Development of a design for manufacturability course within the mechanical engineering curriculum at Purdue University

With increasing competition in the world marketplace, quality is becoming one of the most important considerations in the design and manufacture of industrial products and systems. It has been recognized that quality must be designed into the product instead of being added on along the way during the product development cycle. In order for US industries to remain competitive it is vital to address these issues in education of new engineers. To this end a course on Design for Manufacturability has been developed within the School of Mechanical Engineering. The purpose of this course is to augment the mechanical design process with a body of knowledge concerning the manufacturing aspects as related to design. By incorporating manufacturability concepts into the design process it is feasible to avoid downstream problems in the manufacturing arena. This course will enhance a student's ability to consider not only the functionality but also the manufacturability, cost, and quality of a design. This course has been offered on an experimental basis and has been well received. The course is intended to be dual-level thus both seniors and graduate students may enroll. This paper describes the conception, development, and implementation of the course and in addition, presents experiences gained from the first few offerings of the course.