Computer-aided concurrent environment for manufacturing education

Undergraduate education in manufacturing engineering is undergoing constant change to satisfy the level of competence expected from the graduate engineers by manufacturing industry. Apart from a need to integrate the different strands of course material, more emphasis needs to be placed on computer-aided concurrent manufacturing. One way to respond to these needs is to introduce practical examples into the curriculum. The case study presented herein considers one such example. The product around which the case study was developed, is simple yet flexible enough so that the lecturer can tie in a number of manufacturing-related topics, such as computer-aided design, computer-aided process planning, computer-aided manufacturing, concurrent engineering and manufacturability of a product. The computer-aided design and manufacturing software used in the case study is identical to that used in several manufacturing engineering companies. The case study could be considered as a simulation of some of the common practices found in these companies.