Bechtel Innovation Design Center

The full use of advanced modern manufacturing technologies is challenging in industry. The equipment is designed for full-time experienced designers and operators pumping out thousands of identical parts versus student projects requiring only a few different parts.

Created and maintained by Anirudh Pal and a growing team of over 19 students, our EDUCATIONAL DIGITAL TWIN provides Purdue students using the Gene Haas Manufacturing Lab access to advanced computer numerical control manufacturing machines along with the latest carbide tooling from Kennametal and modern fixturing from Raptor.

The EDUCATIONAL DIGITAL TWIN transparently packages thousands of hours of experience with the Center’s tools, work holding, and machining parameters in a 1:1 design and simulation environment built on Autodesk’s Fusion 360 cloud platform. It equips new users with experience normally gained through years of study, eliminating costly redesigns and crashes. In this environment users can design, innovate, and collaborate virtually, in their own time, wherever they are, before manufacturing in the Center.

The system is maintained by a very tight cloud-based knowledge dissemination loop. For example, in less than a day a new speed/feed for a specific material and tool will go from validation in the machine via the cloud to the hundreds of student designers.