Benchmarking Undergraduate Manufacturing Engineering Curricula in the United States

Abstract

Advanced manufacturing is demanding universities and industry expand their perception of the role of manufacturing engineers in driving innovation and competitiveness. In turn, innovations in rapid, smart, and sustainable manufacturing require engineers to investigate new ways of making products for flexible and competitive production. In addition to the associated operational, technological, and strategic advantages for industry, advanced manufacturing creates national workforce and market opportunities. While universities play a key role in educating and preparing engineers to fulfil these needs of advanced manufacturing industry, existing undergraduate manufacturing engineering programs have not been reviewed to learn how well they are meeting the needs of industry. The objective of this research is to investigate the structure and composition of undergraduate manufacturing engineering programs in the U.S. universities accredited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.). A database was compiled to document the curricular requirements of these programs. Course and topical requirements were then categorized using the SME Four Pillars of Manufacturing Knowledge model. The subsequent benchmarking results documented here provide an opportunity for universities and industries to identify topical areas that have garnered attention of curriculum developers, as well as identifying potential programmatic deficiencies relative to comparator programs. Thus, benchmarking study results can be used as a basis for defining how an undergraduate manufacturing engineering curriculum could be revised to better meet the human resource needs of advanced manufacturing industry.