applied research links

• Biometric Standards, Performance, and Assurance Laboratory
• Ergonomics
• Six Sigma Quality Process-Lean Manufacturing
• Technology Teacher Preparation in Pre-Engineering Education
• Distribution Management and Inventory Control within Supply Chain Management
• Biotech Manufacturing-Life Science based
• Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education
• Healthcare Quality Initiatives
• Faculty Research Interests
• Corporate Outreach

Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education

Industrial Technology faculty continually work to bring cutting edge, industrially-relevant into the curriculum. One bright example of this is the department’s involvement with the General Motors led PACE collaborative.

The department’s PACE initiative, fully named as Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education, was begun by Drs. Edie Schmidt and Kathryne Newton. As a major component of their new Supply Chain Management Technology laboratory, they pioneered a project entitled: Using TeamCenter in a Supply Chain Management Technology Lab: A Joint Industrial Distribution (ID) and Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MFET) Curriculum Development Project. Because this was the right idea at the right time, their proposal was funded and is currently being implemented in this new laboratory.

Building on this initiative, and with the help of Drs. Schmidt and Newton, Dr. Michael Dyrenfurth envisioned involvement with PACE as being valuable to establishing a foundation for the team and collaborative skills so important to success in today’s contemporary and highly competitive business and industry environment. To this end, his proposal to the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Center of Excellence led to funding and involvement with PACE as well—but, in his case for the freshman/sophomore course IT 104 Industrial Organization.

PACE grant and the Supply Chain Laboratory

Drs. Schmidt & Newton’s project. They will, using their new supply chain laboratory (Knoy B044) integrate the supply chain with the activities that take place on the manufacturing floor. This innovative interdisciplinary effort between two College of Technology programs offers unique opportunities to contribute to learning, engagement and discovery.

A cross-departmental team comprised of College of Technology graduate and undergraduate students will work with faculty and industry to implement TeamCenter Community and use it to facilitate collaboration. Strategic industrial partners have supported related manufacturing and distribution projects with in-kind gifts that add exciting new capabilities, including RFID technology, to the laboratory.

PACE grant integrated with IT 104

Dr. Dyrenfurth’s project - In the introductory course, IT 104 Industrial Organization, Dr. Dyrenfurth’s students will have their collaborative team work facilitated by using TeamCenter Community to share files and collaborate more effectively as each team works towards building their Business Plan.

The vision is to link the course WebCT/Vista web site with a TeamCenter Community site that enables the use of Microsoft Project to introduce the basic functions of project management. Also the project will integrate PLM (Project Life Cycle Management) concepts into the business plan. The latter is a semester long capstone activity which involves 5-9 person teams conceptualizing, forming and planning for a manufacturing or service enterprise.

Each team documents this with an adapted version of a business plan that includes a significant focus on the technology/ product/service involved—from conceptualization through to disposal/recycling. For example, students are required to flowchart the production/service line, to detail material, personnel and tooling required, facility layout, and more.