Today I went with James Glenn, President of Dynasoft, to the Introduction to Engineering class at the Blacksburg High School. James is spending this week with the class to reach out to our students and encourage them to consider engineering as a career. This morning he began by talking about the different careers available to those that pursue an industrial engineering degree. His real-world examples were key to engaging the students. He showed them examples of common software tools, and rather than present a bunch of unfamiliar product logos, he ran some simulations so they could see what the tools were really all about. He finished today by talking about value stream mapping, and how analyzing any process by dividing it into steps that add value, and steps that don’t, helps companies streamline things like the product assembly of a BMW dashboard or the teller services of a bank. 

Today they will learn how to use his software tool, IMPACTLean, which does value stream mapping, financial analysis, and generates all kinds of goodies in the way of charts and graphs. Then they will become their own consultants, and use the tool to analyze the process of sorting marbles by color in two different ways: first by hand, then by the automated marble sorters they created in class. By adding some cost estimations for hourly labor and for capital equipment, they will see for themselves how businesses make decisions and gain insight into some of the costs of the products they use every day.

When we first met Jim Irby, who teaches the class, we were absolutely blown away by the videos he showed of marble sorters in operation from previous years. I’m not sure I can accurately convey how impressed I am with a public school that offers this course, and with the students in it. I can’t wait until some of these kids find their way to a job with us.