Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
DOI 10.1007/s10845-009-0329-z
Received: 5 May 2008 / Accepted: 20 February 2009 / Published online: 22 October 2009
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009
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Fig. 4 Communication architecture for manufacturing health. Legacy message queuing (MSMQ). Such a structure enables interoperability
systems such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), CNCs and of systems with different data formats. Data are managed through a
robotics are interfaced across a common object linking and embed- Structured Query Language (SQL) database, and analysis applications
ding for process control (OPC) network which may utilize Microsoft interface through reporting services
evolution of earlier work in expert system development using A fuzzy selection algorithm for quality-based invest-
GA (Balic and Abersek 1997). Intelligent process planning ments by suppliers is presented by Gungor and ArIkan
is also addressed by Wang through the integrated intelligent (2007) in order to obtain the highest quality value. Fuzzy set
process planning system (IIPPS) (Wang 1998). Results of theory is used to select investments from engineering, mar-
such work are applicable across the supply base in a flexible keting, supply quality, quality certification, inspection, tech-
manufacturing framework, insuring better quality supplier to nology and training. Such a system supports consideration of
supplier as designs evolve and market demands change. poorly-defined or linguistic considerations when selecting a
An intelligent approach to quality uniformity in the area quality investment. In all of these cases, a broader under-
of materials is given by Brezocnik et al. (2002). They sim- standing of systemic interaction effects is warranted.
ilarly use genetic programming to derive the flow stress of
steel in bulk forming. Based on experimental data, a model of Digital technology in the manufacturing enterprise
forming efficiency evolves, yielding accurate material prop-
erties that can be fed back to the process for improved quality The ease of information generation and its use in the man-
consistency. ufacturing process has been enabled by advances in digital
Tolerance is another area to address when dealing with technology. Filos and Banahan (2001) review digital tech-
quality uniformity. Berruet et al. (1999) address tolerance nology development in research and technological develop-
evaluation for flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). This ment organizations, and the importance of properly using
work evaluates the potential for failure in FMSs, and pre- these technologies to leverage the interlinked relationships
scribes the addition of flexible elements to the system in areas of information and knowledge to both research and econ-
of failure sensitivity. This approach not only addresses qual- omy. The unforeseen opportunities that access to this infor-
ity consistency, but also supply chain reliability. mation stream allow support intelligent manufacturing in
Rokach and Maimon (2006) present a new data mining the form of interoperability standards between suppliers and
algorithm for discovering patterns in complex manufactur- automotive OEMs. These include both open internet stan-
ing processes. Traditional data mining techniques are more dards for new information generation as well as middleware
difficult to apply to manufacturing data due to unbalance dis- standards to interface legacy systems.
tribution of the target value and small training sets. The new Digital technologies applied to workflow management in
algorithm is applied to manufacturing quality improvement, manufacturing are also becoming better formalized. Supply
and can be used as an enabling tool to improve quality con- chain logistics and factory-level monitoring systems are able
sistency across suppliers for both (producer) and (con- not only to report workflow data, but also to diagnose defi-
sumer) risks. Te-Sheng et al. (2006) also address data mining ciencies and monitor overall manufacturing system health.
for assessment of manufacturing yield rate for a semicon- Architectures such as the factory throughput analysis system
ductor operation. This approach is warranted due to process in Fig. 4 are enabled by advances in information management
complexity and interaction between operations. technology.
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Automated guided vehicle AGV Battery-powered, automatically-steered vehicles that follow defined
pathways in the floor. They are used to move unit loads between load
and unload stations
Automatic storage and retrieval system ASRS A storage system that performs storage and retrieval operations with
speed and accuracy under a defined degree of automation
Computer numerical control CNC Numerical control machine tools whose operation is based on a
dedicated computer.
Robot none General-purpose, programmable machine possessing certain
anthropomorphic characteristics, the most obvious of them is the
mechanical arm
Resources are effectively allocated when production plans are made on a common data system such as STEP (Lopez-Ortega and Ramirez 2005)
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Fig. 7 Campbell graduate engineering center (Clemson University). The automotive engineering program is housed in this 90,000 ft2 research and
education center
Supplier interviews, and the results differed greatly in terms of vehicle architecture, electronics, software, simulation and
of technical versus organizational competence. production systems.
Alternatively, the Supplier needs approach is highly
Critical factors: original equipment manufacturers organizational and management-oriented. These types of
skills are not typically core to an engineering curriculum,
The major classes and subjective areas highlighted by OEMs and the effect in the supplier workplace is demonstrated.
are given in Table 2. These areas are representative of auto- Interestingly virtually no technical needs are given, even
motive-specific subjects perceived by the OEMs to be lacking as the current market trend of vehicle development and
in graduates from traditional engineering programs. manufacture is putting a higher technological burden on the
These subjects encompass not only technical knowledge supplier.
and ability, but also proper use of these technical tools given The different perceived needs of OEM and supplier have
production volumes, market conditions and maturity of tech- driven the development of a holistic Curriculum incorpo-
nology. Integration of technologies and systems is a key rating hands-on practical experience, research, and a set of
theme. courses that address integration of technical and organiza-
tional needs for producing the next-generation Integration
Critical factors: major automotive suppliers Engineer to serve the Automotive industry. This engineer
will be an individual capable of specializing in a few key
The suppliers perceived a much greater need in the area of areas, but with the understanding of the effects that his deci-
organizational soft skills for interacting with OEMs and sions have on the system as a whole from the standpoints
providing smooth service within the supply chain. In this of functional performance, environmental robustness, total
context, the term soft skills represents interpersonal, crea- system cost, business strategy, and marketability.
tive and positive non-technical abilities, not to be confused
with soft computing in intelligent systems. Supplier per- Incorporation of intelligent methods to satisfy
ceived needs are presented in Table 3. perceived needs
These perceived needs are highly organizational and man-
agement-oriented with virtually no technical content. Based In the Clemson AEP, needs in particular areas are addressed
on the major topical areas, an implicit need for integra- with an emphasis on intelligent methods, specifically product
tion capability is shown, but never explicitly voiced by the development planning/realization and manufacturing sys-
suppliers. tems education. In product design and planning, systems-
level needs identified by the OEM are addressed using digital
Critical factors: comments on disparity between OEM and manufacturing tools such as and ergonomic analysis. These
supplier perceived need tools give a modeled view approximating reality without the
cost of prototype development and testing. This digital anal-
It is interesting to notice that Supplier Integration is only ysis is incorporated to the product development and launch
a single item in the OEM educational strategy, though sup- aspects of the curriculum.
plier issues represent a significant portion of OEM effort Similarly, intelligent approaches are included in instruc-
and cost. The OEM main focus is on technical integration tion and practical projects in the manufacturing area to
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address needs identified by both OEM and suppliers such ates going to industry, and points to a number of factors con-
as flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing system design, tributing to the disparity. Curricula have traditionally been
use of product and process information in inspection design, slow to respond to industry needs, and have not kept pace
and system robustness to uncertain conditions. Additionally, instructionally with technological advances, particularly in
digital representations of manufacturing processes are used manufacturing programs. Of primary importance in incor-
for process planning, force and power analysis, and develop- porating industrial internships in the field of study to provide
ment of interactive cost models. practical knowledge and understanding not attainable in the
classroom. Additionally, Miller notes a lack of instruction in
Application of design tools to curriculum development: necessary soft skills necessary for functioning in an indus-
background and current state trial environment, but not typically taught in traditional pro-
grams. Primarily noted:
A new curriculum must be approached systematically if it is
to be successful. Miller (1998) highlighted the problem of opportunities for students to interact on teams,
lack of real-world preparation of new engineering gradu- explicit instruction on communication skills,
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Table 2 Automotive OEM perceived education need areas Table 4 Areas of engineering curriculum importance (Shea and West)
Vehicle development: process and integration tools and methods Rating (/ 5.00)
Vehicle architecture
Topical areas
Development process and tools
Engineering economics 4.13
Vehicle testing
Quality management 4.04
Problem solving methods and tools
Design process 4.03
Quality methods
Statistics 4.03
Cost structures
Planning and control 3.99
Manufacturing: process, tools and development: focus on OEM
manufacturing Critical attributes
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Thom et al. (2002) also apply design tools such as weigh- our curriculum development study. Education development
ted objectives, Quality Function Deployment, and func- for adapting and maintaining electrical systems to conven-
tional decomposition directly to curriculum development at tional vehicles was also addressed by Oklahomas Mid-Del
Purdue University. They cite the benefits as being able to Technology Center (Lee and Stephens 2004). Curriculum
improve complex and coupled organizational systems such developers formed partnerships with businesses and Depart-
as curricula using a structured methodology. The curricu- ment of Defense facilities for input on areas of education for
lum is treated as analogous to a complex manufactured prod- electric vehicles. Additionally, partnerships resulted in dona-
uct. This approach overcomes a number of challenges for tions of Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and GM EV-1 vehicles
traditional curriculum reviews, namely implementation of a to be used as practical study subjects.
systematic approach and having a quantitative measure of McGrath (2007) highlights the important role of global-
curriculum success. ization in motivating higher-skill-set curricula, particularly
Previously at Clemson University, Beasley et al. (1995) for the automotive industry. He uses the case of automotive
created and applied a design optimization approach for globalization and resultant commercial proliferation within
undergraduate scientific curriculum development. Such a South Africa as a prime motivator for improved higher
curriculum requires optimization of course offerings subject education curriculum development in partnership with this
to external constraints such as ABET requirements, bud- important industry. Van Der Linde (2000) also addresses
gets, facilities available, faculty time and industrial advi- the relationship of education and employee marketability in
sory board recommendations. A curriculum was developed South Africa, stressing the need for education programs to
first by identifying key organizational elements across the be sensitive to changes in national industry, and to adjust
4-year window, then through iterative identification and curricula as needed to continue providing viable employees.
topical coverage development for individual courses. This Much as the automotive industry competes in an arena of
approach was expanded to include quality-related continu- agility today, so must education programs be actively seek-
ous improvement concepts applied to develop a systematic ing information and reinventing their programs in response
framework for assessing and improving existing engineering to change.
curricula (Beasley et al. 1996). These techniques continue Guerra-Zubiaga et al. (2008) highlight the importance of
to be used in Clemson University Mechanical Engineering collaborative learning methods (i.e., integration of education
today, and will be applied in periodic reviews of the Auto- with industrial or practical influences) to improve engineer-
motive Engineering curriculum. ing education. The case study undertaken is that of collab-
More recently, Lerman (2008) has pointed to the need for orative design tools such as those in the product lifecycle
critical analysis of targeted skills in education programs. He management (PLM) class of tools emerging as a necessary
points out that programs which continue to assume a needed approach for managing automotive developmental informa-
skill set based on data of decades ago cannot compete in tion. They specifically point out deficiencies of programs
todays competitive business environment where foci such as that do not elicit feedback from the end customer (automo-
agility and flexibility have replaced traditional success val- tive industry), specifically:
ues. The conclusion is that skills required for a given market
must be actively studied with the industry of that market to Inability to generalize new knowledge from previously
provide an occupation-focused education plan. known concepts;
Borthwick et al. (2000) undertook a study in the Australian Inability to recognize variations of previously known con-
automotive service industry to identify skill shortcomings to cepts, when taken out of the context in which they were
be addressed through education programs. The data were col- learnt;
lected through focus groups with industry representatives to Inability to apply known methodologies to open-end
the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), problems, i.e., when the specific question to be answered
the Australian Industry Group (AIG) and the Business Coun- is unfocused. These problems arise frequently in engi-
cil of Australia (BCA). They also examined the impact of neering design;
training through hands-on apprenticeship and higher educa- The available channels for receiving information are
tion class work on the resultant skill set. almost restricted to audio-visual, associated to short-term
Emadi and Jacobius (2004) give a detailed review of a cur- memory and poor insight;
riculum development for automotive electric power drives at Essential life-enduring skills such as creativeness,
the Illinois Institute of Technology. This undergraduate pro- reflexiveness, abstractiveness, etc., remain undeveloped
gram places teams of students in the role of design teams (Guerra-Zubiaga et al. 2008).
for electric power integration to vehicles. This need of iden-
tifying and practicing issues with integration of new sys- The conclusion of this review is that application of tradi-
tems to existing platforms was also cited as a critical need in tional learning environments (i.e., classroom and textbook)
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Fig. 8 QFD for deployment of OEM capability requirements to automotive engineering curriculum. The first two categories of capability study
are shown; 8 designation represents the catalog course numbers
do not address the specific needs of open problem require- program development. An example of the QFD tool used for
ments development, integration of complex systems, and program evaluation is shown in Fig. 8.
the creativity required to address these problems. These As shown by this table, the capability requirements identi-
newly-defined required skills have been taken to heart in the fied through OEM interview and focus groups are addressed
design of the Clemson University Automotive Engineering by different courses. The tool is used to verify that all required
program. The AEP was originated through extensive interac- capabilities are addressed in the curriculum (all rows should
tive workshops with automotive industry OEM and supplier have one or more entries), and that no extraneous offerings
partners beginning in late 2003. The primary activities were are included (no columns should be blank or sparse). An
undertaken to answer the question what is lacking in the equivalent activity was undertaken for the input offered from
engineers you hire from traditional Mechanical Engineering interaction with primary automotive supplier partners. Pro-
and Electrical Engineering programs? gram educational structure is described in section in Pro-
gram structure.
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Overview of Automotive Systems. Students are presented Table 5 Technical track courses in the AEP
with an overview of major automotive systems, their func- T1 vehicle materials and structures mechanics
tions, constituent components and interfaces with the envi- AuE 853: Crash analysis methods and crashworthiness
ronment. Particularly stressed is functional decomposition AuE 855: Structural/thermal analysis methods for
of systems and a study of the interfaces between systems. automotive structure, systems, and components
This study of interfaces and interactions leads directly to AuE 866: Advanced materials for automotive applications
the concept of systems integration; T2 vehicle electronics, mechatronics and computer systems
Systems Integration Concepts and Methods. A critical AuE 825: Automotive sensors and actuators
explicit approach to the study of interactions between sys- AuE 826: On board diagnostics and reliability
tems and subsystems is undertaken to provide the student AuE 827: Automotive control systems design
with foundational knowledge of the effect decisions have T3 vehicle design and integration, methods and tools
on the system as a whole. Exemplary case studies are pre- AuE 846: Tire behavior and its influence on vehicle performance
sented that embody the integrated nature of the modern AuE 847: Vehicle suspension systems design and analysis
vehicle; AuE 848: Vehicle braking systems
Applied Systems Integration. The concepts learned dur- AuE 849: Automotive chassis design
ing the overall course of study are applied in a laboratory AuE 875: Vehicle development and realization
course, where students are presented with an open-ended AuE 876: Mass customization design for vehicles
design problem spanning multiple domains of specializa- AuE 877: Light-weight vehicle systems design
tion. The emphasis is on global system design optimization
AuE 884: Body and interior design
in an open design space; both vehicle and manufacturing
AuE 885: Vehicle layout engineering and ergonomic design
systems are treated.
T4 vehicle manufacturing and production
AuE 867: Vehicle manufacturing processes I
Technical emphasis: track courses
AuE 868: Vehicle manufacturing processes II
T5 vehicle performance (vehicle physics)
Technical breadth and depth is introduced to students through
a number of courses grouped by focus tracks. The tracks and AuE 850: Automotive stability and safety systems
current planned courses are given in Table 5. AuE 805: Ground vehicle aerodynamics
Technical track courses in Manufacturing Processes are AuE 886: Vehicle noise, vibration and harshness
presented on a product platform. Representative automotive AuE 887: Methods for vehicle testing
components and their function are presented as a context for T6 vehicle power systems and transmission
manufacturing process selection and analysis. Automation, AuE 816: Engine combustion and emissions
supply chain and intelligent manufacturing concepts are pre- AuE 817: Alternative energy sources
sented, and all concepts are reinforced with industry interac- AuE 828: Fundamentals of vehicle drivelines and power train
tion (tour or in-class discussion). integration
Previous treatment of interdisciplinary manufacturing Courses for tracks T1T6 that are shown in italic have been developed
instruction with involvement of industry was presented by and taught; others are either in development or planned for development
Deisenroth and Mason (1996) in design of an aerospace
manufacturing course with the aircraft, its subsystems and age and integrate people, technologies, and suppliers at dif-
components as the platform of study. They also integrated ferent stages of the vehicle development/production process
transition of instruction from a process focus to a manufac- chain.
turing systems focus, and included cost drivers and manu-
facturing selection topics for an integrated approach. Function Stem. The function stem emphasizes technical
competence in two or three specialization areas as noted
Technical emphasis: function and system approaches in the defined technical tracks;
System Stem. The system stem replaces two technical
The Masters degree professional program has two major track courses with courses chosen from the following:
stems or directions of study based on the student inter-
est and final employment objective. The Function stem AuE 831: New Vehicle Conception, Market and Technol-
is designed primarily to meet the needs of the automo- ogy Identification, Concept Validation
tive tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers for individuals with knowl- AuE 832: Vehicle Development and Integration Processes,
edge and skills to integrate two or more technical areas. Methods and Tools
The System stem primarily meets the needs of automotive AuE 833: Automotive Manufacturing Process Develop-
OEMs for individuals having knowledge and skills to man- ment, Methods and Tools
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AuE 834: Automotive Production Preparation, Manage- trial partners through guest speaking, plant tours, internships
ment and Launch and a required industrial internship.
AuE 835: Vehicle Electronics IntegrationA Process Jiles compares curriculum development incorporating
Chain Perspective integrated practical education with the traditional final cap-
stone project approach, identifying common deficiencies
of traditional graduates as noted by industry (Jiles et al.
The objective of Systems-stem courses is to provide the 2002):
students with a more detailed knowledge and experiences
as related to various stages in the vehicle development/ poor understanding of manufacturing processes,
production process chain. a desire for more high tech solutions,
lack of design capability,
lack of appreciation for alternatives,
Business emphasis
lack of knowledge of value engineering,
lack of appreciation for variation,
To provide the students with the foundations of business,
poor perception of the overall project engineering pro-
economics, policies etc. as pertinent to the automotive indus-
cess,
try, a requirement of two business courses is imposed. One
narrow view of engineering and related disciplines,
is chosen from a traditional business school offering, while
weak communication skills, and
a second business course specific to the automotive indus-
lack of experience working in teams.
try has been developed through Clemsons Spiro Center for
Entrepreneurial Leadership. This course, titled Autovation
These needs have traditionally been treated by a single cap-
is designed to engage graduate-level engineering students
stone course at the end of the curriculum, an approach which
in emerging trends and technologies in the automotive sec-
has merit but is not effective in preparing students for indus-
tor. The first semester provides an introduction to emerg-
try as these needs increase and new practical needs identified
ing automotive competition and modern market demands;
(e.g., design of flexible systems). Jiles developed the VID
emphasis is placed on the development of economically via-
approach, which parallels that of R&D teams in industry, and
ble alternative fuel sources (primarily hydrogen fuel cells).
applies it to a Materials Science curriculum incorporated to
The second semester focuses on applying the lessons from
Nondestructive Evaluation center sponsored by the National
the first semester; students design products and detailed busi-
Science Foundation (NSF).
ness plans addressing these issues. Both courses are centered
Another education area in need of integrated practical
around teams of students working to understand and develop
instruction is process instrumentation and control. Amadi-
entrepreneurial skills.
Echendu and Higham (1997) describe an approach to curric-
This two-course approach requires the student to be
ulum development in this area, transitioning the technology
founded in business concepts while exploring the latest busi-
from an artisan approach given by employers after hire to
ness aspects and considerations within Automotive Engi-
a more scientific treatment obtained in the educational pro-
neering. The curriculum does allow flexibility, so students
gram. The program collaborates with industry and profes-
can specialize in a number of traditional business areas while
sional society to offer instruction in practical, usable areas.
being exposed to entrepreneurship and new automotive mar-
Schneider et al. (2005) address the practicality of instruc-
ket developments and trends.
tion for development of a software engineering curriculum.
Industry input is solicited specifically from working gradu-
Incorporation of practical experience to curriculum ates of the curriculum under development to find deficien-
cies, particularly software training that was required after
An additional program need identified through industrial employment. Additionally, soft skill deficiencies were noted
partner input is graduates with practical experience and as shown in Table 6. Though this data is from the software
knowledge. This need is addressed from two directions. First, industry, it highlights the perception of graduates from pro-
a program requirement of 2 years of industry experience is grams of complex system study as needing additional prac-
imposed. This allows education of the student at a higher tical training after graduation. This is the same case with
level of understanding. Common terminology, professional the complex mechanical, electrical and software systems of
relationship ability, and an understanding of the industrial the automotive industry, motivating industry-based practical
environment serve as practical prerequisites for the program. input in the curriculum.
A second approach to this need is an underlying theme Mativo (2005) describes curriculum development in a
throughout courses of hands-on involvement with equipment materials-based curriculum where the previous practice of
and systems under study, as well as interaction with indus- highly theoretical instruction was eschewed in favor of a bal-
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Project management 14 5 38 33 10
Quality assurance 5 0 19 57 19
Teamwork 5 0 19 33 43
Risk management 10 33 33 24 0
Design 5 19 24 38 14
Requirements elicitation and documentation 0 5 19 38 38
Coding 0 0 10 33 57
Conflict resolution 14 29 38 10 10
Graduates of a software curriculum generally rated soft skill development in their education program as low, requiring additional development after
employment
Fig. 9 Web-based instruction on electro-discharge machining. Current research results are demonstrated graphically, with time-based trend of
critical process parameters. This is an on-demand web application (Yao et al. 2005)
anced approach of theory and practical experience with dif- realized; development of the student and development of the
ferent materials in manufacturing. The addition of instruction technology will run in parallel.
in current software used in industry develops graduates that Yao et al. (2005) describe an example of this concept
enter the workforce with a strong combination of knowledge applied to an integrated research and education program in
and skill. Tapper (2001) additionally noted the importance of non-traditional manufacturing (NTM) methods. In addition
involving industry directly in engineering curriculum devel- to teaching of recent research results, digital technologies
opment, particularly where laboratory equipment will be are also incorporated, both enriching the educational expe-
highly utilized. rience and disseminating information to a broader audience.
The AEP curriculum developed at Clemson incorporates Examples of web-based technologies incorporated include
the hands-on profound experience described by Tapper, Java applets, Shockwave animations, VRML animations, and
with the ability to be flexible to changing technology require- QuickTime movies to demonstrate concepts. The essence of
ments of industry. Knowledge that is today obtained by this program is its multidisciplinary nature, covering the inte-
automotive engineers during their first years of employment gration aspects of mechanical, electrical, chemical and bio-
is instead offered within the graduate curriculum, reducing logical domains. An example of digital instruction materials
learning time after graduation and making graduates imme- is given in Fig. 9.
diately more usable to industry.
Current state of development
Incorporation of parallel research to curriculum As of this writing, the Masters graduate education program
with 30 students has been realized for three full semesters.
Research within an academic program is the impetus driving Additionally, 20 Ph.D. students have been involved for over
new technology development. As new areas of technology 2 years; these students will be the first students to obtain a
become increasingly important. It is necessary to begin edu- doctoral degree in the field of Automotive Engineering from
cation of these technologies and methods as they are being an American university.
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There are a total of 50 students and 10 full-time fac- summer learning program. The cultural education side helps
ulty, and together we occupy the newly-constructed Camp- the students to operate effectively within a global environ-
bell Graduate Engineering Center. AuE course plans have ment through improving their communication skills across
been vetted through focus groups with industrial partners different cultures and their understanding of the different
and Mechanical Engineering faculty as described; the first habits and traditions across the world. Plans to improve the
year of courses is complete and the next is set to begin. Fur- cultural educational aspect within the program is to incorpo-
thermore, the faculty focus groups review the offered courses rate a cultural seminar series.
in light of the students response, which is collected through
written student surveys and one on one discussions with the Comments on curriculum
program student association. Also, the faculty discuss any
new additions to the current offerings in light of new gov- The Automotive Engineering graduate curriculum at Clem-
ernmental regulations, new technologies or changes in the son University has been designed to incorporate exposure to
industry operating environment. the practical aspects of a career in Automotive Engineering.
The current course offerings focus on four different Particularly stressed is the integration of top-down systems-
core areas; automotive manufacturing processes and sys- level instruction exemplified on practical industrial projects,
tems, vehicle performance, vehicular electronics and auto- and exposure of students to international cultural experience
motive power-train systems and technologies. The courses in a technical environment. The curriculum is developed with
that support these foci are sequenced to couple with the input from OEM and supplier representatives of the automo-
core course offerings. The program is expected to gradu- tive industry, highlighting needs that depart from traditional
ate its first generation masters students in the summer of technical instruction, such as business-product relationships
2009. and interpersonal skills in a multicultural environment.
Additionally, the role of intelligent systems is included in
Industry focus the curriculum design. Digital product design and the inter-
operability of digital systems in the product development
There is heavy industrial involvement with the program, not process are included in the product realization area. Intelli-
only through course development input, but also direct con- gent tools included in the manufacturing systems area include
tributions to courses in the forms of guest lectures, sponsored intelligent inspection, information use between inspection
factory tours and in-kind equipment and software donations. and manufacturing process, and digital representations of
Additionally, the industrial collaborators provide real-life manufacturing processes used for process analysis, planning
case studies for the students to analyze and propose solutions; and control.
such activities include past and current challenges within the
automotive industry.
Additionally, an aligned intelligent manufacturing rese- Conclusions
arch plan is being carried out with industrially-sponsored
projects. A number of consortia are also forming around In this paper, we present a critical need for education of sys-
the program, including the Clemson University Vehicular tems-level thinkers in the global automotive industry, evi-
Electronics Consortium and the newly forming Automotive denced by the relatively recent transformation of vehicle
Industrial Partner Consortium, where manufacturers can join manufacturing from a centralized function to a widely-dis-
to drive research directions and take advantage of open results tributed supplier network. The influx of international auto-
while maintaining intellectual property rights. motive makers with a build where you buy philosophy has
increased the need for global and cultural understanding of
Cultural awareness manufacturing and business processes in the North Amer-
ican sector. A growing area for automotive manufacturing
A final aspect of the curriculum unique to an Automo- and resultant global technical understanding is in the South-
tive Engineering graduate program is a cultural immer- east US. This understanding is manifested in the increased
sion requirement, whereby every student will be involved management and use of information for improving process
in a 6-month foreign residence internship with a partner quality and flexibility. The greater availability of this product
company or international government research laboratory. and process knowledge, coupled with the fact that there is a
While students get practical industrial research experience, decrease in the number of advanced manufacturing gradu-
they are also exposed to international culture and learn by ates, has motivated a new program focused on systems-level
doing cultural integration within the automotive environ- thinking for the global automotive industry.
ment. This international internship also entails a language The Automotive Engineering Program under development
requirement, either previously spoken or through an intensive at Clemson UniversityInternational Center for Automotive
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Research is a comprehensive degree program designed under Balic, J., & Abersek, B. (1997). Model of an integrated intelligent
the theme of systems integration, a concept that transcends design and manufacturing system. Journal of Intelligent Manu-
facturing, 8(4), 263270.
traditional integration studies such a Design for Manufac- Balic, J., & Kovacic, M., et al. (2006). Intelligent programming
turing or Functional Decomposition techniques. The new of CNC turning operations using genetic algorithm. Journal of
era of systems integration focuses on development of the Intelligent Manufacturing, 17(3), 331340.
Integration Engineer, a graduate that analyzes and makes Beasley, D. E., & Biggers, S. B., et al. (1995). Curriculum development:
An integrated approach. Atlanta, GA, USA: IEEE.
decisions with innate knowledge of those decisions effect Beasley, D. E., Elzinga, D. J., et al. (1996). Curriculum innovation and
on aligned systems. This skill is applied not only across renewal. Washington, DC: American Society for Engineering
manufacturing systems integration within design, but also Education (Washington, DC 20036, United States).
functional integration of design as systems become more Berruet, P., & Toguyeni, A. K. A., et al. (1999). Tolerance evalua-
tion of flexible manufacturing architectures. Journal of Intelligent
complex, supply chain integration as technical responsibility
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becomes more distributed, and cultural integration as infor- Borthwick, J., & John, D., et al. (2000). Evidence of skill shortages
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In the manufacturing systems area, intelligent tools are the European RTD programs. Journal of Intelligent Manufactur-
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