Developing a new manufacturing engineering technology curriculum

Abstract

Manufacturing is one of the areas that had been deeply hit by globalization and most of the manufacturer's associate globalization with outsourcing due to recent history of U.S. manufacturing. Approximately 300,000 jobs were outsourced to foreign countries in 2003 and research predicts that 3.4 million jobs will be lost by 2015 in manufacturing outsourcing. Does this mean manufacturing is going to decline? Global manufacturing enables engineering and manufacturing responsibilities to be distributed in such a way that the product is built efficiently. In this paper authors would discuss about the new manufacturing engineering technology program for the north east Indiana where the courses would provide graduates with solid knowledge and readily marketable skills in the area of manufacturing engineering. In recent years virtually all markets around the world demand that products be engineered to meet local requirements and preferences. Incorporating all these concerns a survey was done to see the hiring trend for the proposed manufacturing engineering technology curriculum. Based on the survey manufacturing ET curriculum was developed that provides a foundation in sciences complemented by general technical courses in mechanical and industrial engineering disciplines. The general technical courses, focusing on the practical application of engineering knowledge, include the subject areas of engineering graphics, engineering materials and mechanics, hydraulics and pneumatics, CAD/CAM, geometric tolerancing, design and engineering economics. The manufacturing-specific courses cover subjects in manufacturing processes, CNC, quality assurance, facilities layout, material science, design for manufacturing, and lean manufacturing. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010.