2009/06/09 – St. Louis, MO – UCLA has chosen ITC Systems’ Multiplan Gold Solution to control access and costs in their new high-tech Urban Design Lab. The lab consists of laser cutters, 3D printers, and a CNC controlled mill that allows students to create and fabricate 3D projects that demonstrate the concepts of their design.
The lab carries a high operation cost due to student waste of materials, maintenance contracts for the equipment, expense for student training, and damage caused to the equipment by untrained students. ITC Systems’ Multiplan Gold solution eliminates or recovers all of these costs. Once the student is authenticated and access to the equipment is granted ITC Systems’ controller will start counting and charging for time. The university has set the charge of $0.40 for every minute the equipment is being used.
To shorten lines and reduce potential damage, UCLA has chosen to grant access only to students in the Urban Design program, which have completed a mandatory equipment training program. These students swipe their BruinCard at an ITC Systems controller attached to the equipment, and access is granted.
MultiPlan software provides the university with a set of reports showing student activity and machine usage, allowing UCLA the ability to credit or dismiss any charges to the student before the statement is generated. The student will be required to pay this as a lab fee in order to remain in good standing with the school.
The university has realized the following benefits:
- UCLA can now limit the students to particular machines by creating machine groups and allowing a student to be part of each group. As the student is trained in the operation and safety precautions of each piece of equipment they can be added to each group and allowed access.
- The amount of time each student spends creating the project is reduced because they can design in a way that reduces equipment time. Students learn to increase production. This results in shorter lines, and more students being able to use the equipment.
- Waste is reduced as students are now careful about how the equipment is being used. They only use the equipment when it is required.
- Repair has been reduced as students must be authorized and be trained to use the equipment. This has reduced misuse of the equipment.
- UCLA’s lab operation cost has reduced as they are now recovering the cost of using the equipment by charging small lab fees.
- Saftey has increased as students must be trained on the proper use of equipment before they have access, and unauthorized students can no longer use the equipment.
ITC Systems, www.itcsystems.com is an international company specializing in cashless Integrated Transaction Control Systems. The firm designs, develops and implements state-of-the-art cash card management systems on university campuses and in public libraries, government departments, food service environments and other closed institutional settings. With offices in Toronto and St. Louis, and an extensive network of distributors, dealers, agents and service contractors, the organization offers the most flexible and comprehensive online and offline card systems on the market today.
UCLA has chosen ITC Systems’ Multiplan Gold Solution to control access and costs in their new high-tech Urban Design Lab. The lab consists of laser cutters, 3D printers, and a CNC controlled mill that allows students to create and fabricate 3D projects that demonstrate the concepts of their design.