A substantial number of graduates of engineering, business, and technology programs in the U.S. go on to jobs in the manufacturing sector. These jobs often require the design, and/or management of complex, information-intensive manufacturing systems. But most engineers and business majors have very little exposure to manufacturing processes. This project will result in the first phase of development of comprehensive simulation software for teaching operational strategies and manufacturing processes in a virtual environment. The package will include a graphical, animated user interface for selection and input of all necessary variables, parameters and process control information; process models to simulate changes in materials as they are shaped into products; and graphical, multi-media procedures for indicating the results and providing a platform for impact analysis on other enterprise elements such as cost and quality. It will be used by a variety of engineering, technology, and business students in any college or university where manufacturing process courses are part of the curriculum. It will also be used by design/build teams for manufacturability analysis in capstone engineering design. The system developed will be analogous to a flight simulator for training pilots. Potential pilots spend many hours in flight simulators "learning to fly" without burning an ounce of fuel. Students who use this system will spend time 'learning to manufacture" by experiencing manufacturing processes where actual costs and time demands are usually prohibitive. Incorporating the software into the curriculum will result in orders of magnitude improvement in the relevance of the educational experience compared to job expectations. Experience gained by using this software will permit newly hired engineers, technologists and future managers to be more productive and creative in industry in a shorter period of time.
