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Industry and university cooperation to enhance manufacturing education
Journal of Manu.[hcturing Systems Vol. 24/No. 3 2005
Industry and University Cooperation to Enhance Manufacturing Education Ciro A. Rodriguez, Center for Innovation in Design and Technology, Tecnol6gico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
Joaquim de Ciurana, Departament d'Enginyeria Mecb.nica i de la Construccio Industrial, Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain Alex Elias, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tecnol6gico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
Abstract
their respective geographical regions. Some case studies are also presented to illustrate these experiences.
This paper shows how industry and university cooperation is used to enhance manufacturing education in Mexico and Spain. The Tecnol6gico de Monterrey (Mexico) and the Universitat de Girona (Spain) have exchanged engineering education experiences and established similar industry-university mechanisms to enhance manufacturing education through (a) cooperation with the consumer and durable products industry and (b) cooperation with the manufacturing technology products industry. Also, this paper describes the general structure of the mechanisms and associated case studies in Mexico: (a) development of a manual press for souvenir manufacturing, (b) die and mold development projects, (c) high-speed milling for industrial design prototyping; and in Spain: (d) development of a power tool for polishing and (e) development of a mechanical press for license plate manufacturing. The cooperation between industry and university has shown significant benefits for manufacturing companies and for engineering students. These benefits are described in some detail.
Related Work
During the product development process, there are several phases (such as planning, concept, system-level design, detailed design, testing, and production ramp-up). The product development process requires different levels of involvement by key functions of the organization: marketing, design, and manufacturing (Ulrich and Eppinger 2000). Among the published studies of engineering education there are many that deal with the design aspects of product development (Ghaemmaghami and Bucciarelli 2003; Magleby et al. 2001). However, this paper focuses on the manufacturing aspects of product development, where relatively few published works can be found. Some examples of previous studies regarding the manufacturing aspects of product development are shown in Chan (2004); Dutta, Geister, and Tryggvason (2004); McCarthy, Seidel, and Tedford (2004); and Ray, Berg, and Baron (2004).
Keywords: Engineering Education, Manufacturing Education, ManufacturingTechnology,ManufacturingIndustry, Product Development
Introduction The motivation to seek industry-university relations in manufacturing engineering education arises from the need to (a) increase the relevance of the current engineering education and (b) promote early contact between industry and potential employees. With this in mind, this paper describes some manufacturing education experiences in Mexico and Spain. The Tecnol6gico de Monterrey in Mexico and the Universitat de Girona (UdG) in Spain have established similar industry-university mechanisms to enhance their manufacturing education in response to the significance of the manufacturing industry in
Different Modes of Industry-University Interaction
In terms of industry-university interaction to enhance engineering education, there are at least ttu-ee distinct modes: * University-driven projects (those conducted
within the university with some input from industry). ° Industry-university collaboration (projects conducted at the university and having strong interaction with industry). 277
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• Industry driven projects (internships type engineering training) (Bums 2004).
eration of each mechanism for industry-relevant manufacturing education.
This paper is mainly focused on industry-university collaboration that impacts curriculum courses, capstone projects for undergraduate students, and thesis work for graduate students.
Sponsorships by Consumer and Durable Products Industry Sponsorships by the consumer and durable products industry is used to develop capstone projects, thesis projects, and project-based learning curricula (both undergraduate and graduate levels). This kind of project enhances manufacturing education when it is directed to these aspects of product development: design for manufacturing, manufacturing process specification, and manufacturing machinery development. In the following sections, case studies 1, 2, ,and 3 show examples of projects sponsored by the consumer product industry (see Table 1). Currently, Tecnol6gico de Monterrey in Mexico is a member of the PACE program (Partnership for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education, sponsored by General Motors, UGS, EDS, and Sun M i c r o s y s t e m s , www.ugs.com/partners/gophn/ pace.shtml). The projects developed under this program are mainly led by General Motors and therefore fall into the durable products category (automotive industry).
Mechanisms to Enhance Manufacturing Education Tecnolrgico de Monterrey in Mexico and the UdG in Spain have exchanged experiences in engineering education and have established similar industryuniversity m e c h a n i s m s to e n h a n c e their manufacturing education. Some of these experiences were exchanged during the operation of an engineering education network on concurrent engineering (sponsored from 2002 to 2004 by the Spanish government: Agencia Espafiola de Colaboraci6n Internacional, AECI). The mentioned mechanisms for better manufacturing education are classified by the type of industry sponsoring the projects. The consumer products category includes electronic products, toys, and appliances, among others. The durable products include automobiles and aircraft. For the purposes of this study, the manufacturing technology products category is used to indicate the following: production machinery, machine accessories, CAD/CAM/CAE systems, and tooling (such as cutting tools, fixtures, dies and molds). The following sections describe in more detail the op-
Sponsorships by Manufacturing Technology Products Industrv Sponsorships by the manufacturing technology industry is a valuable means of teaching with up-todate equipment and software. The companies that
Table 1 Types of Project Sponsors and Project Orientation for Different Engineering Course Levels
Type of Industry Sponsor Consumer and Durable Goods Manufacturing Technology Products Case 1 PD & PM
Course Level Graduate-Level Thesis
Graduate-LevelProject-Based LearningCurricula Undergraduate-LevelCapstoneProject
Case 4 TA & TC
Case 2 & 3 PM
Undergraduate-LevelProject-Ba~sed LearningCurricula PD: PM: TA: TC:
Case4 TA & TC Case 5 TA
ProjectOrientation ProductDesign ManufacturingProcessand/orEquipmentDevelopment ManufacturingTechnologyApplication ManufacturingTechnologyCustomization
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to strengthen the competitive position of AMT membership by linking their brands to a renowned engineering school in Mexico and creating long-term preference for U.S. brands in the Mexican industrial community. This agreement also enhances manufacturing education in Mexico by providing access to state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and bestpractices knowledge at Tecnol6gico de Monterrey (see top of Figure 1). The operation of this agreement is based on the following general stages:
supply manufacturing technology are willing to establish cooperation with universities to promote their brands of machine tools, tooling, and engineering software. Case studies 4 and 5 in the following sections provide examples of projects with significant sponsorship by manufacturing technology companies (see Table 1). The sponsorship by the manufacturing technology industry is based on some type of cooperation agreements, typically falling within one of these categories:
• Stage 1. AMT members use Tecnol6gico de Monterrey laboratories to showcase their stateof-the-art manufacturing technology with standard demos, customized demos, technical seminars, and special events (open houses), bringing this technology close to their potential market in Mexico and Tecnolrgico de Monterrey students. With this scenario, AMT and Tecnol6gico de Monterrey have hosted a large number of representatives from the regional automotive, auto parts, aerospace, and appliance industries. • Stage 2. Tecnol6gico de Monterrey staff, faculty, and students actively participate in these demonstrations and customization activities of manufacturing technology, with additional support of university permanent equipment and research funds. The bottom of Figure 1 show's an open house event at the Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-,aAVlTTech Center. • Stage 3. The Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-AMT agreement provides a better positioning of the AMT members in the Mexican market.
• Trade organizations. This kind of agreement can have a broad scope in terms of the number of manufacturing technology companies involved. Tecnol6gico de Monterrey currently has a cooperation agreement with the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT, www.amtonline.org/, www:mfgtech.ol~/), a trade organization for the U.S. manufacturing technology industry. • Brand distributors. Manufacturing technology companies have a wide network of distributors that are willing to establish cooperation with universities. HEMAQ (www.hemaq.com), a Mexican distributor of machine tools, and Tecnol6gico de Monterrey have worked together for more than five years on a wide range of education projects. • Direct cooperation. Sometimes the manufacturing technology companies establish direct cooperation with universities (without distributor involvement). Case study 4 shows some examples of this kind of cooperation. • Research and development foundations and institutes. In Spain, there a number of R&D foundations and institutes that link university research and industry needs. These foundations and institutes sometimes have state-of-the-art manufacturing technology for showcasing. UdG has a cooperation agreement with ASCAMM (Catalan Association for Dies & Molds).
While the demonstration equipment and software is located at the Tecnol6gico de Monterrey labs, students have access to these facilities in order to develop different kinds of projects. Case study 5 provides examples of how the Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-AMT Tech Center helps to enhance manufacturing education. Discussion
Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-AMT Tech Center
When the manufacturing technology industry sponsors university projects, equipment and software can be put to use by students either at the universiW or at the location of the sponsoring company or foundation. The use of this manufacturing technology can be either by purchase with educational discount, lease, or at no cost.
The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) supports U.S. manufacturing technology companies (machines, accessories, tooling, and software) through strategic information, trade shows, and demonstration centers outside the U.S. An Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-AMT Tech Center has been established
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Education
Case Study 1. Development of PowerTool for Polishing
The experience at Tecnolrgico de Monterrey and UdG indicates that the purchase of a piece of equipment or of software licenses by the university usually does not lead to a working cooperation with the company. The quality of the industr3,-university cooperation tends to improve when manufacturing technology is brought to the university under some scenario of benefit exchange (typically under lease agreement). In the following sections, case studies illustrate how the industry-university at Tecnol6gico de Monterrey and UdG help students better learn manufacturing engineering concepts and practices.
This case study shows the experiences of product design and manufacturing process development of a power tool for polishing. The project begins with the merging of two companies in the Catalunya region of Spain. One company was oriented to develop sanding tools and the second company was dedicated to power polishing tools. The merger was intended to offer a more integrated set of products and services to each company's respective customers. However, at the new company, the technology used by the
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power polishing tools was considered obsolete and the manufacturing process was inefficient. This project was developed as industry-university (UdG) collaboration. The project team was composed of two professors and several graduate students. The complete project involved all the phases of the product development process (Ulrich and Eppinger 2000). This case study presented here focuses only on the manufacturing aspects of the product development (such as design for manufacturing and manufacturing process specification). The goal of the company was to redesign a specific product family to: (a) sustain and increase market sh,'u'e; and (b) improve manufacturing practices. The product result must have a modern appearance, higher quality, fewer components, and lower time of manufacture. On the other hand, the goal for the university was to work with the company in solving its product development needs and to provide rich industry-related experiences for students.
location and material to control the system. For the housing and aspiration system modules, aesthetic and ergonomic considerations were taken as an iterative process with input from potential users. Finally, to evaluate complete design technique of design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) analysis was used to reduce the number of components. In parallel with activities of detailed design, several prototypes were built for each module to check feasibility and functionality of the concepts.
Manufacturing Process Development The individual component specifications of parts initiate in parallel with the detailed design stage of the product development. Five different manufacturing processes were developed for each module: plate, engine, transmission and counterbalance, and housing and aspiration system. The main requirements for each module are: geometD', material, and production rates. Students learn process selection by considering advantages and disadvantages of each manufacturing process in close interaction with manufacturing suppliers. This experience is used to learn the requirements of each process and how each process can produce a particular geometry, tolerance, roughness, and so on. For the plate, housing, and aspiration system, the selected manufacturing process was plastic injection molding. For the engine, transmission, and counterbalance modules the selected process was machining because the complexity of some components demanded the use of CNC and CAM technologies. All components from this product were outsourced to external companies responsible to manufacture the components. Complete documentation of the product design (drawings, materials, etc.) was transferred to these companies. A summary of the elements involved in this project is shown in Figure 2.
Product Design Based on the conceptual design and target specification, the modules defined for this product were: plate, engine, transmission and counterbalance, and housing and aspiration system. Next, the detailed design was conducted to establish the arrangement, form, dimensions, and surface properties of all individual parts. Finally, once materials are specified and the technical and economic feasibility rechecked, all the drawings and other production documents are produced. Several techniques and rules of design for manufacturing were used. Sometimes, variations on the product design were needed because the students proposed impossible manufacturing parts. Direct contact with manufacturing suppliers was a significant element in the student's learning of the design for manufacturing rules. For the plate module, the technique of the finite element method (FEM) was used to test the design strength under torsion and flexion stresses. Several modifications were made until the requested performance was reached. For the motor selection, a design of experiments (DOE) was developed (to identify motor perfornlance variables and optimize motor performance). For the transrnission and counterbalance modules, a specialized program was used to decide the mass
Case Study 2: Development of Automated Mechanical Press for Automotive License Plate Manufacturing The case study was developed in a manufacturing company of license plates for automobiles in Spain. The manufacturing equipment to stamp numbers in plates is completely hand-operated, and it is conducted at different geographical locations. The goal of the company was to develop automatic equip-
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ment for those locations with higher demand. The result must be a low-cost automatic machine capable to stamp number by number, reducing the intervention of operators, and that is portable for easy transportation to different manufacturing locations of the company. This project was developed as an industr3~-university (UdG) collaboration. The team project was composed of one professor and two undergraduate students. In the product development process, this projects deals with manufacturing capabilities upgrading of an existing production operation. The goal of the company was to redesign manual press for the automotive license plate to an automatic one. On the other hand, the goal of the university was to satisfy the company need and provide the appropriate environment for the students to learn trough the experience before to beginning their professional career. To execute the conceptual design and target specifications of the project, several activities were executed: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (as shown in Figure 3). The analysis objective was capturing the requirements of the company for the new machine, such as: no human intervention, low cost, and low energy consumption. The customer requirements were captured through interviews with technicians and engineers from the company. The synthesis activity was based on the functional d e c o m p o s i t i o n of the m a c h i n e . T h e r e f o r e ,
ili!~!~i!!~ii!ii!i!iiii~i Requirement 1 Requirement 2 Requirement 3
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modularization allowed concentrating the design effort in smaller packages. The modules established were the following: engine, transmission, and control. The functional decomposition allows the students to find good m e c h a n i c a l and electronic components for each requirement. At last, the evaluation activity was executed to better decide alternafives to solve the design problem. For the engine module, the detailed solution arises from different alternatives of motor suppliers, which were compared in two aspects: cost and energy consumption. Finally, an AC motor was selected. For the transmission module, different alternatives were designed to get the required path to stamp the license plate. CAD and CAE technologies were used during this stage of the product design to simulate the mechanism. This project allowed the students to connect in an industrial setting. Sometimes engineering students live completely immersed in the university environ-
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Control: Prtxtuct and Machii~e S[~cificalions
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Figure 4 Automatic M e c h a n i c a l P r e s s Development
ment and lose touch with the industrial reality. The students were also exposed to a real application of CAD and CAE technology. A summary of the elements involved in this project is shown in Figure 4.
proven structure that revolves around well-defined product specifications, based on frequent communication and progress presentations with the sponsoring company (Muci-Ktichler, Elias-Zfifiiga, and DelBosque-Garcia 1997). This project exposed the students to multidisciplinary challenges in terms of design and prototyping of the machine and the necessary tooling, as illustrated in Figure 5. The necessary teamwork, project management and technical communication are also important aspects of engineering training that this kind of project provides.
Case Study 3: Development of Manual Mechanical Press for Souvenir Manufacturing Similar to the capstone project described in case study 2, Tecnol6gico de Monterrey promotes this kind of student training in cooperation with manufacturing industry. The mechanical engineering department at Tecnol6gico de Monterrey has recruited the sponsorship of regional manufacturing companies involved with consumer and durable products. Large companies such as General Motors, Renault, Carrier, Visteon, Nemak, and small companies have supported this effort. The case study shown here was developed with a local manufacturing company in Monterrey, Mexico. The company's goal was to design and build a handoperated press to manufacture souvenir magnets of different types and sizes at low cost. However, this small company did not have the engineering personnel to independently conduct the project. The Tecnol6gico de Monterrey project team was integrated by two faculty members and four mechanical engineering undergraduate senior students. This kind of design and prototype project follows a
Case Study 4: Die and Mold Development The die and mold developmentprojects conducted at Tecnol6gico de Monterrey in Mexico are conducted in undergraduate capstone projects in mechanical engineering and in graduate course projects in the manufacturing systems program. These tooling engineering projects are structured based on actual industrial methodologiesand support technology (Altan, Lilly, and Yen 2001; Fallboehmer et al. 2000). Students have developed dies and molds for injection molding, blow molding, polymer composite layup, forging, and sheet metal forming (Rodriguez et al. 2004). The projects involve development phases such as reverse engineering,tooling design, tooling construc-
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and Prototype
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Product and Machine
Input:
Action:
Raw Materials and
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exposed to the use CAD/CAM systems and CNC technology as a means for rapid realization of their product designs. The students organize in teams of two to ttu'ee members and develop a process plan for the construction of the prototype. In the beginning, a particular manufacturing process is selected (typical process are thermoforming, fiberglass lamination, resin casting, ceramic casting, and direct machining). Next, product and mold materials are specified based on the desired product finish and characteristics. The team then gets involved in CAM programming and simulation of the machining operations (including the cutting tool and machining parameter selection) (Orta, Rodriguez, and Probst 2004). During the prototype construction phase, molds are machined with a high-speed milling center. Alternatively, direct machining or abrasive flow cutting is applied to either a soft material (such as wood) or metals for the realization of the product. For those prototypes involving molds, there is a need for actual processing (thermoforming, resin casting, etc.). Finally, finishing operations, such as sanding and painting, are applied to the prototypes. In a given semester, 15-25 teams develop this kind of product prototype. The support of manufacturing technology companies such as Milltronics (high-speed machining center), Flow International (abrasive flow cutting), Sandvik (cutting tools), KOMET (cutting tools), SolidEDGE (CAD/CAM), and Sescoi WorkNC (mold-oriented CAM) has been essential in providing
tion, and benching, with the application of support technologies such as coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), CAD/CAM, CAE for manufacturing process simulation, CNC machine tools, and electrodischarge machining. There are a number of academic benefits derived from these tooling engineering projects, such as: (a) realization of the technical complexity involved in design and construction of dies and molds, through experience with the industrial reality, (b) integration of multiple disciplines such as mechanical design, mechanics of fluids, materials science, and automation, and (c) integration of heterogeneous CAD/CAM systems and numerical control machines such as machining centers and electro-discharge machining. An example of the elements involved in tooling engineering projects is shown in Figure 6. In these projects, direct cooperation with the companies mentioned in Figure 6 has been a key element for the use of state-of-the-art manufacturing technology.
Case 5: High-Speed Milling and Abrasive Flow Cutting for Industrial Design Prototyping The Industrial Design majors are required to take three semester-long prototyping courses. The Prototyping III course (third in the sequence) is dedicated to the construction of conceptual and functional prototypes. In this course, students are 284
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Vol. 24/No. 3 2005
Control
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Input
Action
Raw Materials and
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Examples of High-Speed Milling and Abrasive Flow Cutting for Industrial Design Prototyping
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the h i g h - e n d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e f o r the P r o t o t y p e s III course. A s u m m a r y o f the elements in the high-speed milling and abrasive f l o w machining projects is s h o w n in Figure 7.
use o f u n i q u e p r o d u c t d e v e l o p m e n t and testing technology. • E n h a n c i n g the t r a i n i n g o f e n g i n e e r s w h o ,are potential employees that u n d e r s t a n d industry n e e d s a n d trends ( G r o s s m a n 1997; W i s e and B a u m g a r t n e r 1999). T h e i n t e r a c t i o n b e t w e e n industry, and the u n i v e r s i t y p r o v i d e s a u n i q u e o p p o r t u n i t y to r e v i e w the p e r f o r m a n c e o f potential e m p l o y e e s and t h e r e f o r e facilitate the c o m p a n y ' s r e c r u i t m e n t effort. • C r e a t i n g l o n g - t e r m p r e f e r e n c e f o r specific b r a n d s o f m a n u f a c t u r i n g t e c h n o l o g y (such as p r o d u c t i o n m a c h i n e s and accessories, e n g i n e e r ing software, and p r o d u c t i o n tooling).
Discussion T h e kind o f i n d u s t r y - u n i v e r s i t y c o o p e r a t i o n described in this p a p e r generates a n u m b e r o f benefits for manufacturing education. These benefits vary d e p e n d i n g o n the s p e c i f i c p r o j e c t o r i e n t a t i o n and course level for the project (see Table 1). Table 2 summ a r i z e s the k e y elements o f the different industryuniversity cooperation projects and their corresponding i m p a c t in terms o f m a n u f a c t u r i n g education. T h e c o o p e r a t i o n b e t w e e n industry and universities described in this paper can lead to significant benefits for the c o m p a n i e s involved, such as:
Conclusions The industry-university cooperation undertaken b y T e c n o l 6 g i c o de M o n t e r r e y in M e x i c o and U d G in S p a i n has b e n e f i t s for all parties i n v o l v e d . F r o m the p o i n t o f v i e w o f students, these b e n e f i t s c a n b e s u m m a r i z e d as f o l l o w s : (a) r e a l i z a t i o n o f the technical c o m p l e x i t y i n v o l v e d in p r o d u c t d e s i g n and
• S o l v i n g specific engineering p r o b l e m s within the c o m p a n y as illustrated in case studies 1, 2, and 3. In the case o f small and m e d i u m - s i z e d c o m p a n i e s , the u n i v e r s i t y m i g h t facilitate the
Table 2
Relationship Between Industry-University Cooperation and Impact in Manufacturing Education
hnpact in Manufacturing Education Realization of the technical complexity involved in product design and manufacturing process specification Integration of multiple disciplines such as mechanical design, mechanics of fluids, materials science and automation
Integration of heterogeneous manufacturing technolo~es
Development of project management and communication skills Motivation for a career in manufacturing engineering
Opportunities that allow the students to connect with the industrial frame of mind
Key Elements in Industry-Universit3,Cooperation As shown in case studies 1, 2, and 3, the industry-university,projects expose students to a high level of product complexity and development constraints (such as ergonomics, cost, and schedule). In conventional engineer ing courses, it is difficult to bring that kind of product complexity,. When students are confronted with a specific need from industry, such as automating a manual process (case study 2) or developing a new machine (case study 3), they-are forced to integrate knowledge from different disciplines. Often, these kind of projects require knowledge beyond the standard cmxiculum. This multidisciplinaryapproach brealcsfrom traditional disciplinary approach implemented through most of the en~neering curriculum. In manufacturing technology application projects such as case studies 4 & 5, there is a need to integrate CAD models with CAM systems and then postprocess CNC programs for different machine controllers and manufacturing processes. This kind of manufacturing technology integration, needed in the industrial setting, is an inlainsic element of the projects described in this paper. In all kinds of industry-university projects, there is a need for planning and documentation. Therefore, these teams of students are required to enhance their project management and comnmnication skills. Due to the use of state-of-the-art manufacturing technology (as illustrated in case studies 4 & 5), students are expected to be highly motivated to continue exploring potential careers in manufacturing. For the projects described in case study 5, some students become lab instructors (with additional training provided by the university) alter the successful completion of the course. In all case studies described in this paper, the students come in contact with some aspects of the industrial frmne of mind. These projects enhance the awareness of engineering students about the industry needs, real life problems, manufacturing technology trends and potential opporamities for lnantLfacturing CarL~rs.
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McCarthy, M.; Seidel, R.; and Tedford, D. (2004). "Developments in project and multimedia-based learning in manufacturing systems engineering." lnt'l Journal of Engg. Education (v20, n4), pp536-542. Muci-Ktichler, K.H.; Elfas-Z~fiiga, A.; and Del-Bosque-Garcia, "~: (1997). "Industrial experiential learning activities for mechanical engineering undergraduate students at ITESM, Monterrey Campus." Proc. of ASME Mechanical Engg. Dept. Heads Conf.: Mechanical Engg. Education for Global Practice, San Diego, March 19-20, 1997, pp123-129. Orta, P.; Rodrfguez, C.; and Probst, O. (2004). "Creating prototypes with high speed milling and Unigraphics." PLM }~brld 2004, Anaheim, CA. Ray, L.R.; Berg, P.M.; and Baron, K. (2004). "'Design and manufacturing education through re-engineering products." hzt'i Journal o f Engg. Education (v20, n5), pp703-712. Rodrfguez, C.A.; Ahuett, H.; Probst, O.; Cortrs, J.; Yamfn, S.; and Vfizquez, V. (2004). "Project-based learning for tooling engineering in Mrxico." 3rd Int'l Conf. and Exhibition on Design and Production of Dies and Molds, CIRP, Bursa, Turkey, June 17-19, 2004. pp125-132. Ulrich, K.T. and Eppinger, S.D. (2000). Product Design and Development, 2nd ed. New"York: McGraw-Hill, pp14-18. Wise, R. and Baumgarmer, P. (1999). "Go dowstream: the new profit imperative in manufacturing." Harvard Business Review (v77, n5), pp133-141.
manufacturing process specification, (b) integration of multiple disciplines, (c) integration of heterogeneous manufacturing technologies, (d) development of project management and communication skills, (e) motivation for a career in manufacturing engineering, and (f) opportunities that allow the students to connect with the industrial frame of mind. From the point of view of industry, there are definitive benefits derived from this cooperation, such as (a) solving specific problems, (b) training better engineers who are potential employees, and (c) promoting their manufacturing technology. For future work, both institutions are continuing to expand the collaboration with industry. At the same time, additional exchange of engineering education experiences is being promoted in order to continue learning from best practices in different parts of the world. Acknowledgments
Authors' Biographies
This work was developed with support from Tecnol6gico de Monterrey (through its Research Chair in Mechatronics and Intelligent Machines with grant #CAT006) and UdG (through its Research Group of Product, Process and Production Engineering). The authors would also like to acknowledge the support and willingness of industry to enhance manufacturing education in our respective institutions (the specific companies have been mentioned with the case studies). Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge the enthusiastic participation of graduate and undergraduate students.
Ciro A. Rodriguez is a professor at the Center for Innovation in Design and Technology at the Tecnolrgico de Monterrey in Mexico. He received a PhD and MS from the Ohio State University and BS from the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests and consulting activities include machining processes, machine tools, die and mold nmnufacturing, rapid prototyping and tooling, and engineering education. Since 2004, be has led a group in mechatronics and intelligent machines that conducts research and technology development for regional industry (http://cidyt.m~.itesm.mx/cimec). He is an active member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, with contributions to the North American Manufacturing Research Institution and the SME conference at the International Manufacturing Technology Show. Joaquim de Ciurana is a professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Construction at the University of Girona in Spain. He holds a PhD and BS in industrial engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain. His research is focused on design, production, and manufacturing technologies (systems of computer-integrated manufacturing CIM/CAD/ CAM/CNC, flexible manufacturing, and manufacturing cells, improvement of SMEs, system computer-aided process planning), and engineering education. Currently, he is working in process planning and how manufacturing can improve the manufacturing route sheet. He leads the GREPP (Research Group on Product, Process and Planning) of the University of Girona, focusing on computer-aided process planning (http://eps.udg.es/oe/grepl~.hmo.
References Altan, T.; Lilly, B.; and Yen, ~:C. (2001). "Manufacturing of dies and molds." Annals of the CIRP (v50, n2), pp405-423. Burns, G. (2004). "Work-based learning and the manufacturing industry." Int'l Journal of Engg. Education (v20, n4), pp561-565. Chan, V.H. (2004). "'Learning CAD/CAM and CNC machining through mini-car and catapult projects." Int'l Journal of Engg. Education (v20, n5), pp726-732. Dutta, D.; Geister, D.E.; and Tryggvason, G. (2004). "Introducing hands-on experiences in design and manufacturing education." lm'l Journal of Engg. Education (v20, n5), pp754-763. Fallboehmer, P.; Rodriguez, C.A.; Ozel, T.; and Altan, T. (2000). "High-speed machining of cast iron and alloy steels for die and mold manufacturing." Journal of Materials Processing Technology (v98, nl), pp104-115. Ghaenmmghami, S. and Bucciarelli, L. (2003). "Structured methods in product development." lnt'l Journal of Engg. Education (v19, nl), pp132-141. Grossman, S. (1997). "Turning technical groups into high-performance teams." Research and Technology Mgmt. (v40, n2), pp9-11. Magleby, S.P.; Todd, R.H.; Pugh, D.L. et al. (2001). "Selecting appropriate industrial projects for capstone design programs" lnt'l Journal o[Engg. Education (v17, n4-5), pp400-405.
Alex Elias-Zfifiiga is professor and chair of the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at Tecnolrgico de Monterrey in Mexico. His research interests focus mainly in the areas of nonlinear dynamics, nonlinear solid mechanics, and engineering education. In the area of nonlinear dynamics, he studies the behavior of nonlinear systems by using the familiar perturbation methods, such as harmonic balance, multiple scales, averaging, and the elliptic balance method (EBM). He is also working on the application of the above methods in obtaining the solutions of nonlinear ordinary differential equations with delay that arise in the characterization of motion of nonlinear systems that involve chatter in machining operations. From January 1999 to July 2000, he was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and as a result of this experience he has become interested in nonlinear elasticity applied to study the Mullins effect (stress softening) in rubber-like materials, where he has published several papers.
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Industry and University Cooperation to Enhance Manufacturing Education Ciro A. Rodriguez, Center for Innovation in Design and Technology, Tecnol6gico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
Joaquim de Ciurana, Departament d'Enginyeria Mecb.nica i de la Construccio Industrial, Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain Alex Elias, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tecnol6gico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
Abstract
their respective geographical regions. Some case studies are also presented to illustrate these experiences.
This paper shows how industry and university cooperation is used to enhance manufacturing education in Mexico and Spain. The Tecnol6gico de Monterrey (Mexico) and the Universitat de Girona (Spain) have exchanged engineering education experiences and established similar industry-university mechanisms to enhance manufacturing education through (a) cooperation with the consumer and durable products industry and (b) cooperation with the manufacturing technology products industry. Also, this paper describes the general structure of the mechanisms and associated case studies in Mexico: (a) development of a manual press for souvenir manufacturing, (b) die and mold development projects, (c) high-speed milling for industrial design prototyping; and in Spain: (d) development of a power tool for polishing and (e) development of a mechanical press for license plate manufacturing. The cooperation between industry and university has shown significant benefits for manufacturing companies and for engineering students. These benefits are described in some detail.
Related Work
During the product development process, there are several phases (such as planning, concept, system-level design, detailed design, testing, and production ramp-up). The product development process requires different levels of involvement by key functions of the organization: marketing, design, and manufacturing (Ulrich and Eppinger 2000). Among the published studies of engineering education there are many that deal with the design aspects of product development (Ghaemmaghami and Bucciarelli 2003; Magleby et al. 2001). However, this paper focuses on the manufacturing aspects of product development, where relatively few published works can be found. Some examples of previous studies regarding the manufacturing aspects of product development are shown in Chan (2004); Dutta, Geister, and Tryggvason (2004); McCarthy, Seidel, and Tedford (2004); and Ray, Berg, and Baron (2004).
Keywords: Engineering Education, Manufacturing Education, ManufacturingTechnology,ManufacturingIndustry, Product Development
Introduction The motivation to seek industry-university relations in manufacturing engineering education arises from the need to (a) increase the relevance of the current engineering education and (b) promote early contact between industry and potential employees. With this in mind, this paper describes some manufacturing education experiences in Mexico and Spain. The Tecnol6gico de Monterrey in Mexico and the Universitat de Girona (UdG) in Spain have established similar industry-university mechanisms to enhance their manufacturing education in response to the significance of the manufacturing industry in
Different Modes of Industry-University Interaction
In terms of industry-university interaction to enhance engineering education, there are at least ttu-ee distinct modes: * University-driven projects (those conducted
within the university with some input from industry). ° Industry-university collaboration (projects conducted at the university and having strong interaction with industry). 277
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• Industry driven projects (internships type engineering training) (Bums 2004).
eration of each mechanism for industry-relevant manufacturing education.
This paper is mainly focused on industry-university collaboration that impacts curriculum courses, capstone projects for undergraduate students, and thesis work for graduate students.
Sponsorships by Consumer and Durable Products Industry Sponsorships by the consumer and durable products industry is used to develop capstone projects, thesis projects, and project-based learning curricula (both undergraduate and graduate levels). This kind of project enhances manufacturing education when it is directed to these aspects of product development: design for manufacturing, manufacturing process specification, and manufacturing machinery development. In the following sections, case studies 1, 2, ,and 3 show examples of projects sponsored by the consumer product industry (see Table 1). Currently, Tecnol6gico de Monterrey in Mexico is a member of the PACE program (Partnership for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education, sponsored by General Motors, UGS, EDS, and Sun M i c r o s y s t e m s , www.ugs.com/partners/gophn/ pace.shtml). The projects developed under this program are mainly led by General Motors and therefore fall into the durable products category (automotive industry).
Mechanisms to Enhance Manufacturing Education Tecnolrgico de Monterrey in Mexico and the UdG in Spain have exchanged experiences in engineering education and have established similar industryuniversity m e c h a n i s m s to e n h a n c e their manufacturing education. Some of these experiences were exchanged during the operation of an engineering education network on concurrent engineering (sponsored from 2002 to 2004 by the Spanish government: Agencia Espafiola de Colaboraci6n Internacional, AECI). The mentioned mechanisms for better manufacturing education are classified by the type of industry sponsoring the projects. The consumer products category includes electronic products, toys, and appliances, among others. The durable products include automobiles and aircraft. For the purposes of this study, the manufacturing technology products category is used to indicate the following: production machinery, machine accessories, CAD/CAM/CAE systems, and tooling (such as cutting tools, fixtures, dies and molds). The following sections describe in more detail the op-
Sponsorships by Manufacturing Technology Products Industrv Sponsorships by the manufacturing technology industry is a valuable means of teaching with up-todate equipment and software. The companies that
Table 1 Types of Project Sponsors and Project Orientation for Different Engineering Course Levels
Type of Industry Sponsor Consumer and Durable Goods Manufacturing Technology Products Case 1 PD & PM
Course Level Graduate-Level Thesis
Graduate-LevelProject-Based LearningCurricula Undergraduate-LevelCapstoneProject
Case 4 TA & TC
Case 2 & 3 PM
Undergraduate-LevelProject-Ba~sed LearningCurricula PD: PM: TA: TC:
Case4 TA & TC Case 5 TA
ProjectOrientation ProductDesign ManufacturingProcessand/orEquipmentDevelopment ManufacturingTechnologyApplication ManufacturingTechnologyCustomization
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to strengthen the competitive position of AMT membership by linking their brands to a renowned engineering school in Mexico and creating long-term preference for U.S. brands in the Mexican industrial community. This agreement also enhances manufacturing education in Mexico by providing access to state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and bestpractices knowledge at Tecnol6gico de Monterrey (see top of Figure 1). The operation of this agreement is based on the following general stages:
supply manufacturing technology are willing to establish cooperation with universities to promote their brands of machine tools, tooling, and engineering software. Case studies 4 and 5 in the following sections provide examples of projects with significant sponsorship by manufacturing technology companies (see Table 1). The sponsorship by the manufacturing technology industry is based on some type of cooperation agreements, typically falling within one of these categories:
• Stage 1. AMT members use Tecnol6gico de Monterrey laboratories to showcase their stateof-the-art manufacturing technology with standard demos, customized demos, technical seminars, and special events (open houses), bringing this technology close to their potential market in Mexico and Tecnolrgico de Monterrey students. With this scenario, AMT and Tecnol6gico de Monterrey have hosted a large number of representatives from the regional automotive, auto parts, aerospace, and appliance industries. • Stage 2. Tecnol6gico de Monterrey staff, faculty, and students actively participate in these demonstrations and customization activities of manufacturing technology, with additional support of university permanent equipment and research funds. The bottom of Figure 1 show's an open house event at the Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-,aAVlTTech Center. • Stage 3. The Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-AMT agreement provides a better positioning of the AMT members in the Mexican market.
• Trade organizations. This kind of agreement can have a broad scope in terms of the number of manufacturing technology companies involved. Tecnol6gico de Monterrey currently has a cooperation agreement with the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT, www.amtonline.org/, www:mfgtech.ol~/), a trade organization for the U.S. manufacturing technology industry. • Brand distributors. Manufacturing technology companies have a wide network of distributors that are willing to establish cooperation with universities. HEMAQ (www.hemaq.com), a Mexican distributor of machine tools, and Tecnol6gico de Monterrey have worked together for more than five years on a wide range of education projects. • Direct cooperation. Sometimes the manufacturing technology companies establish direct cooperation with universities (without distributor involvement). Case study 4 shows some examples of this kind of cooperation. • Research and development foundations and institutes. In Spain, there a number of R&D foundations and institutes that link university research and industry needs. These foundations and institutes sometimes have state-of-the-art manufacturing technology for showcasing. UdG has a cooperation agreement with ASCAMM (Catalan Association for Dies & Molds).
While the demonstration equipment and software is located at the Tecnol6gico de Monterrey labs, students have access to these facilities in order to develop different kinds of projects. Case study 5 provides examples of how the Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-AMT Tech Center helps to enhance manufacturing education. Discussion
Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-AMT Tech Center
When the manufacturing technology industry sponsors university projects, equipment and software can be put to use by students either at the universiW or at the location of the sponsoring company or foundation. The use of this manufacturing technology can be either by purchase with educational discount, lease, or at no cost.
The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) supports U.S. manufacturing technology companies (machines, accessories, tooling, and software) through strategic information, trade shows, and demonstration centers outside the U.S. An Tecnol6gico de Monterrey-AMT Tech Center has been established
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3
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Education
Case Study 1. Development of PowerTool for Polishing
The experience at Tecnolrgico de Monterrey and UdG indicates that the purchase of a piece of equipment or of software licenses by the university usually does not lead to a working cooperation with the company. The quality of the industr3,-university cooperation tends to improve when manufacturing technology is brought to the university under some scenario of benefit exchange (typically under lease agreement). In the following sections, case studies illustrate how the industry-university at Tecnol6gico de Monterrey and UdG help students better learn manufacturing engineering concepts and practices.
This case study shows the experiences of product design and manufacturing process development of a power tool for polishing. The project begins with the merging of two companies in the Catalunya region of Spain. One company was oriented to develop sanding tools and the second company was dedicated to power polishing tools. The merger was intended to offer a more integrated set of products and services to each company's respective customers. However, at the new company, the technology used by the
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power polishing tools was considered obsolete and the manufacturing process was inefficient. This project was developed as industry-university (UdG) collaboration. The project team was composed of two professors and several graduate students. The complete project involved all the phases of the product development process (Ulrich and Eppinger 2000). This case study presented here focuses only on the manufacturing aspects of the product development (such as design for manufacturing and manufacturing process specification). The goal of the company was to redesign a specific product family to: (a) sustain and increase market sh,'u'e; and (b) improve manufacturing practices. The product result must have a modern appearance, higher quality, fewer components, and lower time of manufacture. On the other hand, the goal for the university was to work with the company in solving its product development needs and to provide rich industry-related experiences for students.
location and material to control the system. For the housing and aspiration system modules, aesthetic and ergonomic considerations were taken as an iterative process with input from potential users. Finally, to evaluate complete design technique of design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) analysis was used to reduce the number of components. In parallel with activities of detailed design, several prototypes were built for each module to check feasibility and functionality of the concepts.
Manufacturing Process Development The individual component specifications of parts initiate in parallel with the detailed design stage of the product development. Five different manufacturing processes were developed for each module: plate, engine, transmission and counterbalance, and housing and aspiration system. The main requirements for each module are: geometD', material, and production rates. Students learn process selection by considering advantages and disadvantages of each manufacturing process in close interaction with manufacturing suppliers. This experience is used to learn the requirements of each process and how each process can produce a particular geometry, tolerance, roughness, and so on. For the plate, housing, and aspiration system, the selected manufacturing process was plastic injection molding. For the engine, transmission, and counterbalance modules the selected process was machining because the complexity of some components demanded the use of CNC and CAM technologies. All components from this product were outsourced to external companies responsible to manufacture the components. Complete documentation of the product design (drawings, materials, etc.) was transferred to these companies. A summary of the elements involved in this project is shown in Figure 2.
Product Design Based on the conceptual design and target specification, the modules defined for this product were: plate, engine, transmission and counterbalance, and housing and aspiration system. Next, the detailed design was conducted to establish the arrangement, form, dimensions, and surface properties of all individual parts. Finally, once materials are specified and the technical and economic feasibility rechecked, all the drawings and other production documents are produced. Several techniques and rules of design for manufacturing were used. Sometimes, variations on the product design were needed because the students proposed impossible manufacturing parts. Direct contact with manufacturing suppliers was a significant element in the student's learning of the design for manufacturing rules. For the plate module, the technique of the finite element method (FEM) was used to test the design strength under torsion and flexion stresses. Several modifications were made until the requested performance was reached. For the motor selection, a design of experiments (DOE) was developed (to identify motor perfornlance variables and optimize motor performance). For the transrnission and counterbalance modules, a specialized program was used to decide the mass
Case Study 2: Development of Automated Mechanical Press for Automotive License Plate Manufacturing The case study was developed in a manufacturing company of license plates for automobiles in Spain. The manufacturing equipment to stamp numbers in plates is completely hand-operated, and it is conducted at different geographical locations. The goal of the company was to develop automatic equip-
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ment for those locations with higher demand. The result must be a low-cost automatic machine capable to stamp number by number, reducing the intervention of operators, and that is portable for easy transportation to different manufacturing locations of the company. This project was developed as an industr3~-university (UdG) collaboration. The team project was composed of one professor and two undergraduate students. In the product development process, this projects deals with manufacturing capabilities upgrading of an existing production operation. The goal of the company was to redesign manual press for the automotive license plate to an automatic one. On the other hand, the goal of the university was to satisfy the company need and provide the appropriate environment for the students to learn trough the experience before to beginning their professional career. To execute the conceptual design and target specifications of the project, several activities were executed: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (as shown in Figure 3). The analysis objective was capturing the requirements of the company for the new machine, such as: no human intervention, low cost, and low energy consumption. The customer requirements were captured through interviews with technicians and engineers from the company. The synthesis activity was based on the functional d e c o m p o s i t i o n of the m a c h i n e . T h e r e f o r e ,
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modularization allowed concentrating the design effort in smaller packages. The modules established were the following: engine, transmission, and control. The functional decomposition allows the students to find good m e c h a n i c a l and electronic components for each requirement. At last, the evaluation activity was executed to better decide alternafives to solve the design problem. For the engine module, the detailed solution arises from different alternatives of motor suppliers, which were compared in two aspects: cost and energy consumption. Finally, an AC motor was selected. For the transmission module, different alternatives were designed to get the required path to stamp the license plate. CAD and CAE technologies were used during this stage of the product design to simulate the mechanism. This project allowed the students to connect in an industrial setting. Sometimes engineering students live completely immersed in the university environ-
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Control: Prtxtuct and Machii~e S[~cificalions
Output: MachineDesign~u~dPrototype HARolDOPERATED MACHINE
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ment and lose touch with the industrial reality. The students were also exposed to a real application of CAD and CAE technology. A summary of the elements involved in this project is shown in Figure 4.
proven structure that revolves around well-defined product specifications, based on frequent communication and progress presentations with the sponsoring company (Muci-Ktichler, Elias-Zfifiiga, and DelBosque-Garcia 1997). This project exposed the students to multidisciplinary challenges in terms of design and prototyping of the machine and the necessary tooling, as illustrated in Figure 5. The necessary teamwork, project management and technical communication are also important aspects of engineering training that this kind of project provides.
Case Study 3: Development of Manual Mechanical Press for Souvenir Manufacturing Similar to the capstone project described in case study 2, Tecnol6gico de Monterrey promotes this kind of student training in cooperation with manufacturing industry. The mechanical engineering department at Tecnol6gico de Monterrey has recruited the sponsorship of regional manufacturing companies involved with consumer and durable products. Large companies such as General Motors, Renault, Carrier, Visteon, Nemak, and small companies have supported this effort. The case study shown here was developed with a local manufacturing company in Monterrey, Mexico. The company's goal was to design and build a handoperated press to manufacture souvenir magnets of different types and sizes at low cost. However, this small company did not have the engineering personnel to independently conduct the project. The Tecnol6gico de Monterrey project team was integrated by two faculty members and four mechanical engineering undergraduate senior students. This kind of design and prototype project follows a
Case Study 4: Die and Mold Development The die and mold developmentprojects conducted at Tecnol6gico de Monterrey in Mexico are conducted in undergraduate capstone projects in mechanical engineering and in graduate course projects in the manufacturing systems program. These tooling engineering projects are structured based on actual industrial methodologiesand support technology (Altan, Lilly, and Yen 2001; Fallboehmer et al. 2000). Students have developed dies and molds for injection molding, blow molding, polymer composite layup, forging, and sheet metal forming (Rodriguez et al. 2004). The projects involve development phases such as reverse engineering,tooling design, tooling construc-
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and Prototype
Control:
Product and Machine
Input:
Action:
Raw Materials and
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Mechanisms
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exposed to the use CAD/CAM systems and CNC technology as a means for rapid realization of their product designs. The students organize in teams of two to ttu'ee members and develop a process plan for the construction of the prototype. In the beginning, a particular manufacturing process is selected (typical process are thermoforming, fiberglass lamination, resin casting, ceramic casting, and direct machining). Next, product and mold materials are specified based on the desired product finish and characteristics. The team then gets involved in CAM programming and simulation of the machining operations (including the cutting tool and machining parameter selection) (Orta, Rodriguez, and Probst 2004). During the prototype construction phase, molds are machined with a high-speed milling center. Alternatively, direct machining or abrasive flow cutting is applied to either a soft material (such as wood) or metals for the realization of the product. For those prototypes involving molds, there is a need for actual processing (thermoforming, resin casting, etc.). Finally, finishing operations, such as sanding and painting, are applied to the prototypes. In a given semester, 15-25 teams develop this kind of product prototype. The support of manufacturing technology companies such as Milltronics (high-speed machining center), Flow International (abrasive flow cutting), Sandvik (cutting tools), KOMET (cutting tools), SolidEDGE (CAD/CAM), and Sescoi WorkNC (mold-oriented CAM) has been essential in providing
tion, and benching, with the application of support technologies such as coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), CAD/CAM, CAE for manufacturing process simulation, CNC machine tools, and electrodischarge machining. There are a number of academic benefits derived from these tooling engineering projects, such as: (a) realization of the technical complexity involved in design and construction of dies and molds, through experience with the industrial reality, (b) integration of multiple disciplines such as mechanical design, mechanics of fluids, materials science, and automation, and (c) integration of heterogeneous CAD/CAM systems and numerical control machines such as machining centers and electro-discharge machining. An example of the elements involved in tooling engineering projects is shown in Figure 6. In these projects, direct cooperation with the companies mentioned in Figure 6 has been a key element for the use of state-of-the-art manufacturing technology.
Case 5: High-Speed Milling and Abrasive Flow Cutting for Industrial Design Prototyping The Industrial Design majors are required to take three semester-long prototyping courses. The Prototyping III course (third in the sequence) is dedicated to the construction of conceptual and functional prototypes. In this course, students are 284
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Control
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Examples of High-Speed Milling and Abrasive Flow Cutting for Industrial Design Prototyping
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the h i g h - e n d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e f o r the P r o t o t y p e s III course. A s u m m a r y o f the elements in the high-speed milling and abrasive f l o w machining projects is s h o w n in Figure 7.
use o f u n i q u e p r o d u c t d e v e l o p m e n t and testing technology. • E n h a n c i n g the t r a i n i n g o f e n g i n e e r s w h o ,are potential employees that u n d e r s t a n d industry n e e d s a n d trends ( G r o s s m a n 1997; W i s e and B a u m g a r t n e r 1999). T h e i n t e r a c t i o n b e t w e e n industry, and the u n i v e r s i t y p r o v i d e s a u n i q u e o p p o r t u n i t y to r e v i e w the p e r f o r m a n c e o f potential e m p l o y e e s and t h e r e f o r e facilitate the c o m p a n y ' s r e c r u i t m e n t effort. • C r e a t i n g l o n g - t e r m p r e f e r e n c e f o r specific b r a n d s o f m a n u f a c t u r i n g t e c h n o l o g y (such as p r o d u c t i o n m a c h i n e s and accessories, e n g i n e e r ing software, and p r o d u c t i o n tooling).
Discussion T h e kind o f i n d u s t r y - u n i v e r s i t y c o o p e r a t i o n described in this p a p e r generates a n u m b e r o f benefits for manufacturing education. These benefits vary d e p e n d i n g o n the s p e c i f i c p r o j e c t o r i e n t a t i o n and course level for the project (see Table 1). Table 2 summ a r i z e s the k e y elements o f the different industryuniversity cooperation projects and their corresponding i m p a c t in terms o f m a n u f a c t u r i n g education. T h e c o o p e r a t i o n b e t w e e n industry and universities described in this paper can lead to significant benefits for the c o m p a n i e s involved, such as:
Conclusions The industry-university cooperation undertaken b y T e c n o l 6 g i c o de M o n t e r r e y in M e x i c o and U d G in S p a i n has b e n e f i t s for all parties i n v o l v e d . F r o m the p o i n t o f v i e w o f students, these b e n e f i t s c a n b e s u m m a r i z e d as f o l l o w s : (a) r e a l i z a t i o n o f the technical c o m p l e x i t y i n v o l v e d in p r o d u c t d e s i g n and
• S o l v i n g specific engineering p r o b l e m s within the c o m p a n y as illustrated in case studies 1, 2, and 3. In the case o f small and m e d i u m - s i z e d c o m p a n i e s , the u n i v e r s i t y m i g h t facilitate the
Table 2
Relationship Between Industry-University Cooperation and Impact in Manufacturing Education
hnpact in Manufacturing Education Realization of the technical complexity involved in product design and manufacturing process specification Integration of multiple disciplines such as mechanical design, mechanics of fluids, materials science and automation
Integration of heterogeneous manufacturing technolo~es
Development of project management and communication skills Motivation for a career in manufacturing engineering
Opportunities that allow the students to connect with the industrial frame of mind
Key Elements in Industry-Universit3,Cooperation As shown in case studies 1, 2, and 3, the industry-university,projects expose students to a high level of product complexity and development constraints (such as ergonomics, cost, and schedule). In conventional engineer ing courses, it is difficult to bring that kind of product complexity,. When students are confronted with a specific need from industry, such as automating a manual process (case study 2) or developing a new machine (case study 3), they-are forced to integrate knowledge from different disciplines. Often, these kind of projects require knowledge beyond the standard cmxiculum. This multidisciplinaryapproach brealcsfrom traditional disciplinary approach implemented through most of the en~neering curriculum. In manufacturing technology application projects such as case studies 4 & 5, there is a need to integrate CAD models with CAM systems and then postprocess CNC programs for different machine controllers and manufacturing processes. This kind of manufacturing technology integration, needed in the industrial setting, is an inlainsic element of the projects described in this paper. In all kinds of industry-university projects, there is a need for planning and documentation. Therefore, these teams of students are required to enhance their project management and comnmnication skills. Due to the use of state-of-the-art manufacturing technology (as illustrated in case studies 4 & 5), students are expected to be highly motivated to continue exploring potential careers in manufacturing. For the projects described in case study 5, some students become lab instructors (with additional training provided by the university) alter the successful completion of the course. In all case studies described in this paper, the students come in contact with some aspects of the industrial frmne of mind. These projects enhance the awareness of engineering students about the industry needs, real life problems, manufacturing technology trends and potential opporamities for lnantLfacturing CarL~rs.
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McCarthy, M.; Seidel, R.; and Tedford, D. (2004). "Developments in project and multimedia-based learning in manufacturing systems engineering." lnt'l Journal of Engg. Education (v20, n4), pp536-542. Muci-Ktichler, K.H.; Elfas-Z~fiiga, A.; and Del-Bosque-Garcia, "~: (1997). "Industrial experiential learning activities for mechanical engineering undergraduate students at ITESM, Monterrey Campus." Proc. of ASME Mechanical Engg. Dept. Heads Conf.: Mechanical Engg. Education for Global Practice, San Diego, March 19-20, 1997, pp123-129. Orta, P.; Rodrfguez, C.; and Probst, O. (2004). "Creating prototypes with high speed milling and Unigraphics." PLM }~brld 2004, Anaheim, CA. Ray, L.R.; Berg, P.M.; and Baron, K. (2004). "'Design and manufacturing education through re-engineering products." hzt'i Journal o f Engg. Education (v20, n5), pp703-712. Rodrfguez, C.A.; Ahuett, H.; Probst, O.; Cortrs, J.; Yamfn, S.; and Vfizquez, V. (2004). "Project-based learning for tooling engineering in Mrxico." 3rd Int'l Conf. and Exhibition on Design and Production of Dies and Molds, CIRP, Bursa, Turkey, June 17-19, 2004. pp125-132. Ulrich, K.T. and Eppinger, S.D. (2000). Product Design and Development, 2nd ed. New"York: McGraw-Hill, pp14-18. Wise, R. and Baumgarmer, P. (1999). "Go dowstream: the new profit imperative in manufacturing." Harvard Business Review (v77, n5), pp133-141.
manufacturing process specification, (b) integration of multiple disciplines, (c) integration of heterogeneous manufacturing technologies, (d) development of project management and communication skills, (e) motivation for a career in manufacturing engineering, and (f) opportunities that allow the students to connect with the industrial frame of mind. From the point of view of industry, there are definitive benefits derived from this cooperation, such as (a) solving specific problems, (b) training better engineers who are potential employees, and (c) promoting their manufacturing technology. For future work, both institutions are continuing to expand the collaboration with industry. At the same time, additional exchange of engineering education experiences is being promoted in order to continue learning from best practices in different parts of the world. Acknowledgments
Authors' Biographies
This work was developed with support from Tecnol6gico de Monterrey (through its Research Chair in Mechatronics and Intelligent Machines with grant #CAT006) and UdG (through its Research Group of Product, Process and Production Engineering). The authors would also like to acknowledge the support and willingness of industry to enhance manufacturing education in our respective institutions (the specific companies have been mentioned with the case studies). Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge the enthusiastic participation of graduate and undergraduate students.
Ciro A. Rodriguez is a professor at the Center for Innovation in Design and Technology at the Tecnolrgico de Monterrey in Mexico. He received a PhD and MS from the Ohio State University and BS from the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests and consulting activities include machining processes, machine tools, die and mold nmnufacturing, rapid prototyping and tooling, and engineering education. Since 2004, be has led a group in mechatronics and intelligent machines that conducts research and technology development for regional industry (http://cidyt.m~.itesm.mx/cimec). He is an active member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, with contributions to the North American Manufacturing Research Institution and the SME conference at the International Manufacturing Technology Show. Joaquim de Ciurana is a professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Construction at the University of Girona in Spain. He holds a PhD and BS in industrial engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain. His research is focused on design, production, and manufacturing technologies (systems of computer-integrated manufacturing CIM/CAD/ CAM/CNC, flexible manufacturing, and manufacturing cells, improvement of SMEs, system computer-aided process planning), and engineering education. Currently, he is working in process planning and how manufacturing can improve the manufacturing route sheet. He leads the GREPP (Research Group on Product, Process and Planning) of the University of Girona, focusing on computer-aided process planning (http://eps.udg.es/oe/grepl~.hmo.
References Altan, T.; Lilly, B.; and Yen, ~:C. (2001). "Manufacturing of dies and molds." Annals of the CIRP (v50, n2), pp405-423. Burns, G. (2004). "Work-based learning and the manufacturing industry." Int'l Journal of Engg. Education (v20, n4), pp561-565. Chan, V.H. (2004). "'Learning CAD/CAM and CNC machining through mini-car and catapult projects." Int'l Journal of Engg. Education (v20, n5), pp726-732. Dutta, D.; Geister, D.E.; and Tryggvason, G. (2004). "Introducing hands-on experiences in design and manufacturing education." lm'l Journal of Engg. Education (v20, n5), pp754-763. Fallboehmer, P.; Rodriguez, C.A.; Ozel, T.; and Altan, T. (2000). "High-speed machining of cast iron and alloy steels for die and mold manufacturing." Journal of Materials Processing Technology (v98, nl), pp104-115. Ghaenmmghami, S. and Bucciarelli, L. (2003). "Structured methods in product development." lnt'l Journal of Engg. Education (v19, nl), pp132-141. Grossman, S. (1997). "Turning technical groups into high-performance teams." Research and Technology Mgmt. (v40, n2), pp9-11. Magleby, S.P.; Todd, R.H.; Pugh, D.L. et al. (2001). "Selecting appropriate industrial projects for capstone design programs" lnt'l Journal o[Engg. Education (v17, n4-5), pp400-405.
Alex Elias-Zfifiiga is professor and chair of the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at Tecnolrgico de Monterrey in Mexico. His research interests focus mainly in the areas of nonlinear dynamics, nonlinear solid mechanics, and engineering education. In the area of nonlinear dynamics, he studies the behavior of nonlinear systems by using the familiar perturbation methods, such as harmonic balance, multiple scales, averaging, and the elliptic balance method (EBM). He is also working on the application of the above methods in obtaining the solutions of nonlinear ordinary differential equations with delay that arise in the characterization of motion of nonlinear systems that involve chatter in machining operations. From January 1999 to July 2000, he was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and as a result of this experience he has become interested in nonlinear elasticity applied to study the Mullins effect (stress softening) in rubber-like materials, where he has published several papers.
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