever it’s needed. On a similar note, being in touch with others in the field that are facing the same types of technical issues as you are is also obviously advantageous. By working together, we can make our products and processes safer and keep the public’s safety at the forefront.
Why you would recommend other members to attend future conferences?
The conference is a good balance of work and play. There are numerous social activities that allows you to get to make new contacts. It is interesting to learn about the techniques and methods used by designers in other industries and consider how they could be applied to your work. It is also a great way to get more connected with your own chapter members and put a face to a name. The training and technical tracks provide ideas and techniques that can applied to improve the quality of your work. After the conference, we can take the knowledge we have learned and share it with the rest of our colleagues at work.
Can you outline how you gained support to attend the conference?
Our managers encourage us to look for opportunities for training and presentation opportunities. After seeing several emails for this year’s conference and reading though the training courses offered, we picked out two courses that we felt would be useful for the work we do. We brought up the idea with management and they agreed that the training courses sounded useful for the work we do and asked for a budget for the trip. There was some back and forth with the technical manager of weights engineering and we reduced the trip length and chose only one of the courses. Then the budget was sent to upper management and our request was approved. Robert Allan Ltd. provided us with the funding to attend the conference. I strongly believe they made the correct decision.
The 2019 SAWE International Conference on Mass Properties Engineering was a resounding success. The quality technical papers, presentations, training, and workshops that are consistently available to all SAWE members are a credit to the association and its leadership. Thank you to the Hampton Roads Chapter for hosting another excellent conference!
Please feel free to contact any of your chapter board members to see how you can get involved at future international and regional conferences. Also, attend our future chapter teleconferences to find out more ways to benefit from your membership!
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