AFS' Cast Metals Institute and Wescast Industries usher in new era of videoconferencing courses in January. (Industry News).

The Cast Metals Institute (CMI) made history in January as it teamed up with Wescast Industries, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, to present the Institute's first videoconferencing course. The "Gating & Riser Design-- Ductile Iron" course was broadcast from CMI's facilities to a group of engineers and patternmakers assembled in Brantford for four 3-hr sessions over a two-wk period.

CMI's videoconferencing equipment utilizes four ISDN telephone lines and allows as many as three sites to be connected at one time. The system is fully interactive, allowing participants at both ends to see, talk, and ask and respond to each other's questions and comments. Computer displays, video players, slide projectors, document cameras and other audiovisual equipment can all be integrated into the videoconferencing course curriculum.

According to Ian Kay, CMI vice president education, videoconferencing offers numerous advantages over the traditional classroom instruction that CMI has offered for 40-plus years. Videoconferencing's benefits include elimination or reduction in travel costs, reduced time away from the job and the ability to spread instruction over a broader time--a point Kay believes benefits the overall learning process. He expects videoconferencing to become the method of choice for a majority of future courses.

Roy Schultz, Wescast's corporate technical trainer who worked with CMI in developing the course, was excited about the opportunity to use this new technology. Wescast regularly employs videoconferencing to communicate among its North American and European facilities.

Kay said that videoconferencing is very flexible--connections are made at the speed of a telephone call, so changes in schedules can be met more easily than when an instructor is on-site. Schultz said Wescast course participants were positive about the experience and showed the required understanding and application back on the job. "This technology and type of delivery fits very well with Wescast's overall learning strategy," he said.

CMI plans more widespread utilization of its videoconferencing system. While in-plant courses were chosen for the first classes offered, CMI is ready to expand videoconferencing to AFS Chapter Courses and other programs as well. In fact, a joint meeting of the AFS Plains States, Mo-Kan and Tri-State Chapters is planned this month at Pittsburg State Univ. (PSU), Pittsburg, Kansas. In this event, program speakers Gene Muratore, Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium, and Tim McMillin, Magma Foundry Technologies, will make videoconference presentations to the group from AFS Headquarters. In June, attendees gathering at PSU will have the opportunity to "dial in" to an investment casting gating course conducted at AFS.