TDC of AZ Student Comments

TDC of Arizona is very proud to offer our clients a unique opportunity to receive feedback from students who complete a GD&T workshop with us.

On the last day of a GD&T workshop, students are asked to complete a course evaluation form. It asks the students to rate the content of the workshop and the instructor on a scale from one to ten. Students are also given the opportunity to comment on the course and how it can be improved. Names are optional and students may complete the evaluation forms in complete anonymity. These evaluations are gathered, organized, and reported within a document called a Course Summary. Students’ comments are reported verbatim within the course summary.

These evaluations help us gauge class dynamics, assess student comprehension of the material, and improve our training programs. More importantly, the course summary allows clients to determine whether their hard-earned training dollars were spent wisely!

We take great pride in the fact that TDC of Arizona is the only company providing GD&T training that uses this unique form of evaluation and shares the results with their customers. Listed below are some of the student comments that are typical through out the course evaluations.

“The course was a great overall experience; intense training and lively presentation enabled a high degree of comprehension. Mike worked hard at working each student hard and many practical examples and problems made the topics sink in. It was the most intense training I have received as a working engineer. Prior to taking this course, if I was vacationing in the country of GD&T, I would not have been able to effectively order a hamburger at a restaurant. I could now order a seven-course feast with a fine bottle of Shiraz (the glass at LMC, of course!).”

“This course is extremely valuable for anyone who uses, creates or revises designs. Most producibility issues would not exist if all designers and users understood how to apply and interpret GD&T. I find that there are many interpretations made by people that just don’t understand.”

“Everyone who deals with mechanical design and fabrication should be required to take this class. Use of GD&T standards adds value; however it is not part of the typical college curriculum. A misconception that I had about GD&T was that it was more restrictive than rectangular coordinates. It can actually be less restrictive, yet at the same time improve part quality and yield and reduce cost and cycle time. It forces consideration of design decision impacts on fabrication and assembly and leaves less open to interpretation. It’s usually a contractual requirement, is becoming an international standard and is increasingly used in the commercial world. Lack of this knowledge is a disadvantage and can be an expensive one.”

“This instructor was excellent – effectively covered a great deal of material in a very short time and was able to give many practical examples due to his experience and background.”

“I feel that this course was very beneficial. I only wish I would have had this course before tackling some design projects. I strongly feel that this class be mandatory for all new hires as well as for experienced people who have no knowledge of GD&T. The introductory class as well as this course should be taken as soon as possible. This class would greatly benefit design engineers, drafters, machinists, and checkers. This would ensure that everyone could work together with a mutual understanding of design intent and drawing interpretations. Also, I feel that having actual parts, gauging tools, etc., helped me visualize and understand the GD&T concepts more clearly.”

“This class has had the biggest impact on my day to day job of any class I’ve taken at any company.”

“After I took this course, I felt that I can become a person who has the ability to check drawings. This course is really important for those who are designers. Please teach this course for those people who never have background on GD&T.”

“Mike Sandford is a very effective and interesting instructor, which is imperative in a class with this much information.”

“The class is a definite asset. I learned a lot of information as well as how that can be applied. There was a lot of information, but I at least know where I can look if I have questions. The materials supplied are very beneficial. The parts, tools and examples used helped a lot. I will recommend this class to my manager. The instructor was an added bonus. He knew the material, how to apply it and added personal experiences.”

“The instructor was very effective at presenting the topics of the course in a clear and concise manner. The visual presentations were well laid out and presented in a professional manner. The instructor made a very effective use of visual aides such as parts, gages, and small assemblies to demonstrate the topics of discussion. Overall, the class/course was a great learning tool.”

“Mike was a very knowledgeable instructor. He had many hands-on visual aids that made the concept easier to understand, especially how to apply the concept to real world applications. After taking this class, I do not understand why this was not taught in our college studies for engineering, especially for design and manufacturing engineers.”

“A lot of material to cover in a short time, however teacher was clear and understood the difficult concepts for students to learn and pounded those concepts in. It would be hard not to learn. I had reservations about the quizzes, but after taking the class, I discovered they helped you learn – forces student to perform with immediate feedback – ideal learning conditions. I wish all my vendors could take this class.”

“The structure of the course was conducive to the overall understanding of GD&T. However, without individual practice and experience, no person will be totally proficient with this tool (which applies to just about any course). The enthusiasm and dedication of the instructor is the one thing that sets this course aside from others. Specifically, he was willing to take the time to challenge each student on an individual basis. If I were to rate the overall value of this course, it would be excellent. In the long run, this class will save money in many categories, including labor, functional parts, design time, quality control, etc. The instructor mentioned an Extended Principles class that I feel would help me prepare for the GDTP and I am going to put forth my own time in preparation for this exam.”

“I really think this class has changed the entire course of my career. I will now be able to design parts that work all the time. I intended and I want to pursue becoming a GDTP (GD&T professional), which will give me more marketability as an engineer. I will be able to bring in more work just due to that certification. But, I need to take the Extended Principles class to do so to help me learn the details of each principle. Thanks for the class, but I need more as could anyone use more. Knowledge on GD&T will produce better products for the warfighter.”

“This course was excellent! I’ve learned more about GD&T in five days than I would learn in an equivalent college course (covered in a quarter). The energy that Mike projects makes learning the material easy and fun. Thank you management for this opportunity. I highly recommend that everyone who deals w/ this material, in any way, take this course. Thank you Mike for an experience that will serve and inspire me in my future career.”

“This is one of the best engineering courses that I have ever taken in my entire career. Working many years as a stress analyst has completely removed myself from thinking about interchangeability of the parts as well as how well they fit together. This course really brought me back to the thinking and concerns of a design engineer.”

If would like to browse through a sample Course Summary, you may download a sample copy. This course summary comes from a class given several years ago; the Course Summary is unaltered except the name of the company has been changed, and the students’ names have been omitted.