Connecting Introductory Engineering Project Concepts to Upper-Level Industrial Engineering Courses

With the move to project-based learning at introductory level engineering courses, students gain a solid foundation in fundamental concepts geared for all engineering disciplines. Industrial engineering students feel that the current advanced coursework does not directly align with these fundamental projects. To address this lack of correspondence, faculty implemented a plan to integrate the introductory-level project into two upper-level industrial engineering courses offered in the final two years of the program. In one course, the project was utilized in a lab to practice application of various time study methods. In the second course, the project was dissected and used to create a production line to apply lean manufacturing concepts. Students were surveyed and consistently felt that using a product that they made allowed them to apply their knowledge more effectively and understand how the concepts taught in class function in practice.