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Session 2542

Teaching Factory Approach to Engineering Management Education

Mel I. Mendelson Loyola Marymount University

Abstract An industrial partnership was established with a start-up company to plan and design a novel pressure fresh container for preserving fruits and vegetables. This was developed in a class project for a Manufacturing & Production Engineering graduate course. One self-directed team of engineering students generated a prototype design, manufacturing plan and cost estimate for producing the product.

I. Introduction Loyola Marymount University (LMU) offers a part-time, evening M.S. degree in Engineering and Production Management (EAPM). It is tailored to working engineers with at least 3 years of industrial experience. Its purpose is to educate engineers in the manufacturing and management of competitive products for the global economy. The EAPM program integmtes engineering and business into the curriculum and emphasizes developing products using concurrent engineering [11.

LMU has established a partnership with Eco Tech, a small start-up company, where the students have assisted the company in the planning and development of real products. It has been a win-win situation, because the students have gained valuable experience in implementing the product planning concepts in a classroom setting. In addition, the company has benefited from the students’ assistance in developing new products. This is defined as the teaching factory approach, which has been successfully utilized with start-up companies in Japan and more recently in the United States [21.

Over the last 6 years, Eco Tech has performed research in preseming fruits and vegetables for up to 6 months without spoiling. The process has been patented under the name of pressure j-esh technology B]. This process was jointly researched with universities under a Phase I small business imovative research (SBIR) grant H. In order to prepare for a Phase II grant, a technology plan was required for commercializing the pressure fresh technology. The graduate engineering students assisted Em Tech in creating this technology plan. The paper will describe this class project for a 3 semester-hour EAPM coume entitled, Manufacturing and Production Engineering. It was the first time the teaching factory approach was used in the EAPM program. This paper will discuss the project description, requirements and expectations, project organization, performance results, and the lessons learned.

II. Project Description The project involved the design and planning of a pressure jiesh home unit that would compete with Tuppenvare~ containers and refrigerators for preserving perishable foods. Interest had been expressed by the U.S. Navy, U.S. food processing industry, the Japanese, Chinese and Russians [% For the class project, the markets were assumed to be home units for the kitchen and recreational vehicles. The pressure fresh technology has been demonstrated in a research laboratory and verified on a farm [61. The process utilized a container with a reverse seal, which was under a positive air pressure and at room temperature B].

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Mendelson, M. I. (1996, June), Teaching Factory Approach To Engineering Management Education Paper presented at 1996 Annual Conference, Washington, District of Columbia. 10.18260/1-2--6320