Asee peer logo

Early Incorporation of Design for Manufacturing in the Engineering Curriculum

Download Paper |

Conference

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Seattle, Washington

Publication Date

June 14, 2015

Start Date

June 14, 2015

End Date

June 17, 2015

ISBN

978-0-692-50180-1

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Design Throughout the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum

Tagged Division

Mechanical Engineering

Page Count

14

Page Numbers

26.564.1 - 26.564.14

DOI

10.18260/p.23902

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/23902

Download Count

446

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Aaron Lalley P.E. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

visit author page

Aaron Lalley P.E.
Instructor – Mechanical Engineering Department- South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Aaron Lalley is an instructor at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T). His current research includes chatter modeling of a machining process with fixture optimization. Previous research includes manufacturing process development for advanced solar cell production, ion implantation for enhanced tooling performance and nano-fiber composite modeling.

Aaron’s 23 year engineer work history includes 18 years with Hutchinson Technology as an engineer in manufacturing, machine design and tool design, working in the process areas of laser welding, shearing, forming and coining. In addition to Hutchinson Technology Aaron has worked for Caterpillar, Midwest Precision Tool and Die, Unified Theory Inc. and Manufacturing Works, an agency of the State of Wyoming, in the areas of machine design, product design , CNC programming, HVAC, MRP, process development and product development.

visit author page

biography

Mark David Bedillion South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5065-4131

visit author page

Dr. Bedillion received the BS degree in 1998, the MS degree in 2001, and the PhD degree in 2005, all from the mechanical engineering department of Carnegie Mellon University. After a seven year career in the hard disk drive industry, Dr. Bedillion joined the faculty of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Spring 2011. Dr. Bedillion's research interests include distributed manipulation, control applications in data storage, control applications in manufacturing, and STEM education.

visit author page

biography

Michael Langerman South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

visit author page

Dr. Michael Langerman is professor and Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and Co-Director of the Computational Mechanics Laboratory at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T). Before academia, Dr. Langerman was employed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory either as a member of the technical staff or as a closely aligned consultant. He has conducted applied research for LANL, ORNL, and several universities and companies. He has over 80 technical publications and conference presentations. He was elected to Fellow grade in ASME in 2006.

visit author page

author page

Umesh A. Korde South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Download Paper |

Abstract

Early Incorporation of Design for Manufacturing in the Engineering CurriculumDesign for manufacturing (DFM) and/or concurrent engineering has been a focus for engineeringeducators and industry partners for decades. The efforts throughout the engineering communitieshave resulted in improvements in methods, training, and software. Largely thanks to theperformance of DFM ready engineers, there have been notable improvements in profitability anddesign cycle lead time [1,2]. However, the trend toward urbanization and reduction in secondaryeducation shop classes has made DFM training at the post-secondary level more challenging.Specifically, engineering freshmen are less likely to have hand skills or familiarity withmanufacturing equipment than previous generations [3,4,5,6].This paper describes a mechanical engineering department curriculum developed to provideDFM and manufacturing training in the freshman year. Skills obtained in the freshman year aresubsequently demonstrated in the sophomore year via a significant product design anddevelopment project. This curriculum provides underclassmen the opportunity to develop afundamental understanding of DFM and to build upon this understanding through applicationlater in the curriculum including senior capstone design. The goal is a more industry-readygraduate who has an understanding of the principle of “first time right” and who has theconfidence to address the increasingly complex issues arising in engineering design in the globalmanufacturing arena.The approach described in this paper is a three course series. The first course in the freshmenyear establishes fundamental mechanical engineering principles, including a focus on problemsolving skills and specialized design tools (e.g., CAD/CAM).The second course in the freshman year develops manufacturing skills including work-placesafety, lean manufacturing, and the philosophy of first-time-right while providing students withhands-on training in woodworking, light metalworking, manual milling, manual lathe work andComputer Numerical Control (CNC) machining. The intent is not to train engineering studentsto be machinists but rather to give them an understanding of fundamental manufacturingprocesses. Each student must complete an individual design project and be part of a design teamon a CNC project. These projects require that the students complete fully dimensioned andtoleranced engineering drawings and a work order including material selection and a plannedbuild process.The third course in the sophomore year is a product development course focused on sustainableenergy. The lecture content includes renewable and sustainable fossil and nuclear energy. Thestudents complete a supporting lab series including solar, wind, fuel cell and hydroelectricexperiments. During the last half of the course the students design, build, and test an energyrelated product of their own invention receiving guidance and critique throughout the process.The design build section relies heavily on DFM skills developed in the freshman year.The coherence of these three courses has yielded positive results. Material waste has dropped offsignificantly and the quality of the manufacturing (student builds) has increased significantly as aresult of more complete and accurate prints and part build plans. The students have shown anincreased understanding of the build process and more confidence with making design decisions.The project results have been impressive, including novel designs for sterling motors, counterrotating windmills, a solar charging cell phone case utilizing additive manufacturing, and others.The student presentations often highlight the value of material selection; build plans, completedrawings and proper tolerancing.Future plans include facilitate increased student machine time in the DFM lab as well as thedevelopment of a junior level course including a more significant product development andlarger scale laboratory work focused on sustainable energy. This is expected to build on thecurrent series and feed directly into the senior capstone design course.The paper will discuss the instructional approaches developed over the last 2 years, projectexamples, as well as semester-by-semester assessment results.Bibliography 1. Cooper, Robin. Kaplan, Robert S. “Profit Priorities from Activity-Based Costing”. Harvard Business Review. PP 130-135. May-June 1991. 2. Charney, Cyril. “Time to Market: Reducing Product Lead Time”. Society of Manufacturing Engineers. 1991. 3. “Vocational Education in the United States: The Early 1990s”. Institute of Education Sciences. U.S. Dept. of Education. 4. “Reality Check: The U.S. Job Market and Students' Academy and Career Paths Necessitate Enhanced Vocational Education in High Schools”. NFA Research. March 2012. 5. Sirkin, Harold L. “To Ease the Skills Shortage, Bring Back the Vocational High School”. Bloomberg Business Week, March 2013. 6. Hobbs, Frank. Stoops, Nicole. “Demographic Trends in the 20th Century, Census 2000 Special Reports” November 2002.

Lalley, A., & Bedillion, M. D., & Langerman, M., & Korde, U. A. (2015, June), Early Incorporation of Design for Manufacturing in the Engineering Curriculum Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.23902

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2015 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015