Pr Ism A Team Based Approach For Teaching Manufacturing

PrISM—the Program in Integrated, Sustainable Manufacturing—is a new manufacturing engineering education option being offered to students at Michigan Technological University. It provides students hands-on experience with different manufacturing processes, as well as a more complete understanding of the inter-relationships between engineering, manufacturing and business activities. The class is structured as a “team of teams” which works together to design, manufacture and market at least one new product each academic year. This provides a rich environment for students to develop and practice necessary skills such as team and individual communication, integrated product/process design, environmental awareness, quality control, project management, problem solving, design, and marketing. Engineering students join the program as sophomores, and continue to participate during their junior and senior years, earning up to a maximum of 16 semester credits.