Creation Of A Graduate Program In Engineering Management: Application Of Basic Six Sigma Principles To Curriculum Design

This paper presents an educational case study to develop a curriculum in engineering management at a university in the southeast United States. The program is being offered principally at the graduate level, with some courses being offered at the dual level of competency. The courses within the program are offered using the classroom instruction as well as the online format of instruction. The program content utilizes the various ingredients of Industrial Engineering as well as basic management science and its application to engineering. The newly developed program also takes advantage of audio-visual media to facilitate instruction. The novel aspect of this program is that due to its basic nature, courses are being offered both in the classroom as well as online. This versatile approach makes the program highly lucrative for working professionals as well as distance learners. The paper examines how the basic principles of Six Sigma were systematically applied to curriculum development to not only ensure quality of the program but also to expressly address needs of the students and industry. Introduction As engineers, scientists, and technologists advance in their careers, they encounter an increasing expectation of project and team management. At the same time, these technical specialists are oftentimes poorly prepared to take on these additional job responsibilities. A Master of Science in Engineering Management degree is designed to help technical professionals take this next step in their career. In addition to added technical exposure, this well-rounded degree prepares technical professionals to deal with topics such as cost management, world-class manufacturing, workplace safety and ergonomics, leadership, and quality control. A curriculum development effort was recently undertaken at a university in the southeast United States for development of just such a graduate program in Engineering Management. This paper describes the need for the program, its salient features as well as introduces the reader to how basic six sigma principles in applied to curriculum development for the said program. A degree in Engineering Management is primarily designed for working engineers, technologists, scientists and professionals who are in leadership/management positions or who are planning to advance their careers into the management of technical projects or teams. The curriculum gives students an appreciation of both the technical and managerial perspectives of solving projects. The degree candidate must have an appropriate undergraduate degree in an engineering, engineering technology, manufacturing, or science discipline. Generally speaking, there are four target audiences for a graduate degree in engineering management. They are enumerated as follows. P ge 15332.2 1. Non-traditional technical students working to update their credentials and advance in their careers to administrative positions. These students typical have at least 3 years working experience, oftentimes will work full-time while pursuing the degree, and possess an appropriate technical undergraduate degree in engineering, engineering technology, manufacturing, or science. 2. Internal graduates of industrial management, engineering technology, or closely related science programs. 3. Graduates of industrial management, engineering, engineering technology, or closely related science programs from other universities, and 4. International students with a background in industrial management, engineering, engineering technology, or closely related science programs. The first target audience is considered to be the largest and most viable. Curriculum Development Methodology A Six Sigma based design philosophy is used to design the curriculum by means of utilizing tools such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD). This way the needs of various constituencies are addressed. The house of Quality approach enables the streamlining of the process 1 . The following is a brief introduction to the basic concept of Six Sigma. Most statistical data can be expressed in the form of some kind of normal distribution. The concept of Six Sigma is a concept that seeks to enhance quality 2-4 . This is achieved by ensuring that a substantially large number of the population as expressed by the normal distribution meets or exceeds desired quality levels. That way the number of rejections is minimized and waste is practically eliminated. Why do we use the quantity 6 Sigma? Most data is assumed to be normally distributed in the shape of a bell curve. Assume that the bell curve represents the entire output of a process. The total number of defectives likely to be produced over the long run out of a million parts manufactured is about 3.4 if the entire output falls within six times standard deviation on either side of the process mean. As will be observed, this strategy is readily expandable to the field of academics as well. What makes the Six Sigma approach different from other approaches: The objective of using an approach based on six sigma techniques is to find out the specific needs of the market place and try to address those needs effectively. Such an approach significantly improves the employability of students. It imparts a set of marketable skills that can be used in an entrepreneurial sense. In order to accomplish this objective, the aforementioned approach places heavy emphasis on ‘how-to’ approach of problem solving pertaining to engineering management. P ge 15332.3 Obstacles to implementation: Rapid change in marketplace demand constitutes one of the principal obstacles that could be encountered. However, this problem can be easily encountered by placing relative emphasis on fundamental concepts of engineering management. This way, students will be able to grasp concepts clearly. It is clear that such an approach helps facilitate direct and seamless application of skills learned in the classroom to real life situations. Curriculum Development: An Engineering management degree is primarily an applied degree that seeks to apply business principles to the management of engineering firms. As such, it is extremely important that the voice of different stakeholders including employers, government organizations and regulatory agencies is incorporated into the curriculum. This can be accomplished through the extensive use of a tool referred to as Quality Function Deployment (QFD). ≠ Quality Function Deployment: Quality Function Deployment (QFD) makes widespread use of the so called house of Quality. This is a matrix that converts customer requirements into product design features. Figure 1 illustrates the structure of a typical house of quality 4 . Customer Requirements Technical Design Requirements (“HOW’s”) “WHAT’S”