A CDIO-based social manufacturing laboratory: Prototype for CPSS-based production processes

Abstract

CDIO is an innovative educational framework for producing the new generation of engineers by providing students with engineering and business fundamentals in the context of Conceiving-Designing-Implementing-Operating real-world systems and products. Social manufacturing is an emerging form of making and marketing customized products by 3D printers and crowdsourcing in cyberspace. A CDIO-based Social Manufacturing Laboratory (CDIO-SML) that integrates 3D printing techniques for additive manufacturing and e-commerce for marketing has been developed and described in this paper. The lab consists of five platforms for 1) teaching integration, 2) requirement acquisition, 3) interactive design and innovation, 4) manufacturing and production processes, 5) cyberspace-based marketing and operations. These five platforms facilitate product development from the requirement, design, manufacturing, marketing, to services. Each student participates in the whole process of the product life cycle and plays the roles of 1) conceiver, 2) product designer, 3) process implementer, and 4) system operator. Multiple teams are allowed to design and make multiple products in the lab simultaneously. And, the training objectives of CDIO-based Social Manufacturing Courses (CDIO-SMC) based on CDIO-SML are described in detail. Finally, an application case of unmanned aerial aircraft training is drawn out. The lab is a typical cyber-physical-social system (CPSS) that enables students to hand on and experience the entire process of collecting product requirement, conceiving, designing, developing, and manufacturing, and marketing, and providing product services of pre-sale, in-sale, and after-sale stages.