The Concurrent Engineering Research & Development Group (NuPES) is a university-related spin-off, which works closely with Equitel, a Siemens subsidiary for telecom in Brazil. At a separate site, the Federal Center for Education in Technology (CEFET) in Curitiba, in the state of Parana, computational simulations using Mentor Graphics tools are used to validate printed circuit board designs, when it comes to digital, analog or mixed simulations, thermal analysis, and EMI analysis. A multidisciplinary group of professors and engineering students participates on real projects, with real schedules and real challenges as to provide additional information regarding potential failure spots and possible alternatives to design engineers at Equitel, prior to any kind of prototyping. A cooperative network to share project data and allow working teams to communicate with each other has been established, so that all projects are followed up on both sites and any modification may be suggested as needed to avoid redesigns.

Other activities have also taken place as part of this effort to establish a concurrent engineering environment, such as the definition of a common library structure to support schematic capture and PCB layout at Equitel, as well as data required for all kinds of simulations performed at CEFET. As a side effect, numerous students have had access to Mentor Graphics tools, after the sign-off of a Higher Education Program, which enabled CEFET to build an advanced laboratory for engineering students, in which all the knowledge acquired by the professors, based on the participation in real projects, is conveyed through regular courses offered each semester.

Bio:
Milton Borsato received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Paran=87, Brazil in 1990. He obtained his MS degree in Computer Science and Systems Engineering from the Muroran Institute of Technology, in Hokkaido, Japan, in 1993. Currently, he is an assistant professor of computer and information sciences and engineering at the Federal Center for Education in Technology (CEFET-PR), in the city of Curitiba. His interests include computer graphics, geometric modeling, computer-aided design and concurrent engineering. Since 1994, he has led the Concurrent Engineering R&D Group, which currently gathers 36 professors and students, in an effort to build a multi-site CE environment for the development of new products in a partnership with Equitel, a Siemens subsidiary for telecom in Brazil.