SAWE Houston Chapter Winter 2017 Quarterly Report

SAWE Houston is working to promote Mass Properties / Weight Control Engineering as a specialized discipline while providing a means for those interested in the discipline an avenue to explore their personal aspirations.

We have local representation from one of the top level SAWE Inc Corporate Partners (CP1), Altair Engineering with Rick Watkins. Rick Watkins is International Executive Vice President. Local member Andreas Schuster is an Honorary Fellow and the International Standards and Practices Vice President of the Society. Local members Robert Hundl, Wayne Peterson, Greg Ray, and Rick Watkins are Fellows of the Society. Local leadership includes Clint Stephenson as Director, Bill Randall as President, Ryan Kilgore as Vice President, Adam Richards as Treasurer, and Lori Sandberg as Secretary. Dave Bennett is a former member of the Houston chapter and is the 3-year Chair of the Offshore Standards and Practices committee. Bill Randall is the current 2-year Chair. Clint Stephenson is the current 1-year Chair.

SAWE Houston cohosted a Regional conference (September 21, 2017 – September 24, 2017, (https://www.sawe.org/blog/2017/11/05/sawe-texas-regional-planning-meeting-and-conference-report/), pictures below) in preparation for the International conference (May 5, 2018 – May 10, 2018) with the Texas chapter, both in Irving, TX. We are in need of technical content for the upcoming International conference. Please contact me with your commitment to share your expertise. We are seeking Sponsors and Corporate Partners. Chapter meetings are planned for every third Friday of the month.

Our continuing effort is to develop professions related to Mass Properties and Weight Control Engineering through the participation and engagement of related and interested parties.

 

Please contact me with your questions or interest in contributing to the chapter and the Society.

Clint Stephenson

SAWE Houston Director

clintdsemail@yahoo.com

 

79th SAWE International Conference, 2020: Hamburg, Germany

We are pleased to announce that the 2020 International Conference will be held in Hamburg, Germany.

The SAWE Board of Director’s would like to thank the Central European Chapter for preparing their successful bid and we all look forward to a great conference!

Your next 3 conferences are:

77th SAWE International Conference: Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; May 5-10th, 2018

78th SAWE International Conference: Hampton Roads; 2019

79th SAWE International Conference: Hamburg, Germany; 2020

Effective Mass Properties Programs – Your Job is to Keep Me From Being Fired

Message from the SAWE President:

So what does it take to have an effective mass properties program?

Our society’s publications provide insights into the elements and mechanics, but organizational behavior is one element we barely address.  This is the first in a collection of stories from fellow mass properties engineers who want to share their most memorable experiences of a robust mass properties effort.  Take note over the course of these stories what the common denominator or behaviors were that led to a favorable outcome.

Your Job is to Keep Me From Being Fired 

Submitted by an Honorary Fellow of SAWE

After several years of study, a large aerospace company received the go-ahead to respond to an RFP for a class of rockets to be used as target vehicles for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to test various Ballistic Missile Defense weapons.  As a result of already being assigned to the missile defense group, a mass properties engineer found himself now working on multiple programs, including the new target vehicle program.

Of particular interest to the MDA was for the company to create a (relatively) inexpensive surrogate missile that would emulate a class of threat missiles with a longer range than SCUD-class missiles.  The company already had studied such a design, and proposed this to the customer, who accepted the proposal with one additional request.  Since the design was using existing mothballed assets to simulate this threat to keep the cost down, the design utilized solid rocket motors.  The threat class did not, and so the end-of-flight behavior of the motors would deviate significantly from the desired behavior, as non-volatile material could be unceremoniously and randomly ejected from the spent motor, imparting momentum to the stage.  A solution would be to spin up the stage, thereby pinning this non-volatile material in the stage and adding predictability to the missiles flight path, just like the threat vehicle it was supposed to emulate.

You can see where this is going – this is a huge mass properties nightmare in the making.  Spinning along the long axis is unstable, yet that is what is necessary to keep the vehicle going where you want it to.  The amount of “leftover” material in the motor is variable, as is its location, which affects CG, and more importantly, Products of Inertia.  Each test flight would have different equipment, meaning even if you could come up with a set design to keep the spin axis pointed correctly, this would have to be recalculated for each flight.  So, the mass properties engineer (MPE) had a real problem to work on when the go ahead to go for this class of threat targets was received.  And to complicate matters, as happens so often, a new management team came in. This was emplaced on top of the skeleton proposal management team, and the team started to hear about this new Program Manager, whose name we will call Oscar (not his real name), in unpleasant terms from those the MPE reported to, including the person who had been the proposal manager and now was reconfigured into the engineering manager.  He emerged from one high level meeting and stated, “I’ve been Oscarized!”  Soon, the whole team started hearing of others who had been Oscarized.  None looked particularly happy about it.

A week after the management insertion, when the MPE had introduced a possible solution to the variable product of inertia (POI) problem and was busy trying to get the design team to understand that the mechanism proposed had to be configurable right up until the payload was attached, the MPE received a call from Oscar’s secretary, saying that Oscar wanted to speak with him.  “Uh-oh, here comes my Oscarization,” he thought to himself.  The dreaded “BOHICA” that had been the talk 20+ years earlier.  Nevertheless, he prepared for the one-on-one with Oscar, set for 10AM the following morning.  The MPE showed up at Oscar’s door few minutes before 10 AM and was told to wait. Ten minutes went by.  Fifteen, then the door opened and the Engineering Manager came out, looking uncomfortable and mouthing at the MPE, “I’ve been Oscarized”.  “Come in,” the MPE heard Oscar say, and “shut the door.

The MPE had his proposed solution to the POI problem, as well as what he was proposing to keep the other mass properties under control, and was prepared to go over everything.  Instead, Oscar said to sit down, and proceeded to talk.  Oscar went through his career, where he had spent the majority of it on space launch vehicles, having started on the company’s mainline program.  He had risen through a succession of positions which put him on the management track, eventually reaching the company equivalent of a brigadier general.  He worked directly for a Vice President on a program that had several problems.  One of those problems was mass properties – in this case the weight carrying capacity of the launch vehicle.  At this point Oscar looked right at the MPE.  He said “You are in charge of the mass properties of this program.  If there are any problems I need to know about them.”  The MPE started to pull out his papers and Oscar said, “Not yet!  I’m not done.”  He continued with his narrative – somewhat familiar via hallway talk.  Turns out this launch vehicle program from his past promised certain customers that the vehicle could perform certain missions, and then failed to do so.  This caused multiple investigations, both by the company and the customer, where it became obvious that the promised capability was not there, and this was not known to everyone.  The Vice President was asked to resign, in other words he was fired, being ultimately responsible for the program.

Oscar looked at the MPE.  He stood up and paced.  Then he said, “I’ve seen what messed up mass properties can do.  Mass properties is a hot ticket item to the company and to our customer.  As far as I am concerned, you are the lead of the mass properties team, and I know we have challenges, so you do whatever it takes to keep mass properties in line.  Your job is to keep me from being fired!  Do that and everyone will be happy.

The MPE realized he was being offered a favorable hand, even if it was carrying a stick.  He also realized that he had an opportunity to really affect the program.  Properly cued, he went through what he thought had to be done to ensure the program would not have weight or POI problems.  Oscar looked at the proposed mass properties control program and the POI solution, and told the MPE to get with the engineering manager and tell him he approved the concept.  And then he stood up and opened the door to his office and said to the person sitting outside his office, “Come in, and shut the door.”

The program was successful.  The vehicle flew successive multiple missions, maintaining the desired pointing of the spin axis.  Additional class vehicle programs came the company’s way, each with their own idiosyncrasies to contend with.  And Oscar was not fired, but instead was able to retire, vindicated.  Everybody was happy.  Well, except for the usual grumbling…

 

SAWE Texas Regional Planning Meeting and Conference Report

September 21-24, 2017, SAWE came together to deliver a successful International Planning Meeting and Regional Conference at the SAWE Texas Regional in Irving, TX.

I want to Thank the Regional conference Vendors/Sponsors.  Thank You (SINCERELY) Intercomp, GEC, and Altair for your continued support of the SAWE as a SAWE Corporate Partner and Sponsor at our events.

SAWE Texas and SAWE Houston delivered the Regional after many months of planning, with superior support from SAWE leadership.

The International Conference Planning meeting took place Thursday.  The host chapters provided the status for the conference beginning May 5, 2018.  It is going to be more than worth the trip in May 2018.

Friday began with a panel discussion on Coordinate Systems used in the varying industries.  I was impressed by the panelists.  On the panel, there was representation from the Airlines (Michael Byham – American Airlines), Offshore (Bill Randall – Wood), Military Aircraft (Vearl Durrington – Lockheed Martin), Space & Missiles (John Nakai – The Aerospace Corporation), Marine (Alan Bird – Marinette Marine), and Automotive (Stacie Matschinsky – SAWE Deputy VP, Standards and Practices) Industries.  It was an interactive experience between the panel and the audience.  I thought SnP Vice President Andy Schuster did an excellent job planning and orating the panel discussion.

We had interesting and thought provoking technical presentations throughout the day on Friday from the SAWE industries. Mrs Stacie Matschinsky delivered her presentation on “How to use the SnP Template”. SAWE Honorary Fellow Mr Andrew Brooks discussed “Nesting & Trees : Nested Sets in MP DB Design”. Mr Kevin Tharp delivered a double shot with “Practical Considerations for Balancing” and “Tanker Aircraft Fuel Fraction”. SAWE Honorary Fellow and International Leader for Technical Content Mr Robert “Zimmie” Zimmerman enlightened the audience with his expertise on “The Case for In-Service MP of Missiles & Space Vehicles”. SAWE Fellow Robert Hundl shared his experience on “Weight Distribution for On-Shore Modules”. Instructor Mr Brian Wiegand delivered insight into Automotive Dynamics with his presentation “MP & Automotive Vertical Dynamics”. Society of Allied Weight Engineers President and SAWE Honorary Fellow Mr William Boze delivered a passionate, interactive, inspiring assessment of the industries served with “The Mass Properties Discipline – Risk & Opportunity”.

Standards and Practices breakout sessions were held with representatives from the Military Aircraft and Offshore Industries. Contact SnP Vice President Andy Schuster for information about the proceedings.

Saturday and Sunday were training days for the very established Aircraft Weight and Balance class delivered by Mr Tom Oole and the New Automotive Lateral Dynamics class delivered by the passionate Mr Brian Wiegand.

A survey was distributed to determine which industries were represented, what was the primary purpose for attendance, what other reasons brought attendees, what could be done to make the 2018 SAWE Texas International Conference a success, and to gauge what kind of participation we could expect from attendees in the future. Over half of the people in attendance submitted survey input. Overwhelmingly, Aerospace was the industry most represented at about 68% for those who submitted their input. We also had Offshore, Marine and Automotive / Land Vehicle representation all the way from the college student level to the retired professional level. Some primary reasons for attendance included planning for the 2018 conference, to take training, to deliver a presentation, and general support of the Mass Properties discipline. Some things to focus on as we plan the 2018 conference include plan/plan/plan, entice vendors and sponsors to attend, encourage and develop technical content of relevance to SAWE Corporate Partners and Company Members, and Standards and Practices development. About half of the people would support future conferences and events by developing technical content or working to gain company support. Thank you everyone who submitted a survey with your input. We will use it as we develop future conferences.

Networking is a key benefit of participating in the Society of Allied Weight Engineers (SAWE). You meet your International leadership. You hear them make speeches about their decades of experience and the health of the discipline. You meet other experienced people from around the industries as well as young adults building their abilities in order to build the future. The SAWE is a Worldwide conglomeration of very intelligent individuals interested in using their talents to make a better future.

We ask you reach out to a mentor/mentoree to develop mutual expertise to share with the SAWE.  This is an opportunity for everyone thinking about the profession to grow it.

We will be reaching out to Universities to solicit the participation of their students and faculty.

We will be reaching out to Vendors and Sponsors, both established and new, to participate.

We will be reaching out to authors and presenters to deliver technical content.

We will be reaching out to those interested in supporting the development of Standards and Practices throughout industries Worldwide.

Please contact me at clintdsemail@yahoo.com or 8326475599 (leave a message) if you want to share your thoughts.

Sincerely, Clint (Stephenson), SAWE Texas Conference Chair