Strategic university-industry collaboration between APU and Zeiss

• First private university to tap into Zeiss’s expertise
• Students will obtain a GD&T certification as part of programme 

Asia Pacific University of Innovation & Technology (APU) notes that with today’s precision manufacturing, understanding how to efficiently and accurately inspect parts, by mastering a contemporary skillset is critical for an engineering graduate's smooth transition into the workforce.

Therefore, in an effort to equip students with the latest Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) skills, APU said it is the first private university to tap into the expertise of Zeiss, a German-based internationally leading technology enterprise operating in the fields of optics and optoelectronics.

It added that under this newly formed industry-academia collaboration, engineering students of all specialisations at APU will benefit by attaining a GD&T certification through associated modules embedded within the programme.

Assoc. Prof Ir Dr Siva Kumar Sivanesan, head of School of Engineering, APU said Zeiss is the gold standard for quality control in dimensioning. 

“By signing a memorandum of understanding, Zeiss will train our teaching staff on the basics of GD&T,” he added. 

“Subsequently, the skillset will be embedded in the first-year module across all engineering programmes, which will eventually be imparted to students for a better understanding of engineering drawing, and more importantly the principles of tolerancing when a dimension is assigned to a certain geometry,” Sivanesan said.

As part of the partnership, Zeiss will help APU to introduce the latest inspection technology into the lab curriculum. Teaching staff will include the GD&T topic in a relevant engineering subject and include practical calypso offline simulation.

According to APU, GD&T is a system for defining and communicating engineering tolerances and relationships. It uses a symbolic language in engineering drawings and computer-generated three-dimensional solid models that explicitly describe nominal geometry and its allowable variation.

Once honed in the right direction, the university said this would enable students to perfect the technology of reverse engineering, allowing for more products to be produced in a shorter time. 

The certification also provides insights into current and relevant industry practices such as Failure Analysis and Root Cause Probing for part warpage or failure, it added.

Sivanesan said this is an unprecedented move by the School of Engineering to equip students with future-proof knowledge and skills. 

“With this, they will have an additional advantage in competing internationally, guided by experts from Zeiss,” he added.

This interdisciplinary competition will involve robotics, computer vision, control engineering, and reinforcement learning, requiring students to hone their skills entrepreneurially and establish start-ups with suitable support and framework from Zeiss.

Commenting on the collaboration, Dr Parmjit Singh, chief executive officer, APU said the APU-Zeiss relationship is one of mutual benefit as students of the university will develop skills from the expertise of Zeiss, and in return serve the company. 

“This is a fulfilling cycle of working together,” he added.

Concurring, Ven Raman, managing director, Carl Zeiss Sdn Bhd said, “In any relationship like this, it needs to be a ‘win-win’ approach.” 

“Developing the necessary talents can only be done through a partnership. We are fortunate to have a partner to develop talents for the future of what we need for this country,” he added.