EIN 4890 and EIN 4892 Industrial Engineering Senior Design Project

Instructor: Beth Gray
Email: bgray@eng.famu.fsu.edu

The Industrial Engineering Senior Design Project (IESDP) course marks the culmination of the Industrial Engineering design sequence and draws upon student training from all previous courses to conduct a final design project. For a specific project, students, working in a team, are required to define products, identify manufacturing and/or service processes and design systems to develop, produce and distribute the product. Throughout the academic year, students utilize the Six-Sigma methodology to reduce variations/defects and improve system efficiency as they strive to deliver products and services that meet their client's requirements. As such, they focus on identifying factors critical to quality as determined by the clients throughout the duration of the project. Over the past ten years, the goal has been to expose students to industry-based projects that stem from real problems for which our customers need solutions.

The IESDP students work in teams and are expected to exhibit excellent team-work skills and independence of thought performing at the level of graduate industrial engineers. In addition to providing an economic justification for their solutions, the students must demonstrate an understanding of contemporary issues including their designs and products sustainability, socio-political implications and environmental impacts. Students must also consider health and safety impacts and ethical implications of their solutions. In line with the Six-Sigma methodology, the students recommend measures to help their clients effectively implement their proposed strategies.

Students are graded on their ability to proffer equitable solutions to the client's needs. This, of course, requires combining team-work skills and hard work to complete their mission. Students have five (5) gate reviews (based on DMAIC), two in the fall semester and three in the spring semester, where they turn-in reports to the instructor and their clients. They report their findings at each gate review. They are also required to submit a final report or business plan for implementing their recommendations, and present their work to the general faculty and clients. This course is demanding in terms of hours spent outside the classroom and prepares the students for the real world.

The following are some recent IESDPs and their sponsors:

Project Title Sponsor Sector
Ares I Avionics Mounting Structure Layout Optimization ATK Launch Systems Aerospace
Mechanic Work Package Modification Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Aerospace
Hospital Facility Layout Design Capital Regional Medical Center Healthcare
Cancer Center Scheduling and Registration: Outpatient Radiation and Chemotherapy Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Healthcare
Finished Goods Unit Storage Process Trane Manufacturing
Reducing Changeover Time of Grinding Machines GT Automotive Manufacturing
Improvement of Balancing Procedure Danfoss Turbocor Manufacturing
Waste Management – Route Design City of Tallahassee Service
Optimization of Bus Routes TalTran Transit System Service
Improvement of Truck Routing UPS Service