Realization Consortium Project

Over the past few decades, sweeping changes have transformed the way products are designed and manufactured throughout the world. This sea change in manufacturing has been driven by the growing demand for higher quality and more diverse products and by fierce international competition. Today, the manufacturingindustry must grapple wit a number of important challenges, such as how best to design and innovate, how to understand constantly shifting customer needs, how to produce the products that meet those needs, and - perhaps most important how to so it light the first time, within tight budget and time constraints.

To meet these challenges, the industry needs bright young engineers who are not only thoroughly versed in the leading edge of manufacturing technology, but who possess the skills and hands-on experience to lead manufacturing organizations in this post-modern world. Unfortunately, the methods we use to prepare engineers for careers in manufacturing have failed to keep pace with the dramatic changes that manufacturing itself has undergone.

The proposed program establishes an educational coalition of five universities (Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, North Carolina A&T State University, Tuskegee University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute) that will launch a systemic reform of undergraduate manufacturing engineering education and faculty culture in the United States as we enter the 21st century. This reform is based on the recognition that:


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Creation Date: Sunday, 09-Mar-1997 12:48:12 EST