“These are first-class, display-type trailers that you often see used by professional race-car teams,” Barsamian said. “They are fully equipped with beautifully carpeted and lighted interiors, electric handicap lifts, heating and air conditioning and even their own power generators.”
The CAD/CAM Lab has long offered its instruction at locations other than NIAR, but until now, it has been only for businesses that have already made investments in onsite training lab equipment and licenses, said Ehrstein, director of the CAD/CAM Lab.
“The problem with training labs is that, unless you have a group of people that you need to get through over an extended period of time, it’s a lot of effort,” he said. “If you just have eight people that need to be trained at any one time—if you’re not doing a major training overhaul, if you’re doing it program by program—then you just need a temporary location."
“That’s where the advantage comes in with the truck,” Ehrstein said. “You can park it in someone’s parking lot and offer training to them without them having to drive an hour to get somewhere.”
To start, the CAD/CAM staff will use the mobile training lab primarily to teach existing clients in the California area. Eventually, though, they may hit the road in other directions as well to serve clients throughout the United States.
The mobile lab, still in final stages of layout design, will likely hold at least a dozen students and computer workstations—a standard number for CAD/CAM courses. The trailers should be road-ready by the end of March.
“When we’re done, we’ll have the capabilities for every class that we offer here, inside the truck,” Ehrstein said.
Course subjects offered by the CAD/CAM Lab include 3-D modeling, simulation and manufacturing.
Eventually, Ehrstein said the CAD/CAM Lab will likely seek out grants to help them take the mobile classroom’s technology into remote areas. For now, they will enjoy being able to offer their sought-after training in more places than they could before.
“It doesn’t change what we actually do; it just gives us a different avenue to do it in,” Ehrstein said. “Instead of being restricted to people having to come to a brick-and-mortar location, we can offer training anywhere. All we need is a parking lot.”
For more information, call Ehrstein at (800) 642-7978 or email shawn.ehrstein@wichita.edu.
The National Institute for Aviation Research is a prestigious state-of-the-art aerospace research and development laboratory with global reach and expertise in research, design, testing, and certification. The Institute’s clientele includes many of the world’s aerospace manufacturers, NASA and the FAA. It is the largest aviation R&D academic institution in America. The National Institute for Aviation Research is an unincorporated division of Wichita State University.
