Session 3225

THE LEARNING FACTORY - A new approach to integrating

design and manufacturing into engineering curricula

John S. Lamancusa / Jens E. Jorgensen / Jose L. Zayas-Castro / Julie Ratner

Penn State University / University of Washington / University of Puerto Rico- Mayagüez /

Sandia National Laboratories

Abstract educators were struggling for acceptability. The then

traditional universities viewed engineering as too pragmatic
The Learning Factory integrates a practice-based curriculum and utilitarian for higher learning. The technical needs of
and advanced manufacturing facilities. Its goal is to provide a the two nations required engineers with skills that often
new engineering educational experience that emphasizes the could be learned better through experience than through
interdependency of design and manufacturing in a business formal study. ... As the complexity of the technology
environment. The Learning Factory offers a new approach to increased, and the body of engineering knowledge became
engineering education by providing balance between more codified, engineering education was more readily
engineering science and practice. The key element in this accepted as the basis for engineering practice and as an
approach is the combination of curriculum revitalization with integral part of the university mission. Engineering became
coordinated opportunities for application and hands-on a full-fledged member of the education community with the
experience, thereby erasing the traditional boundaries between passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862...
lecture and laboratory, academia and industrial practice. The With acceptability, new tensions arose. There has been an
Learning Factory is the product of the Manufacturing ongoing debate over the appropriate balance between
Engineering Education Partnership (MEEP). This partnership preparing graduates for immediate usefulness in the
is a unique collaboration of three major universities with workplace and providing them with a more fundamental
strong engineering programs (Penn State, University of Puerto knowledge that would allow them to continue their
Rico-Mayagüez, University of Washington), a premier high- education and be more useful in the long run...
technology government laboratory (Sandia National After World War I, the demands of industry for graduates
Laboratories), corporate partners covering a wide spectrum of with immediate utility forced more and more specialization,
U.S. Industries, and the federal government that is funding this and the number of engineering disciplines expanded
project through the Technology Reinvestment Program (TRP). rapidly. ... the laboratory became the place for teaching
This paper describes our program and presents results from the current industrial techniques. World War II helped swing
first year of the partnership’s existence. the balance in the other direction. The war highlighted the
Acknowledgement: TRP Project #3018, NSF Award #DMI- shortcomings of engineering education, as people trained in
9413880. physics were better suited to perform many of the tasks of
new weapons development. Engineering education rapidly
1. Introduction moved toward a much more fundamental approach, and in
many cases the curricula became the study of engineering
The Need for Revitalizing Engineering Design Education: science. The movement toward science continued until
In order to understand engineering education today, it is recent problems in the competitive position of many
informative to know something of its beginnings, and the American companies in global markets has shown the
continuous and sometimes cyclic evolution it has experienced disadvantage of neglecting industrial applications. There
over the past century. Lawrence Grayson provides an once again is movement in the schools to reemphasize
excellent history of engineering education in “The Making of engineering practice, including manufacturing techniques,
an Engineer - An illustrated history of engineering education in and concepts such as quality and reliability of the product. 1
the United States and Canada”. A relevant excerpt follows:
Taken in this historical perspective, the title of this paper - “A
The history of engineering education in the United States new approach to integrating design and manufacturing into
and Canada has been characterized by progressive engineering curricula” is not wholly accurate. This approach
tensions. During its early development, engineering is not really “new”, but is part of that movement to
reemphasize engineering practice. While the content of

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curricula, as well as the balance between theory and practice 1) A practice-based engineering curriculum which balances
has dramatically changed over the decades, the predominant analytical and theoretical knowledge with manufacturing,
delivery method in most engineering schools today - the design, business realities, and professional skills;
lecture - is relatively unchanged from that of a century ago. 2) Learning Factories at each partner institution, integrally
Lecture is a time honored, efficient technique for delivering coupled to the curriculum, for hands-on experience in
large quantities of analytical information. In recent years, new design, manufacturing, and product realization;
findings in cognitive processes2 3 and behavioral psychology4 3) Strong collaboration with industry;
have demonstrated the limits of lecture, and alternatives to 4) Outreach to other academic institutions, government and
augment its effectiveness have been proposed5, including industry.
laboratories and cooperative learning.
The Partners:
Lectures encourage passivity in students, leading them to The Manufacturing Engineering Education Partnership
expect the instructor to provide all required knowledge. (MEEP) brings together three major universities with strong
Lectures are geared toward the verbal learner, and do not take engineering programs (Penn State, University of Puerto Rico-
into account the varied learning styles of our students. Many Mayagüez, University of Washington), a premier high-
engineers are in reality “visual learners”, much better served technology government laboratory (Sandia National
by active, visual and tactile teaching methods6. Many students Laboratories) and corporate partners covering a wide spectrum
who have the intelligence and creativity to be excellent of US. Industries. The partnership draws on the special
engineers find little fulfillment or stimulation in the rigid strengths of each member and provides a unique opportunity to
confines of the lecture hall, and drop out of formal engineering share physical and intellectual resources and explore diverse
programs as a result. They do not see the relevance of their educational approaches. Students at these institutions come
required courses to the actual practice of engineering. Too from a wide range of geographic, socio-economic and cultural
often these are promising minority or female students, to backgrounds. Together, these schools graduated 2,384 B.S.
whom this lack of relevance and stimulation is sometimes “the engineering professionals in the 1992-1993 academic year, all
straw that breaks the camel’s back”. Just as one cannot learn to with the potential for significant impact on our nation's
drive without getting behind the wheel; or to swim without industrial competitiveness.
getting wet; entry into the profession of engineering,
particularly in the area of design, requires far more than Penn State (PSU) is a land grant university with over 38,000
sitting in a lecture hall. students drawn primarily from the urban/industrial Northeast.
The College of Engineering at Penn State, established in 1896,
The National Science Foundation has recognized the has a long tradition as one of the country's leading educators of
deficiencies in engineering education and is providing engineers. Approximately one in fifty engineers in the United
impetus to change by sponsoring several major education States with a bachelor's degree in engineering earned that
initiatives and coalitions7 including the partnership described degree from Penn State. As part of its land grant tradition,
in this paper. Penn State Engineering achieves a balance of engineering
education, research and service activities, including:
A Short History of MEEP: • A graduate education and research program with an
The Manufacturing Engineering Education Partnership enrollment of more than 1,300 master's and doctoral degree
(MEEP) consists of Penn State, The University of Puerto students and an annual research expenditure of $33 million;
Rico- Mayagüez, the University of Washington, Sandia • vigorous partnerships with US. industry -- ranking second
National Labs, and 36 industrial affiliates. The MEEP among American universities in industrially supported
partnership owes its existence and its success to four factors: research and development activities;
1. Firm belief in the need for increased emphasis on practice • the first Industrial Engineering Department to be established
in engineering education, particularly for engineering in the US, and ranked among the top five programs
design nationally.
2. Ground breaking activities at Penn State and the
University of Washington by the NSF ECSEL Coalition. 8 The University of Washington (UW) is the oldest and largest
3. The 1993 ARPA Technology Reinvestment Program single campus on the West Coast. It is a large urban university
(TRP) Solicitation dedicated to excellence in teaching and research that enrolls
4. A common purpose and an unusual attitude of cooperation over 34,000 undergraduate and graduate students and has over
among the partners. 230 faculty members engaged in both teaching and research.
On July 15, 1994, MEEP received funding from the ARPA The University's proximity to high technology firms in
TRP to support a two year experiment. The goals and aerospace, biomedical processes, and electronics provides the
expectations of this experiment are the subject of this paper. partnership with unique opportunities for industrial interaction.
The College of Engineering celebrated its centennial in 1994
MEEP Objectives: and is the largest college of engineering in the Pacific
The specific objectives of our partnership are, to develop: Northwest.

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 departments at each school are cooperating in this
The University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez (UPRM) is development, including: Mechanical, Industrial, Chemical,
primarily a teaching university set in a multicultural area with Electrical Engineering and Business. The curriculum, as
close ties to Central and South America and their emerging shown in Figure 1, consists of a progression of
markets and industries. It is a land/sea/space grant institution manufacturing/design courses, approximately one per term,
established in 1911 as part of the University of Puerto Rico and allows students to practice engineering science
system. UPRM serves a population of approximately 10,000 fundamentals in the solution of real problems.
in the Colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Business
and Engineering. Each year the college graduates about 550
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER
engineering students and approximately 25% are women.
UPRM is the largest institution in graduating Hispanic Interdisciplinary Senior Year
engineers in the US and is the premier institution in Design/Manufacturing Project
technological development in Puerto Rico, with strong ties to
Entrepreneurship
the manufacturing sector, in the electronics, pharmaceutical,
Adv Mfg Processes
food processing, chemical and textile industries.
Manufacturing Processes
Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram R&D Concurrent Engineering
laboratory of the United States Department of Energy, Product Dissection
Freshman Year
managed and operated by Martin Marietta Corporation. Graphics and Design
Established in 1949, Sandia’s original mission was the
weaponization of nuclear devices. In the intervening decades, &IGURE  4HE COURSES IN THE ,EARNING &ACTORY OPTION BUILD
other mandated responsibilities have included national A FIRM FOUNDATION FOR A PRODUCTIVE ENGINEERING CAREER IN
security, energy and environment, technology transfer and MANUFACTURING DESIGN AND PRODUCT REALIZATION
industrial competitiveness. Each of these areas binds Sandia
to the US. manufacturing industry. As the premier This curriculum makes extensive use of case studies, active
"engineering" laboratory of the DOE, Sandia uses it’s R&D learning techniques, and computer technologies in the
resources to support three major thrusts: Advanced classroom, and provides previously unavailable opportunities
Manufacturing Technologies, Advanced Information for hands-on engineering experience in the Learning Factory.
Technologies, and Electronics and Photonics. Sandia’s role in As part of the new curriculum, several new courses are in
MEEP is to provide advanced capabilities in rapid development across the partnership. As the Learning Factory
prototyping, precision manufacturing, virtual reality, and develops and its benefits are demonstrated, other courses will
electronic outreach. naturally begin to use its facilities. The courses currently being
developed by MEEP are:
Product Dissection: This course examines the way in
2. Combining Theory and Practice into One which products and machines work: their physical operation,
the manner in which they are constructed, and the design and
Curriculum societal considerations that determine the difference between
success and failure in the marketplace. Students, working in
Our “new” curriculum is based on the direct linkage of interdisciplinary teams, will dissect several common products
theoretical studies with practice-based design and problem to discover their internal functions and to critique their design,
solving activities. The Learning Factory, in combination manufacturing methods, materials selection and disposability.
with the curriculum enables students to integrate design and Concurrent Engineering: This course presents the origin
manufacturing issues. Together, these developments will and meaning of the term concurrent engineering and discusses
produce an engineer ready for the 21 st century, with the its role in modern engineering companies. The effect of
following qualities: concurrent engineering practices on other product life cycle
• Strong foundation in engineering science fundamentals; issues such as safety, reliability, maintainability and product
• Well versed in the big picture of manufacturing and disposal are examined. Additionally, case studies from
product realization, including the design process and various industries are presented and speakers from local
business realities; industries present a practical perspective.
• Knowledgeable of current technologies and tools, and Entrepreneurship: This course, developed in conjunction
most importantly, their management and application to with the Business School, focuses on the process of starting,
solve new problems; financing and managing a new business. It also focuses on the
• An effective team player; management of existing enterprises and includes such topics as
• Adept at communication (oral, written, electronic); and risk, product/markets, objectives and goals, business plans,
• Equipped and motivated for future learning. control, staffing and financing.
Process Quality Engineering: This course exposes
This interdisciplinary curriculum will be available as a minor students to the importance of statistical and probabilistic
or a degree option at the participating schools. Several

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methods in the current TQM culture. Students learn to apply partners at other MEEP schools and work in interdisciplinary
probability models and statistical tools to engineering teams on open-ended hardware-oriented projects provided by
problems. The course provides a laboratory experience, where industry. This project activity ideally spans a full academic
students design their own experiments, collect data, and apply year.
appropriate statistical analysis tools to that data.
Interdisciplinary Senior Design Project: This capstone The educational objectives of our curriculum, i.e. the desired
course provides students with the opportunity to practice the skills which we want our students to develop, are listed in
design of products, processes and enterprises from Table 1 as well as their level of integration into the MEEP
conceptualization to actualization. Students collaborate with courses.

4ABLE  $ISTRIBUTION OF 3KILLS AND +NOWLEDGE 4HROUGH .EW #OURSES

Product Concurrent Entrepren- Quality

CURRICULUM THEMES Dissection Engineering eurship
Engineering Science Fundamentals P P P P
Design/Synthesis B B B B
Probability Methods N/A N/A N/A A
Materials (Selection, Non-Traditional) B P P O
Creativity B O O
Manufacturing Processes O P P O
Communication Skills B A A B
Team Skills B A A A
Problem Solving Skills B P B
Total Quality N/A A A B
Business Concerns O B B O
Project Management O A A N/A
Cross-Disciplinary Industrial Projects N/A A A O
Analysis B O O A
Self Awareness, Awareness of Others and Environment B A A N/A
Integration of Product/Process B A A O
Legend: O Overview
B Basic
A Advanced
P Prerequisite
N/A Not Applicable

Modular, Electronic Curriculum 9. Videotape of a Typical Session (where possible)

Curriculum and laboratory development are time consuming 10. Assessment Tools for the Student and Course Evaluation
and costly processes. The partners are dedicated to the 11. Expected Outcomes (student abilities) from this Module
philosophy that sharing of resources and ideas, avoiding
redundant efforts, utilization of new technologies for Course Development Process
communication, and achieving consensus on curriculum Course development consists of a four part process:
content are critically important. Our mission is to jointly 1) Planning - coordinators from each school agree on overall
develop curriculum materials that are easily transportable and course objectives and content and how that course fits into
utilized among the MEEP partners, and exportable to the the balance of the curriculum
academic community at large. Ultimately, all course materials 2) Piloting - one school takes the lead role in developing the
will be available on Internet over the World Wide Web. course specifics and offering it on a trial basis
3) Publication - The piloting school makes all course
Each curriculum module will be developed using the same materials available in electronic format (preferably over
basic eleven part template: the Internet) for use by other schools.
1. Laboratory Worksheet 4) Deployment - The remaining schools apply the course
2. Instructor’s Guide materials and offer the courses, making whatever
3. Lab Preparation Assignment Handout for Students modifications are necessary to satisfy unique institutional
4. Associated Lecture Notes requirements.
5. Reading Assignments The development process is shared over the partnership as
6. Homework Assignments and Solutions shown in Table 2.
7. Reference List
8. "To Explore Further" Section

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4ABLE  3HARING OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS ACROSS THE -%%0 PARTNERSHIP

Course Piloting Institution Pilot Offering Offering across MEEP Export

Product Dissection Penn State August 94 Fall 95 Summer 96
Concurrent Engineering Washington September 94 Fall 95 Summer 96
Entrepreneurship Puerto Rico January 95 Fall 95 Summer 96
Process Quality Engineering Penn State January 95 Fall 95 Summer 96

3. The Integrated Learning Factory

The Learning Factory differs from the traditional, highly
Physical facilities for manufacturing and product realization, focused, disciplinary labs that are tied to specific courses. As
located at each partner institution, are the cornerstone of our illustrated in Figure 3, the Learning Factory is the focal point
efforts. Across our coalition, over 14,000 square feet of new of the product and process realization activities in design and
and remodeled facilities, equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing and draws on the specialized resources of the
equipment, are being devoted to this activity. The basic disciplinary labs where appropriate to support the courses. It
principle of the Learning Factory is integration — integration is “dynamic” or agile, in that the student activities define its
of design and manufacturing experiences into the use and structure. For instance, the Product Dissection course
undergraduate curriculum; integration of equipment and uses Learning Factory facilities (model shop, design studio,
materials into manufacturing systems; and integration of CAD/CAM, Metrology, Manufacturing Processes) as well as
people from several engineering and business disciplines into disciplinary labs (Electronics, Computing, Materials and
effective teams that design and produce products and Mechanics, Composites Processing).
processes.

Traditional Product and The Learning

Disciplinary Labs Process Realization Factory
Courses
FLUID MECHANICS Capstone Design DESIGN
STUDIO
MATERIALS AND Concurrent MODEL
MECHANICS Engineering SHOP
ELECTRONICS, Entrepreneurship RAPID
µPROCESSORS PROTOTYPING
COMPOSITES Product GRAPHICS
PROCESSING Dissection AND CAD/CAM
COMPUTING Process Quality FLEXIBLE
Engineering MANUFACTURING
SYSTEMS AND Other IE, ME, METROLOGY
CONTROLS EE, ChemE, etc
OTHER LABS courses MANUFACTURING
PROCESSES

&IGURE  2ELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ,EARNING &ACTORY 0RODUCT 2EALIZATION #URRICULUM AND 4RADITIONAL ,ABORATORIES

In the Learning Factory, students actively experience the directly experiencing the interdependency of design and
product realization process in its entirety, from design concept manufacturing covered in Concurrent Engineering.
to finished hardware. Our vision is a facility where students
continually seek to implement their ideas, hone their skills and Seniors in the design projects class work in cross-disciplinary
practice engineering in an environment similar to an industrial product teams on a wide variety of projects requiring the use
setting. We seek an experience where every semester (or of advanced design and manufacturing concepts and facilities.
quarter), students participate in a course that uses the Learning The needs of our industrial affiliates are a prime source of
Factory as an integral part of its syllabus. For example, in the these projects. Other projects may revolve around student
freshman year, students in Product Dissection benchmark design competitions sponsored by the various professional
products, document designs using CAD equipment, perform societies, or student inventions resulting from the
measurements, critique manufacturing and design decisions entrepreneurship class or independent studies. Typical
and use prototyping facilities to implement their ideas for activities in the Learning Factory are illustrated in Figure 4.
product improvement. Sophomores and Juniors are likely to Also shown is an example of the layout of a typical Learning
be found honing their basic manufacturing process skills, and Factory (the 3,500 square feet PSU facility).

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1995 ASEE Conference Proceedings June 25-28, 1995 Anaheim, California
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 4. Industrial Partnership • Direct assistance in product and process design problems
through sponsorship of senior design projects;
Industrial involvement is essential for ensuring that these • Professional development of industry personnel through
efforts result in a fully integrated, practice-based approach to teaching, learning factory and curriculum development;
engineering education that is beneficial both to students and to • Technology transfer through Industrial-Academic
their future employers. Feedback from industry keeps exchanges - industry engineers in the classroom, and
attention focused on the necessary skills and knowledge base faculty internships in industry; and the
that students require, and how these elements should be • Opportunity to influence and improve the education of
integrated into the academic experience. engineers well into the next century.

Students will work at the university or industrial sites in cross- The members of our industrial partnership span the spectrum
disciplinary teams on real-world problems. Industry-supplied from large multi-national corporations to small family-owned
projects provide these problems, and in the process, help shape businesses. Represented industries include aerospace,
the careers of a new generation of professional engineers. automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals,
Industry partners directly benefit from this partnership by: computers, machine tools and consumer products. Each
• Availability of well-prepared engineering graduates who member brings with it a unique perspective and a valuable
understand the product realization process; contribution. These members form the project’s Industrial
• Opportunities to evaluate potential employees through Advisory Committee and meet quarterly to critique the
internships, collaborative projects and classroom progress of the Learning Factory and offer strategic guidance.
interactions; The current industrial affiliates of this project are:

4ABLE  )NDUSTRIAL 0ARTNERS OF -%%0

Allegheny Valve AMP AT&T

Baxter Bently Systems Boeing
D/E Associates DEC DuPont
ELDEC ExtrudeHone Fluke
Foundry Education Foundation General Electric General Motors
Hewlett Packard IBM Industrial Modernization Center (PA)
JLG Industries K2 Kennemetal
Kodak Motorola Muncy Machine Tool
Murata Electronics New Holland PACCAR
Precision Components Proctor and Gamble Rolodex
Stryker/Arroyo Techno-Plastics Telecomm Solutions
Textron Lycoming Washington Technology Center Westinghouse

These partners contribute in several critical ways, providing Factory. The approach will also help retain those students who
physical and personnel resources including: are not stimulated by the traditional lecture environment, but
• Manufacturing/design student projects who have the intellectual and creative abilities to become
• Engineers in the classroom exceptional engineers. The partnership will develop virtual
• Opportunities for faculty experiences in industry manufacturing facilities and will provide electronic access to
• Donations and loans of equipment these extensive and capital intensive facilities from remote
• Direct financial support locations, including those that serve historically under-
• Summer student internships represented groups. Our curriculum materials will be modular,
transportable and available to the academic community at
• Expertise to develop Learning Factory
large. Extensive use will be made of electronic techniques for
• Tours of industrial facilities for students and faculty
communication and curriculum export, such as satellite
• Case histories
transmission, multi-media computer tools, the National
• Advice and feedback on MEEP activities Information Infrastructure, and video conferencing.

5. Outreach 6. Summary
The MEEP partnership is dedicated to changing engineering A unique partnership of universities, industries, and the federal
education and ensuring that the benefits of those changes are government has been formed to revitalize design and
available to all students. Our approach will attract outstanding manufacturing engineering education. This partnership is
students who wish to supplement the traditional lecture developing an integrated curriculum and physical facilities for
environment with real-world experiences in the Learning

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2268
product realization at each university, with the full cooperation • Model practice-oriented engineering education curriculum
and assistance of 36 industrial partners. The primary products elements, packaged as tested teaching modules;
and benefits of this coalition to students, industry and faculty • Greater prestige for manufacturing and design education
will be: in university curricula;
• Superior engineering graduates who are well prepared to • Opportunities for students, faculty and engineers to
impact overall business productivity; exchange location, technology, ideas and products across
• A new paradigm for engineering education based on a a wide geographic and cultural spectrum.
balance among analysis, design, processing and
integration;

References

1
The Making of an Engineer - An illustrated history of engineering education in the United States and Canada, Lawrence Grayson,
John Wiley and Sons, 1993, pg x.
2
Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education , R.M.Felder, L.K.Silverman; Engineering Education 78(7), April 1988, pp
674-681.
3
Cognitive Aspects of Learning and Teaching Science, Jose P. Mestre, Pre-College Teacher Enhancement in Science and
Mathematics: Status, Issues and Problems, S. J. Fitzsimmons and L.C. Kerpelman (Eds.), Washington DC: NSF
4
Toward a Strategy for Teaching Engineering Design, Billy V. Koen, Engineering Education, 83(3), July 1994, pp 193-202.
5
A Different Way of Teaching, P.C. Wankat, F.S. Oreovicz, ASEE Prism, January 1994, pp 15-19.
6
Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education , R.M. Felder, L.K. Silverman, Engineering Education, 78(7), April 1988, pp
674-681.
7
Engineering Education Coalitions-Meeting the Need for Reform , National Science Foundation, publication NSF 93-58a
8
ECSEL Coalition (Engineering Coalition of Schools for Excellence in Education and Leadership) -- A Foundation for Educational
Change, M.L. Walker Jr, J.R. Bowen, and B.B. Schimming, Proceedings of 23 rd Frontiers in Education Conference, Crysal City,
VA, Nov 1993, pg 35.

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