Overview
This course examines modern production and operations management tools and compares them to the processes required to produce engineering prototypes. The goal is to identify which of these tools are best suited for use in improving the prototype assembly process. Corporations have invested heavily in modernizing their manufacturing operations to achieve world-class performance. While traveling along the road to excellence, they have amassed a wide array of tools and techniques for squeezing every bit of value from their operations. Much has been written in recent years about how companies can maximize their manufacturing capabilities, yet the early engineering prototype stage of the product lifecycle has gone largely unattended. The purpose of this course is to compare prototype development and production with modern production and operations management to determine if tools that have become so commonplace in factories around the world can be successfully applied to the earlier stages of a product’s life.
The course begins with a brief examination of modern manufacturing theory and then proceeds to the development of tools that have led companies to their current levels of success. Each new tool is introduced with sufficient detail to enable the reader to comprehend its place and importance in modern production operations. These same tools are then examined in light of their applicability to the special requirements of engineering prototyping operations to see if they can be successfully applied in that realm. As would be expected, some of the tools offer much to improve prototype operations while others have less to offer. Each is presented objectively to allow students to determine applicability to processes in their own fields of endeavor.
This course is recommended for engineers involved with the development, production, testing, or evaluation of engineering prototypes. Although written with manufacturing companies specifically in mind, the principles taught herein may also be applied to the companies which develop prototype products or services other than manufactured items.
The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of fifteen (15) questions at the end of this course to earn PDH credits.
Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained
This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:
- Historical background for the development of modern manufacturing processes
- Comparison of full-scale production manufacturing processes and prototype processes
- A review of twelve of the most influential manufacturing process improvement methodologies and tools
- Application of the tools to the production of engineering prototypes
- A quick reference review of the methodologies and their key elements
- Examples of how the tools can be applied to the prototype stage of new product introduction
Course
Click on the following link to the PDF document to review the course material before taking the quiz for credit.
Applying Modern Manufacturing Processes to Engineering Prototypes
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