Integrating the Product Realization Process into a New Mechanical Engineering Curriculum

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Engineering - Mechanical (56)This project is providing desktop manufacturing equipment to demonstrate key manufacturing technologies to Mechanical Engineering students in the context of an introductory Manufacturing Processes course. It is alsoenabling the integration of Product Realization Process (PRP) topics into subsequent courses in the curriculum. This work is an adaptation of PRP curriculum development projects previously funded by NSF, especially DUE-9354772 "Mechanical Engineering Curriculum Development Initiative -Integrating the Product Realization Process into the Undergraduate Curriculum." Often, students are introduced to manufacturing by way of a survey course alone, and do not get the chance to study the processes at close range. This makes it difficult to effectively teach how a product evolves from initial concept to final production. Since full-sized production machinery is expensive, access to portable, desktop equipmentthat is still capable of producing real parts addresses this situation. The equipment for the project, some of which is already on hand, is supporting the following Manufacturing course modules: Materials Selection,Rapid Prototyping, Plastics Production, Composites Production, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machining, Welding Fabrication, Robotic Parts Handling and Metrology. The equipment also allows students toexperience the full cycle of the PRP through the addition of Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM), Computer Numerical Control (CNC), Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Rapid Prototyping and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) components to several courses in the curriculum,especially in the design sequence. Industry has indicated that a hands-on understanding of basic manufacturing processes, and direct experience with the PRP, is of significant value for Mechanical Engineering graduates.