“The state of Ohio is falling behind in manufacturing,” says Dr. Raj Chowdhury, dean of Kent State’s College of Technology. “Ohio needs to restore its competitiveness in manufacturing and the only way to accomplish that is to train our students to compete in a global economy.”

UGS Corp., a leading global provider of product lifecycle management software and services, and their local business partner, Appropriate Technology Inc., are helping Kent State students achieve this goal. Together, the companies made an in-kind software grant with a commercial list price of approximately $650,000 to Kent State’s College of Technology.

Appropriate Technology is providing the college with 45 copies of software and licenses of UGS Solid Edge® software, a 3-D computer-aided design program widely used by the manufacturing industry.

 “Our commitment to Kent State’s College of Technology is due to the realization that education and industry must work together to further the regional manufacturing community,” says Rich Tenaglia, business development director of Appropriate Technology. “We see this as an excellent partnership for all involved.”

The new software will allow students to turn 2-dimensional drafting concepts into 3-dimensional computer designs, which can in turn be used to create 3-D models through rapid prototyping and eventually consumer products through computer-aided manufacturing.

“This is a win-win situation,” says Chowdhury. The college and its students benefit from using a leading-edge software program, and in the near future, companies will benefit from having well-trained, educated students who already are skilled at working with industry tools.

“One of the primary missions of the college is to prepare tomorrow’s technology professionals with state-of-the-industry technology,” says Chowdhury. “Solid Edge is this technology.”

About UGS
UGS is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services with nearly 4 million licensed seats and 46,000 customers worldwide.  Headquartered in Plano, Texas, UGS’ vision is to enable a world where organizations and their partners collaborate through global innovation networks to deliver world-class products and services while leveraging UGS’ open enterprise solutions, fulfilling the mission of enabling them to transform their process of innovation.  For more information on UGS products and services, visit www.ugs.com.

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