A College of Engineering
team consisting of faculty from Industrial Engineering, Mechanical
Engineering and Engineering Science and Mechanics was successful
in obtaining a grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency
in conjunction with the University of Washington, University of
Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and Sandia National Laboratory to develop
curricula which integrate product design and manufacturing. At
Penn State this collaboration (the Manufacturing Engineering Education
Partnership- MEEP) resulted in a 21 credit interdisciplinary
minor designed for students in all engineering disciplines who
are interested in engineering practice in integrated design and
manufacturing. The program culminates with a one or twosemester
project involving the design and manufacture of a new product.
The purpose of the minor is to offer students state of the art
practice in integrated product/process design and manufacturing.
Students completing the minor should: 1) understand the interaction
of design and manufacturing through practical examples, 2) be
familiar with the entrepreneurial skills needed to transfer a
new product from initial idea to market, 3) understand the technical
and management aspects of concurrent engineering and total quality
management, and 4) have handson experience in designing
and manufacturing a product, organizing and managing the effort,
and interacting with the customer.
The Product Realization
Minor offers students in traditional engineering disciplines an
alternative path to a degree which directly prepares them for
careers in manufacturing, design and product realization. Students
who choose this program begin working in the Learning Factory
(a new hands-on interdisciplinary laboratory for integrated manufacturing
and design) in the first year as a direct component of their course
work. This multi-disciplinary, hands-on experience continues and
expands in scope each year to compliment the academic programs
in individual departments. Throughout, students will experience
the total process of product realization to meet customer needs:
from conceptual design through prototyping, marketing, business
planning, production, total quality improvement and ultimate disposal.
The minor consists of nine
credits of core courses: ME 288 Product Dissection, which examines
the way in which products and machines work: their physical operation,
the manner in which they are constructed, and the design and societal
considerations that determine the difference between success and
failure in the marketplace; IE 466 Concurrent Engineering, which
investigates engineering and management tools for concurrent product
and manufacturing process development; IE424 Process Quality Engineering ; and EE 407 Technology Based
Entrepreneurship, which covers the practical aspects of the startup
of a business, with elements of finance, marketing, management,
the basics of product manufacturing, and an overview of activities
in new product prototyping.
Other requirements are
three credits in quality engineering, six credits in manufacturing
and a three-credit senior project with industry. The courses which
fulfill these other requirements vary by department.
The Manufacturing Engineering
Education Partnership (MEEP) was among 12 teaching projects to
receive the Provost's Awards for Collaborative Instruction and
Curricular Innovation. The awards recognize and support a variety
of collaborative projects that move away from the chalkboard to
reach students through innovative techniques and technologies.
Developing the product
realization minor were Russell R. Barton,
Paul H. Cohen, and Edward C. De Meter,
(all of industrial engineering); John S. Lamancusa - mechanical
engineering), and Renata Engel, engineering
science and mechanics.