Meetings

The Final Trans-national Project Meeting (9th) at the partner institution

The 9th and the last International Project meeting of the DIG-MAN Erasmus + project “Integration of digital tools into product development and manufacturing education” took place on April 29 in Tartu Estonia. The meeting was organized in hybrid mode. Were participants from Lithuania and Norway were present at the facilities of the Estonian University of Life Sciences. Colleagues from Italy and Poland participated remotely via the ZOOM on-line meeting environment.

The meeting was held parallel with the final day of the Joint Learning Activity. In general, it was considered to be a success and had plenty of positive feedback from the participants. All partners contributed their share to the implementation of the event.

The project team continues to pursue the goals set for OUTPUT 3, especially concerned with the task of piloting the workbook exercises, using them as e-learning materials etc.

Getting closer to the project end partners have decided to look ways for continuing the cooperation as it has been a great and effective experience to all participants.

8th Trans-national DIG-MAN Erasmus + project meeting at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design

The DIG-MAN Erasmus + project “Integration of digital tools into product development and manufacturing education” team of KTU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design held the 8th international meeting on February 17-18, which took place in hybrid mode. We received participants from Estonia and Norway, colleagues from Italy and Poland this time participated remotely. During the meeting, we had excellent conditions to present our institution live to our partners, as the previously organized meeting in Kaunas took place virtually. Colleagues were interested in getting acquainted with a wide variety of study fields and programs, as well as programs taught in English. In the visited laboratories, the participants had the opportunity to make sure that KTU partners have all the conditions to develop the activities of the DIG-MAN project.

During the project, 20 exercises prepared for the study process were created. The project participants started using them in the study process. In the autumn semester, students of the Industrial Engineering and Management and Mechatronics programs at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design successfully completed one of the tasks developed in the DIG-MAN project. We are currently conducting a survey of students, during which we will find out students' opinions about the tasks and the possibilities of their implementation. The questionnaire was prepared by project partners from Italy (Centoform).

On the second day of the visit, a meeting of the project Steering committee was organized with the participation of representatives of all organizations. Project coordinator Tõnu Lemmet briefly presented the work already done and outlined the main activities for the rest of the project. Despite the pandemic that occurred during the project, the activities planned in the project application were carried out on time, which was especially appreciated by the members of the steering committee.

Two important activities are planned for the future and are likely to crown the success of the project. This is a training of students from all institutions at the coordinator's university, during which 5 international student teams will solve the tasks created in the project. Social and team building activities will also be organized during the training. The project colleagues decided to start the student selection procedure in each institution separately. The next event is a summary and publicity of the project activities in an event open to business partners and other higher education institutions in each project institution.

We hope that the results of the project will meet the expectations of companies and allow to meet the challenges of digitalization of the industry.

DIG-MAN 7th Transnational Meeting in Stavanger, Norway 3-5 November 2021

 

What a great pleasure it was to see and meet the “team mates” in person after such a long time! It was right after the trans-national project meeting no 2 in Poland February 2020 when everything was closed down due to the global pandemic situation. As the situation has been improved a little the project partners decided to have an in-person meeting for a while.

 

University of Stavanger as the name implies is situated right in the neighborhood of the city of Stavanger. Both of which stand right at the coast of the North Sea. University itself is a relatively young establishment founded at the beginnings of the 1980s. Specialties given at the university range from mechanical engineering till nursery and the hotel management in between.

 

The focus of the project meeting was set on the preparation of the upcoming events. The original project plan foresees multiplier events to take place at each partner organization in spring 2022. Right before the project period there will be a learning and teaching event held in Tartu, Estonia. Strategic planning had to be conducted on how to organize and disseminate the information about those events.

As the project results are close to completion, the partners discussed on matters of how to finalize and publish the materials of the first two outputs. Partners from UiS laid down a specific plan on how to how to approach and solve necessary actions for the activities of output 3.

 

DIG-MAN 6th Transnational Meeting in Rzeszów, Poland 21st May 2021 (conducted on-line)

The 6th Transnational Project Meeting (TPM) was hosted by the Rzeszów University of Technology and concerned the following main topics:

Discussion on the reviews regarding IO1 result (Guide for Teachers).

Discussion on the new chapter in the Guide concerning distance learning.

Discussion on the progress of Workbook for Students (IO2).

 

The participants decided about:

The continuation of work in O1/A3 (the final completion of work in several months).

The continuation of work in Output 2 and Output 3.

 

The most urgent administrative matters were also discussed (e.g. amendments, budget shifts).

 

The event was merged with the seminar for students of partner universities. The students and teachers presented how they use different digital tools within the ProDeM lessons and projects of students’ scientific groups.

 

According to project application the Transnational project meeting no 7 is planned in September 2021. Whether or not this can be conducted in the form of physical meeting is impossible to estimate at the current time. However, participants suppose that the meeting will be a stationary event."

 

DIG-MAN 5th Transnational Meeting in Cento, Italy 18^th February 2021 (conducted on-line)  

On 18^th February 2021 DIGMAN project partnership organised the 5th Transnational Project Meeting online via webex hosted by Centoform s.r.l. It was attended by 11 partners: 1 from University of Stavanger (Norway), 1 from University of Natural Sciences (Estonia), 1 from Centoform VET centre (Italy), 3 from Polytechnic University of Rzeszow (Poland) and 5 from Kaunas University of Technology - faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design (Lithuania).

In the first part of the meeting, the project coordinator (University of Natural Sciences - Estonia) gave an overview on project timetable, administrative and financial management issues.
In particular, it is important to highlight that the 1st DIGMAN Steering Committee Meeting was conducted online on 27^th January 2021 and all members were satisfied with the project progress results achieved so far.

Later, project partners discussed the results of O1 and O2 and the next steps. The project had a little delay due to Covid 19 pandemic, but the first draft version of O1 - Didactic Guide for utilization of digital manufacturing tools for product development and manufacturing (ProDeM) in higher education is now ready to be sent to teachers and experts in Production Engineering programs of the academic community and other higher education institutions to collect the first feedback. The Didactic Guide for lecturers is a work-in-progress document that will be updated and modified according to the feedback, suggestions for improvement received by all the involved stakeholders.

As regards O2 - Compilation of the ProDeM Integrated Workbook for students, partners are working very deeply on the set of practical problem-based learning (PBL) exercises that have to be produced for the Workbook. They agreed to finalize them by 1^st May 2021 and the final editing will be done by the Polytechnic University of Rzeszow.

Partners have also discussed O3 - E-learning materials for ProDeM education (led by University of Stavanger). They agreed to prepare and present O3 action plan by the next online regular project meeting that will be held in the first week of March 2021.

Finally, they started to think about the next Transnational Project Meeting (6^th) that should take place in Poland in May/June 2021. Depending on Covid 19 situation, it will be organized in presence or online and the exact date will be scheduled in the next weeks.

 

 

DIG-MAN 4th Transnational meeting in Kaunas, Lithuania 21th-22th October 2020 (conducted on-line)  

The 4th international meeting was attended by 14 partners: 3 from the University of Stavanger (Norway), 1 from the University of Natural Sciences (Estonia), 1 from the public institution Centoform (Italy), 3 from the Polytechnic University of Rzeszow (Poland). The largest number of participants was from Kaunas University of Technology faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design. It is gratifying that new project promoters in all higher education institutions join the activities provided for in the project and see the real benefits of using the products developed in the project during the study process. KTU project executors were supplemented by doc. Ramūnas Česnavičius, lecturer Darius Eidukynas and doctoral student Tomas Kuncius, who apply advanced study methods in their pedagogical practice: case analysis, problem solving, and use digital tools.

The agenda of the meeting included issues related to project administration and financial management issues, summary of the results of the first project activity (Output 1) and analysis of the stages envisaged in the second activity (Output 2).

The didactic guide for lecturers has already been prepared and is currently being edited under the guidance of colleagues from Rzeszów Polytechnic University. Later, this guide will be presented to the lecturers of Production Engineering programs of all institutions participating in the project, as well as to the academic community of other higher education institutions.

The content of the Integrated Set of Assignments for Students (Output 2) was also discussed during the constructive discussions. The partners agreed on the form for submitting the tasks and the deadline for describing the first case. Kazimieras Juzėnas, Tõnu Leemet and Roman Wdowik presented examples of tasks prepared taking into account the structure of the didactic guide for teachers.

During the conference Materials Engineering and Modern Manufacturing 2020 (October 22-23) in Kaunas, the project coordinator T. Leemet will give a presentation and disseminate the project achievements, the project executor Chandima Ratnayake will give a presentation in the plenary session of the conference on technological elements of the circular economy.

The next international meeting of DIG-MAN project participants is scheduled for February 2021 in Italy.

DIG-MAN 3rd Transnational meeting in Stavanger, Norway 11th-12th June 2020 (conducted on-line)  

The world around has changed quite dramatically during the months separating February and June 2020. The global pandemic situation due to the spread of the COVID virus had its influence also on the activities of the DIGMAN project. It took some time to accommodate with the changes forced to all of us especially those related to distant working and studying. 

Despite of the temporary slow down due to the initial reactions against the pandemic, project work was back on track by the June 2020. On Thursday 11th of June project partners game together for the consecutive 3rd project meeting hosted by Stavanger conducted on-line in the ZOOM environment. 

Output 2, the central piece, of the project was in discussion. The objective of this output is to develop an integrated and digital work-book for students of product development and manufacturing at Master’s level education (and similarily to the didactic ProDeM Guide for the educators) covering the whole cycle of:

1. Initial development phase (covering courses like product development and design, including phases like brain storming, mind mapping etc);
2. Computer-aided design phase of the product and computer-aided simulation (CAD/CAE);
3. Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and CNC machining phase;
4. Quality control, including coordinate measuring (CMM) and industrial metrology.

DIG-MAN 2nd Transnational meeting in Poland 17th-18th February 2020

On February 17th and 18th 2020 Rzeszów University of Technology (Poland) hosted the 2nd Transnational Meeting of Erasmus+ DIG-MAN project, in which Centoform is partner.

The project, started in September 2019, has a duration of 36 months, and its main goal is to enhance pieces of knowledge concerning the utilization of digital manufacturing tools at the higher education level.

The learning materials, which will be created during the project, aim to be universally adaptable and applicable at different educational levels including IFTS, ITS, Universities, and VET.

It has been a successful meeting with the active participation of the entire partnership (Estonian University of Life sciences – EE (Lead Partner), Centoform Vet Centre - IT, Kaunas University of Technology – LT, University of Stavanger - NO.

Partners discussed in detail the on-going actions connected with the realization of project tasks as well as project implementation guidelines. Participants also visited selected laboratories of Rzeszów University of Technology and the production department of Pratt & Whitney aerospace company. The goal of the meeting was to analyse the didactic potential of universities in relation to labour-market demand.

DIG-MAN 1st Transnational meeting. Tallinn, Estonia 1st October 2019

On October 1st 2019 Estonian University of Life Sciences (Estonia) hosted the 1st Transnational Meeting of Erasmus+ DIG-MAN project. This time the kick-off was organized in the capital of Estonia in the city of Tallinn. That was a convenient arrangement, since in the upcoming days „1st Baltic CNC Educator Conference“ was held at the TTK University of Applied Sciences.

All partners were present and for some of them it was the very first time to visit the historical city of Tallinn situated be the Gulf of Finland. 

The agenda was focused on the general content and timetable of the project. During the meeting common rules of engagement were agreed between the partners. Several management issues were solved and rules of conduct selected. A stage was set for the upcoming fruitful cooperation in the field of higher education development.