Design, Manufacturing, and Finance – An Interdisciplinary Approach through Engineering and Business Partnership

This paper presents the guidelines and requirements of interdisciplinary projects run by teams comprised of engineering and business students. The benefits of interdisciplinary projects lie in the ability of students to engage in problem-based learning through the execution of real-life project experiences which, if successful, lead to an increased quality of work. Academically, interdisciplinary projects directly address specific required student outcomes and guiding principles for accreditation of engineering and business schools. Professionally, encountering, understanding, and overcoming the challenges associated with working in interdisciplinary teams allow students to develop critical thinking skills that are highly valued by potential employers. Teams are tasked with identifying an unfulfilled need in the marketplace, designing a product to fill that need, and creating manufacturing and business plans around that product. This includes a complete product design, identification of proper facilities and resources needed, a complete economic and industry analysis of the market in which the business will compete, and the construction of a five-year set of pro forma financial statements, including an appropriate cost of capital. Example projects are highlighted to illustrate the achievement of learning outcomes. In addition to the presentation of the proposed product to the instructors early in the semester, teams also have the opportunity to make their final project presentation to additional faculty and invited members of the local business community for feedback. Students indicated that the concept of design for manufacturing and marketing has proven to be very effective in student learning.

本文介绍了由工程和商科学生组成的团队所开展的跨学科项目的指导方针和要求。跨学科项目的益处在于学生能够通过实际项目经验的实施进行基于问题的学习，如果项目成功，还能提高工作质量。在学术方面，跨学科项目直接针对工程和商学院认证所需的特定学生成果及指导原则。在职业方面，面对、理解并克服跨学科团队工作中的挑战，能使学生培养批判性思维能力，这是潜在雇主非常看重的。团队的任务是确定市场中未被满足的需求，设计一种产品来满足该需求，并围绕该产品制定生产和商业计划。这包括完整的产品设计、确定所需的适当设施和资源、对企业将参与竞争的市场进行完整的经济和行业分析，以及构建一套为期五年的预计财务报表，包括适当的资本成本。文中重点介绍了一些示例项目，以说明学习成果的达成情况。除了在学期初向教师展示所提议的产品外，团队还有机会向其他教师以及受邀的当地商业界人士进行最终项目展示，以获取反馈。学生们表示，面向制造和营销的设计理念在学生学习中被证明是非常有效的。