ETI’s March web special offers 30 additional days of web training when you purchase any course from our ETI Learning Center. A screen from our Engineering Drawing Requirements course is shown below. If you’d like to see a sample of a web-based course, view a short course tutorial.

Online training is a convenient and affordable way to learn GD&T. Our courses include:

All courses come with 30-, 60-, or 90-day options. Register during March to receive an additional 30 days for free.

No other discounts apply.

A few months ago, I took a survey of readers to see what format they prefer for reading ebooks, specifically textbooks in digital format.

Many of you agreed that the regular ebook readers wouldn’t work well for a textbook, since graphs, charts, and images wouldn’t retain the same layout as the printed page.

For our first foray into the world of digital textbooks and reference materials, we’ve chosen to go with lulu.com. They use a pdf  format that can be read with Adobe Digital Editions (free download) on a PC, Mac, or Sony Reader. The pdf format allows the book to retain its original layout, with unaltered charts and graphics. It also allows some of the excellent features that a digital book is known for which makes navigating the ISO Reference Guide a breeze:

• digitally highlight important ISO GPS topics
• bookmark passages of interest, including our handy ASME/ISO comparison chart
• use the links from ISO topics in each section’s contents pages to jump to explanations in the text
• search the text for instant access to ISO terms

Alex Krulikowski’s ISO Geometrical Tolerancing Reference Guide is now available in pdf format on lulu.com. The ebook is on sale for 25% off during the month of October. Until midnight, October 31, 2010, you can order your ebook for only $50 from lulu.com

Read more about it.

Order the ebook.

ETI likes to stay one step ahead of emerging technologies. Over the past 25 years, the company has utilized the most current tools available when developing our GD&T products and training formats.

We’ve gone from print catalogs to the etinews.com website, which enjoys more than 10,000 visits per month. We’ve upgraded from post card marketing to email marketing. Our training has evolved from self-study workbooks to videos, computer-based, web-based, and live web training. Our instructor materials moved from power point slides to digital instructor kits. We’ve created digital forums, message boards and enewsletters.

All in all, we’ve enjoyed embracing the benefits of the digital age, while we’ve kept our company and products on the cutting edge.

It’s time to decide which e-format to use for our new reference guides and textbooks. Many of the new digital readers work well for novels, but not so well for textbooks with figures, graphics, and charts. If you already read ebooks, or if you’ve been planning to start, we’d like your opinion…

Last month, I blogged about my new geometric tolerancing book that explains the use of ISO standards on technical drawings:

It’s a comprehensive book that can be used to learn the topic, and it’s also a great reference guide. The book is based on ISO 1101-2004 and companion standards.

ETI is offering a course this fall that utilizes the new book. The ISO Geometrical Tolerancing 3-day workshop will be held September 29th – October 1st, here in the Detroit area. The three-day ISO workshop will help you to understand engineering drawings that use the International Standards Organization (ISO) standards.

The course was written with three goals in mind:
1. To help you recognize what is required on a good (standard-compliant) drawing
2. To help you understand geometrical tolerances based on the ISO standards
3. To combine and explain information from dozens of ISO standards into a logical understandable topic

You’ll learn about …

• ISO drawing conventions
• GPS basics
• Limits and fits
• The datum system
• Form controls
• Orientation controls
• Location controls
• Run-out and profile controls
• General tolerances
• Workpiece edges
• Surface texture
• How ISO compares to ASME

If your company is interested in global sourcing and learning how to read drawings created in other countries, this workshop is vital to your success. It will teach you the ins and outs of utilizing the ISO standards and will give you a fundamental knowledge of ISO 1101:2004, related standards, and their application on drawings.

Those who attend the workshop will receive:

• Alex Krulikowski’s ISO Geometrical Tolerancing Reference Guide
• An ISO Geometrical Tolerancing Workbook
• Class handouts
• An official certificate of completion

Read more about the course and specific topics here. I hope to see you in the Detroit area for this exciting new workshop.

A few months ago, I created a survey asking whether companies plan to adopt the new Y14.5-2009 standard, stay with the 1994 standard, or change to ISO standards. Using statistics elicited from the survey responses, I have developed a white paper addressing these issues.

“Deliberations on Dimensioning and Tolerancing Standards” is a 12-page paper that will help organizations decide what path may be the best for them. It includes a summary of the major changes to the ASME Y14.5 standard and insight into what other companies are planning. It also includes my deliberations and recommendations on changing dimensioning standards.

It’s available for $25 on our website.

Over the past few years, more and more ETI clients have requested GD&T training outside the U.S. This year, our “global” GD&T training has taken us to more places than ever before.

We started out the year in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Soon after, we trained in Malaysia, England, and Colombia.

Our upcoming GD&T training schedule takes us to India, Venezuela, China, Thailand, Mexico, and another trip to Colombia, by the end of the year.

In most of these places, the students learned English as a second language. This means the “language of GD&T” will be their third language.

My hat is off to these dedicated students. I can’t imagine learning a new skill in a language other than my own.

To see a map of all the places ETI has trained, click here.

Ancora Imparo,
Alex