The importance of manufacturing systems engineering curriculum topics as perceived by manufacturing systems engineering graduates and their employers.

摘要

The purpose of the study was to determine the importance of a list of 10 Manufacturing Systems Engineering (MSE) curriculum topics needed for the competency development of Manufacturing Systems Engineers.;A mail survey was sent to a stratified random sample of 210 MSE graduates of three graduate MSE programs. Samples were drawn from MSE programs at North Carolina State University, Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. MSE topics were analyzed using the t-statistic and chi-square test of frequencies at the.05 level of confidence. The conclusions of the study included: (1) The 10 MSE topics were perceived by graduates of MSE programs and employers of MSE graduates as Important for MSE curricula. The 10 MSE topics in order of importance were: (a) Product and Process Design for Manufacturing; (b) Control of Manufacturing Processes; (c) Manufacturing Systems; (d) New Manufacturing and Engineering Technologies; (e) Manufacturing Processes and Materials; (f) Production Planning and Control; (g) Business and Economics; (h) Management of Industrial Systems; (i) Human Factors and Human Resources; and (j) Modeling and Simulation. (2) It was further concluded that two MSE topics of the 10 that were Very Important to MSE program curricula were: (a) Product and Process Design for Manufacturing; (b) Control of Manufacturing Processes.;Hypotheses tested included: Hypothesis 1. There will be no statistically significant difference between the mean levels of importance of a list of 10 MSE topics as perceived by MSE graduates and their employers. The hypothesis was not rejected. Hypothesis 2. There will be no statistically significant difference among the opinions of graduates of 3 MSE programs on the importance of a list of 10 MSE topics. The hypothesis was rejected. Hypothesis 3. There will be no statistically significant difference among the opinions of employers of graduates of three MSE programs on the importance of a list of 10 MSE topics. The hypothesis was rejected.