Manufacturing engineering

Manufacturing engineering is an area of engineering concerned with the design, development, improvement, operation, and study of systems used to manufacture products. It draws upon mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, robotics, computer science, business, and other fields.

Manufacturing can range from an individual using hand tools or a small workshop to highly automated factories producing millions of components. Modern manufacturing systems may incorporate computer-controlled machine tools, robots, sensors, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, automated inspection, digital models, and integrated supply chains.

Manufacturing can be quite profitable, potentially.

Profitability, however, can depend upon many factors, including product demand, material costs, labor, automation, energy, equipment utilization, transportation, quality control, competition, intellectual property, production volume, and the ability to manufacture something efficiently. Manufacturing engineering therefore has connections not only with engineering, but also with business, economics, logistics, product design, and entrepreneurship.

This topic page is for organizing the development of manufacturing engineering related content on this wiki. Please, feel free to improve upon what you see; your contributions will be greatly appreciated.

Learning projects and resources

Learning materials and learning projects can be used by multiple departments. Please cooperate with other departments that use the same learning resource.

Remember, this wiki has adopted the "learning by doing" model for education. Lessons should center on learning activities for participants on this wiki.

Also, select a descriptive name for each learning project.

• Manufacturing engineering research
• Manufacturing
• Engineering
• Industrial engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Materials science
• Robotics
• Automation
• Computer-aided design
• Computer-aided manufacturing
• CNC machining
• 3D printing
• Additive manufacturing
• Quality control
• Supply chain
• Logistics
• Product design
• Prototyping
• Search this wiki for manufacturing engineering

Learning projects can involve designing, producing, testing, or improving physical objects and manufacturing systems. Participants might design a simple component using computer-aided design software, manufacture a prototype, document the process, measure the resulting object, and identify opportunities for improvement.

A project does not necessarily require an industrial factory. Many manufacturing principles can be explored using hand tools, desktop 3D printers, laser cutters, small CNC machines, electronics equipment, or other accessible fabrication technologies.

Manufacturing processes

Manufacturing engineering includes the study of many different production processes. A particular product may pass through several processes before it is complete.

Common areas include:

• Machining, including milling, turning, drilling, grinding, and CNC machining.
• Casting, in which materials are formed using molds.
• Forming, including forging, rolling, bending, stamping, and extrusion.
• Joining, including welding, brazing, soldering, adhesives, and mechanical fasteners.
• Additive manufacturing, including several forms of 3D printing.
• Injection molding and other processes for manufacturing plastic components.
• Assembly, including manual, semi-automated, and robotic assembly systems.
• Finishing, including polishing, coating, painting, heat treatment, and surface modification.
• Inspection and testing, which help determine whether products meet defined requirements.

Different processes have different costs, limitations, levels of precision, material requirements, production speeds, and appropriate production volumes.

Design for manufacturing

A product that can be designed does not necessarily mean that it can be manufactured efficiently.

Design for manufacturing involves considering manufacturing requirements while a product is still being designed. Engineers may attempt to reduce the number of components, simplify assembly, use standardized parts, reduce material waste, select appropriate tolerances, and choose processes suitable for the expected production volume.

Participants can experiment with these principles by designing an object and then attempting to manufacture it. Difficulties encountered during production can become information for the next design revision.

This creates an iterative process:

1. Identify a need or problem.
2. Develop a design.
3. Produce a prototype.
4. Test and measure the prototype.
5. Identify manufacturing problems.
6. Revise the design or production process.
7. Manufacture and test another version.

This approach makes manufacturing engineering particularly suitable for learning by doing.

Automation and robotics

Automation has become an important part of manufacturing engineering. Machines can perform repetitive operations, move materials, inspect products, collect data, and coordinate production.

Industrial robots may perform welding, painting, machining, packaging, assembly, or material-handling operations. Smaller collaborative robots can also work in environments designed for interaction between humans and machines.

Automated manufacturing systems commonly use sensors and control systems to monitor variables such as position, temperature, pressure, speed, vibration, dimensions, and equipment condition.

Learning projects might explore:

• Industrial robots
• Machine vision
• Programmable logic controller
• Sensors
• Artificial intelligence
• Computer vision
• Process control
• Factory automation
• Autonomous systems

Quality and measurement

Manufacturing engineering is concerned not only with making an object, but with making objects consistently.

Measurements can be used to determine whether parts meet their required dimensions and specifications. Manufacturing variation can result from tools, machines, materials, temperature, operator technique, equipment wear, or other variables.

Possible learning activities include measuring a set of manufactured objects, calculating variation, identifying sources of error, and developing methods for improving consistency.

Related areas include metrology, quality assurance, statistical process control, reliability engineering, and failure analysis.

Manufacturing and business

Manufacturing exists within economic systems. A technically successful product may still fail commercially if it costs too much to manufacture, cannot be produced quickly enough, or does not have sufficient demand.

Students and researchers can examine questions such as:

• What determines the cost of manufacturing a product?
• When does automation become economically worthwhile?
• When is local manufacturing preferable to overseas production?
• How does production volume affect cost per unit?
• Can small-scale manufacturing compete with mass production?
• How can open-source designs affect manufacturing?
• How can waste materials be reused or recycled?
• What products can be economically manufactured using desktop fabrication equipment?
• How could distributed manufacturing alter supply chains?

These questions connect manufacturing engineering with business, entrepreneurship, economics, sustainability, and technological development.

Research ideas

Manufacturing engineering provides many opportunities for applied research.

Projects might investigate ways to reduce manufacturing time, improve product quality, reduce waste, automate repetitive work, improve worker safety, lower energy consumption, reuse materials, develop new production processes, or make sophisticated manufacturing technologies more accessible.

Participants are encouraged to document experiments, failures, revisions, measurements, costs, materials, software, equipment, and results. Detailed documentation can allow other participants to reproduce or improve upon a project.

Readings

• About manufacturing engineering
• Wikipedia:Manufacturing engineering
• Wikipedia:Manufacturing
• Wikipedia:Industrial engineering
• Wikipedia:Computer-aided manufacturing
• Wikipedia:Automation
• Wikipedia:Additive manufacturing
• Wikipedia:Numerical control

See also

• Engineering
• Business
• Manufacturing
• Automation
• Robotics
• 3D printing
• Industrial engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Product design
• Open design
• Entrepreneurship