COE MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Ray Anderson, Airbus

1. Tell us about what your company does, and what you do there.
Airbus has a growing presence in North and Latin America, with more than 60 customers across the region employing a full-range of Airbus aircraft.  I am involved in the interpretation, compliance and automation of design tools, technologies and methods and the enabling of lean processes, resulting in higher quality for lower cost and on-time delivery of design packages.

2. What other roles have you played in industry?
I have worked as a Tool Designer for parts, assemblies and superplastic monolithic structures, CAD Instructor, CAD Hardware and Software Consultant, Knowledge Management Database Administrator, KBE Lead and Application Development Lead.

3. How long have you been working with CATIA?
I started using CatiaV3 in 1990, on the 777 Fuselage and Passenger Entry Door Tooling.

4. How long have you been a member of COE?  Describe the factors that influenced you or your company’s decision to join.
I have been a member of COE since I attended my first conference in 1993.  All of my employers have been members since before my employment, but they all realize that a Peer based organization is both rare and valuable.  The frank discussions that occur between peers outweigh promotional materials and temper expectations while making decisions about the purchase and subsequent deployment of software.

5. Describe your involvement with COE and any words of advice you would give to other members who are not currently active. 
I am currently involved as a chair of the process committee named Catalogs and Standards and any place I can be of use.  My advice is that we have to all be committed to sharing and transparency in order to fully realize the potential of a peer organization while being diligent to not divulge proprietary information.  Without full commitment, we will only see limited returns on our investment.  I am also involved in a newly formed regional user group in Wichita, KS and am looking forward to building and maintaining relationships with a local user base.

6. Has your COE activity had any influence on your career?
COE has helped me to be both more knowledgeable and inspired by exposure to new software and ways of using it that may not be obvious or standard fare.  COE has also been a vehicle that keeps relationships alive by providing a common ground for the exchange of ideas and non-proprietary knowledge.
 
7. You’ve attended many COE Conferences and Workshops.  What makes you return so often?
Primarily I attend to invest in the future of Engineering and Design Technologies.  There are opportunities to influence the thinking of others in the domains of KBE, KM, LOTAR, CAA, GUI and at even more micro level conversations.  Simply by being engaged in these conversations we can all benefit from new ideas and polish old ideas into more user friendly functionality.  This engagement also helps us as individuals to gather a more complete understanding of the broader field of CAD, CAM, PLM and Automation.

8. We see you in our Discussion Forums a lot, helping others in the COE Community with your expertise. 
I think I tend to get more out of the forums than I put in, but they are an excellent place to engage with multiple peers simultaneously and hear several perspectives at the same time.  Sometimes the lesson is in the dissenting voice in the crowd, due to a differing perspective or paradigm.  I try to listen for those voices especially, because they are sometimes more valuable than popular opinion if properly understood.

9. As a long-time, active member of this association, what aspects of COE would you like to see grow in the future?
I think the virtual presence of COE presents an opportunity to be continually learning from each other.  The technologies currently available are only seeds of the potential for this.  If we could ever get beyond the highly structured paradigms of Engineering and simply let knowledge flow freely, we would all be better off.  COE has done a great job of embracing Twitter, Facebook, and Web technologies.  We should continue a concerted effort to continue to adapt and leverage these and other opportunities.

10. What do you do for fun? 
I enjoy a variety of activities such as singing, playing trombone, inventing/designing/fabricating, fishing, skiing, golfing, weight lifting, motorcycle riding, remodeling, restoring, RC, Web development, gaming, pool…no wonder my wife says I have a lot of ‘hobbies’…

11. Any other facts or stories you would like to share about your experience with COE?
COE has been the single most valuable resource to me as I have drifted from Aero to Auto and back to Aero.  Along the journey there have been opportunities to transfer and apply knowledge and concepts to these two domains as well as reverse engineering, rapid prototyping, hearing aides, composites, boats, data exchange and handheld devices…the wealth of information exchanged at the events and in the relationships formed are immeasurable.