A Product Focused Manufacturing Curriculum

The objective of this paper is to present an innovative product-oriented manufacturing curriculum and enhance manufacturing degree programs at the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) and St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley (FV). This project will significantly impact UMR\u27s two BS degree option programs in manufacturing and MS degree programs in manufacturing, and FV\u27s manufacturing engineering and technology programs. We will establish an integrative and collaborative manufacturing program to reinforce and sharpen critical competencies of students. The centerpiece and uniqueness of this program will be a senior-level, two-semester capstone manufacturing project course that will provide students with the experience of integrating business and engineering skills toward rapid, distributed product realization, and a 2-plus-2 articulation between an AS degree Manufacturing Engineering Technology program to a BS degree Manufacturing Engineering program. The term “distributed” is used to emphasize that the student team is expected to use facilities that are distributed at manufacturing laboratories on the UMR campus, FV campus, and facilities of outside vendors and suppliers. This project course will also provide students with the experience of integrating the technical knowledge they have learned from various other courses. The project highlights include: · Integration of business and engineering skills5 through a two-semester, team-based capstone manufacturing project course, · Development of a distributed product design and manufacturing environment including a realistic supply-chain network, · Development of modular courseware to support the capstone design project, · In-depth understanding of product quality and manufacturing process control, · Implication of various decisions such as make/buy, purchasing, vendor selection on the bottom line, and · Development of an enhanced 2-plus-2 program between UMR and FV. Students in engineering and technology will be working together on joint industrial projects6 and faculty will be encouraged to exchange activities such as conducting seminars and manufacturing workshops