CAREER: A Concurrent Design Paradigm for Small Companies

9624195 Carlson该职业奖为小型公司和教育活动并发工程方法的开发提供支持，以培养团队合作、设计和产品开发技能。在大型企业中，并行工程对产品的质量和开发周期产生了重要的影响。尽管小公司占美国所有制造公司的百分之九十，但在开发针对他们需求的并行工程方法方面所做的工作却很少。行动研究范式用于通过访谈和参与小型公司设计团队来收集信息。基于这些信息，提出了一种方法，并教授给工业参与者和学生。在公司和课堂上实施该方法后，进行修订，重新开始整个循环。这种行动研究范式允许实践工程师和学生成为设计方法开发中的合作伙伴，该方法使用团队在设计周期的早期关注产品的生命周期方面。教育活动包括技术、管理和政策辅修课程的开发，该课程将面向全校学生开放。本辅修课程将教导学生技术和产品的发展，以及这些发展对国家和世界的影响，并将使学生有机会在涉及技术管理和开发的复杂问题的多学科团队中工作。当国家面临全球竞争、可持续发展和资源减少的问题时，这些学生将为如何管理和使用技术做出艰难的决定做好更好的准备。这项拨款可能会改善小型公司的设计，并对学生进行设计和跨学科团队合作的教育。类似的好处也可以从一种专门为小公司开发的并行方法中得到，这种方法可以不花钱请外部顾问。

9624195 Carlson This Career Award provides support for the development of a concurrent engineering methodology for small companies and educational activities to develop skills in team work, design, and product development. Concurrent engineering has had a significant impact on the quality and development cycle of products in large corporations. Even though small companies constitute ninety percent of all manufacturing firms in the United States, little work has been done to develop a concurrent engineering methodology that targets their needs. An action research paradigm is used to gather information through interviews and participation in small company design teams. Based upon this information, a methodology is proposed and taught to industrial participants and students. After implementation of the methodology in companies and the classroom, revisions are made, starting the whole cycle again. This action research paradigm allows practicing engineers and students to become partners in the development of a design methodology that uses teams of people to focus on the life cycle aspects of a product early in the design cycle. Educational activities include the development of a Technology, Management, and Policy minor that will be open to students across the university. This minor will educate students on the development of technologies and products and the implication of these developments on the nation and the world, and will give the students an opportunity to work in multi-disciplinary teams on complex problems dealing with management and development of technologies. These students will be better prepared to make tough decisions on how to govern and use technology as the nation faces the issues of global competition, sustainability, and diminishing resources. This grant is likely to provide improvements in design within small companies and the education of students about design and interdisciplinary team work. Similar benefits are expected from a concurrent methodology de veloped specifically for small companies that can be adopted without the expense of outside consultants.