Industrial Partners Providing Their Production Facility As An On Line Quality Control Laboratory

This initiative has resulted in the creation of a course in Statistical Process Control that incorporates uploading real-time quality data directly from the factory floor of a production facility operated by an industrial sponsor. Billions of dollars are spent each year by U.S. industry on equipment and systems that are necessary to manufacture sophisticated products which allow them to compete in the marketplace. The manufacturing companies that sponsor this project are very “pro-education” have agreed to support this project partly because they know that they are “data rich and analysis poor.” Because they already own the manufacturing equipment and computers needed, the cost of passing data on to the university is small. Furthermore, they appreciate the benefits of a solution that is very portable. It can be readily used at other manufacturing sites and by other educational institutions. For many years, students in geology, archeology, etc. have gone on field trips where they collect samples and perform analysis. However, engineering students traditionally have not had such opportunities. When these students walk into a manufacturing facility for the first time, they are impressed by the noise, heat and the sense of order. After and initial plant tour for this course, students are eager to see if they can understand and improve a real-world production process. Using this approach, students report that they learned much more than they would in a traditional college course since they are essentially performing as members of the quality control team for industry. The paper that follows will describe the results of the two-year experience of using real-time quality data transferred from the factory floor and the reaction of students and sponsors. P ge 551.1