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Case Studies in Engineering Economics for Manufacturing Competitiveness

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Sustainable Product Development and Manufacturing

Tagged Division

Manufacturing

Page Count

9

Page Numbers

25.287.1 - 25.287.9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21045

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21045

Download Count

6375

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Paper Authors

biography

Priya Manohar Robert Morris University

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Priyadarshan Manohar is an Associate Professor of engineering at Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, Penn. He has a Ph.D. in materials engineering (1998) and graduate diploma in computer science (1999) from the University of Wollongong, Australia, and he holds a bachelor's of engineering (metallurgical engineering) degree from Pune University, India (1985). He has worked as a postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh (2001-2003), and at BHP Institute for Steel Processing and Products, Australia (1998-2001). Manohar held the position of Chief Materials Scientist at Modern Industries, Pittsburgh (2003-2004) and Assistant Manager (Metallurgy Group), Engineering Research Center, Telco, India (1985-1993). He has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including a 2007 Best Paper Award by the Manufacturing Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), three review papers, and three book chapters. He has participated in numerous national and international conferences. He is a member of ASM International, TMS, ACerS, AIST, ASEE, IMEA, and a registered Chartered Professional Engineer. Manohar’s research interests include mathematical and computer modeling of materials behavior, thermomechanical processing of steels and other metallic materials, microstructural characterization, and structure-property relationships. He has conducted a number of technical failure investigations, consulted on various materials-related problems, and acted as an expert witness in a court of law.

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Abstract

Case Studies in Engineering Economics for Manufacturing CompetitivenessThe importance of competitiveness in manufacturing industry cannot beoveremphasized in the face of rapidly changing globalized economy.Competitiveness may be achieved through various mechanisms such as designingand building distinguished products, offering outstanding service, producing highproduct quality and of course by developing cost competitiveness. In this regard,it is recognized that undergraduate education mainly focuses on the technical anddesign aspects of the engineering profession while many other aspects includingmarketing, costing, project and financial management, which are the essentialneeds of the contemporary manufacturing businesses, receive much less attention.To address this issue, several elements have been incorporated in manufacturingengineering curriculum to expose students to the methods of costing ofengineered products and financial management. In the ‘Products and ToolDesign’ class students employ reverse engineering strategies to discover costdrivers in a product. They subsequently redesign the product to make it more costeffective as compared to the existing products. In ‘Value Design’ class, the topicof costing is developed in a ground-up manner where small as well as large scaleengineering projects are designed over longer time periods. Life cycle costing,sustainability, energy efficiency and green engineering principles are alsoincorporated in financial analysis. Different techniques for analysis andcomparison of alternative proposals followed by financial decision making aredemonstrated using problem solving methods. Practical and realistic insights areprovided by studying a set of case studies involving engineering economicapplications. Case studies are then discussed in the class to highlight theimportance financially responsible decisions through data collection, data analysisand communication. This paper will present some the case studies selected forthis purpose and the students’ response to the case study based teaching andlearning approach.

Manohar, P. (2012, June), Case Studies in Engineering Economics for Manufacturing Competitiveness Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21045

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