ME 455 COURSE PROFILE

COURSE TOPICS:

Design process models, design proposals and reviews, design exposition, design communication (oral, written, visual, physical).
Individual and team processes, team dynamics and project management.
Consumer research, interviews, survey, observation, user needs assessment.
Business and market models, conjoint analysis, competition analysis, positioning, business plans.
Problem identification, product specification, quality functional decomposition, benchmarking.
Creativity, conceptualization, ideation techniques, functional decomposition.
Design for human variability and ergonomics, usability, kansei, emotion and aesthetic design.
Design for environment, sustainability, product life-cycle.
Design embodiment, failure modes and effects, feasibility and engineering models and analysis, model-based design.
Prototyping, fabrication and mass manufacturing processes, bill of materials, design for manufacturing and assembly.
Decision making paradigm in design, analytical decision making, down selection, decision theory and optimization.
Product cost models, microeconomics, product cost models, financial forecasting, investment analysis.
Design and society, ethical issues, legal issues, patents and liability, safety.

BULLETIN DESCRIPTION: Design of artifacts is addressed from a multidisciplinary perspective that includes engineering, art, psychology, marketing, and economics. Using a decision-making framework, emphasis is placed on quantitative methods. Building mathematical models and accounting for interdisciplinary interactions. Students work in team design projects from concept generation to prototyping and design verification. Four credit hour election requires prototyping of project.

Utilizing a model-based design process, learn and apply design techniques and analysis methods from engineering and other disciplines (economics, statistics, business, art and psychology) to address an open-ended design problem from diverse multidisciplinary perspectives accounting for performance, cost, societal and environmental considerations. [1-12]
Work as a team on a real product design problem, accounting for engineering functionality, user appeal, and producer economics. [3, 4, 6-10]
Develop mathematic decision-making models with identified design variables, objectives and constraints that include engineering, standards, economic cost and profit, market demand, and aesthetics. Exercise the model to obtain optimized designs. [1, 3, 5, 9]
Develop a physical and/or virtual prototype of the designed artifact. [3, 12]

Given a qualitative and open-ended real-world project, develop production solutions using formal design and analysis techniques. [1, 3, 4]
Work effectively in teams. Understand and practice time and project management. [2]
Frame incomplete design problem statements and place them in the context of the market and society, including patent search, standards, market analysis, ethical analysis and social impact analysis. Learn to deal with uncertainty in developing reliable products. [1, 2, 3]
Acquire skills and tools to describe a design situation through appropriate analysis models from a variety of disciplines. Integrate past and present course material to advance basic system concepts to a prototyping level, providing support for all design decisions by defensible analysis and reasoning. [2, 3]
Understand and interpret the needs of the customer, and learn to communicate with peers, instructors, vendors, and customers. Specifically, also learn to conduct scientific marketing surveys using statistical tools. [2, 3]
Practice how to develop product technical and cost specifications, procure off-the-shelf components, fabricate custom components, and interact with technicians. Recognize virtual prototyping alternatives for products or components that are expensive or difficult to build physically. Learn how to inform final design decision making through virtual and/or physical prototyping. [1, 3, 4]
Learn to develop an actual business plan for a new product (for internal or external stakeholders) using technical, economic, and marketing analytic arguments. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Learn how to articulate work succinctly through timed presentations and demonstrations. [1,2]

Project work structured in individual and team assignments. [1- 8]
Regular written and/or oral design reviews. [1-8]
Peer reviews [3, 5]

COURSE NUMBER: ME 455	COURSE TITLE: Analytical Product Design
REQUIRED COURSE OR ELECTIVE COURSE: Elective	TERMS OFFERED: Fall
TEXTBOOK / REQUIRED MATERIAL: Course Pack	PRE / CO-REQUISITES: ME 350, ME 360 for ME majors. Non-ME majors: Consent of Instructor (3-4 credits).
COGNIZANT FACULTY: Diann Brei	COURSE TOPICS: Design process models, design proposals and reviews, design exposition, design communication (oral, written, visual, physical). Individual and team processes, team dynamics and project management. Consumer research, interviews, survey, observation, user needs assessment. Business and market models, conjoint analysis, competition analysis, positioning, business plans. Problem identification, product specification, quality functional decomposition, benchmarking. Creativity, conceptualization, ideation techniques, functional decomposition. Design for human variability and ergonomics, usability, kansei, emotion and aesthetic design. Design for environment, sustainability, product life-cycle. Design embodiment, failure modes and effects, feasibility and engineering models and analysis, model-based design. Prototyping, fabrication and mass manufacturing processes, bill of materials, design for manufacturing and assembly. Decision making paradigm in design, analytical decision making, down selection, decision theory and optimization. Product cost models, microeconomics, product cost models, financial forecasting, investment analysis. Design and society, ethical issues, legal issues, patents and liability, safety.
BULLETIN DESCRIPTION: Design of artifacts is addressed from a multidisciplinary perspective that includes engineering, art, psychology, marketing, and economics. Using a decision-making framework, emphasis is placed on quantitative methods. Building mathematical models and accounting for interdisciplinary interactions. Students work in team design projects from concept generation to prototyping and design verification. Four credit hour election requires prototyping of project.
COURSE STRUCTURE/SCHEDULE: Lecture: 2 days per week at 1.5 hours, Team Meetings: 1 day per week at 1-2 hours

COURSE OBJECTIVES: for each course objective, links to the Program Outcomes are identified in brackets.	Utilizing a model-based design process, learn and apply design techniques and analysis methods from engineering and other disciplines (economics, statistics, business, art and psychology) to address an open-ended design problem from diverse multidisciplinary perspectives accounting for performance, cost, societal and environmental considerations. [1-12] Work as a team on a real product design problem, accounting for engineering functionality, user appeal, and producer economics. [3, 4, 6-10] Develop mathematic decision-making models with identified design variables, objectives and constraints that include engineering, standards, economic cost and profit, market demand, and aesthetics. Exercise the model to obtain optimized designs. [1, 3, 5, 9] Develop a physical and/or virtual prototype of the designed artifact. [3, 12]
COURSE OUTCOMES: for each course outcome, links to the Course Objectives are identified in brackets.	Given a qualitative and open-ended real-world project, develop production solutions using formal design and analysis techniques. [1, 3, 4] Work effectively in teams. Understand and practice time and project management. [2] Frame incomplete design problem statements and place them in the context of the market and society, including patent search, standards, market analysis, ethical analysis and social impact analysis. Learn to deal with uncertainty in developing reliable products. [1, 2, 3] Acquire skills and tools to describe a design situation through appropriate analysis models from a variety of disciplines. Integrate past and present course material to advance basic system concepts to a prototyping level, providing support for all design decisions by defensible analysis and reasoning. [2, 3] Understand and interpret the needs of the customer, and learn to communicate with peers, instructors, vendors, and customers. Specifically, also learn to conduct scientific marketing surveys using statistical tools. [2, 3] Practice how to develop product technical and cost specifications, procure off-the-shelf components, fabricate custom components, and interact with technicians. Recognize virtual prototyping alternatives for products or components that are expensive or difficult to build physically. Learn how to inform final design decision making through virtual and/or physical prototyping. [1, 3, 4] Learn to develop an actual business plan for a new product (for internal or external stakeholders) using technical, economic, and marketing analytic arguments. [1, 2, 3, 4] Learn how to articulate work succinctly through timed presentations and demonstrations. [1,2]
ASSESSMENT TOOLS: for each assessment tool, links to the course outcomes are identified	Project work structured in individual and team assignments. [1- 8] Regular written and/or oral design reviews. [1-8] Peer reviews [3, 5]