USING THE CASE METHOD TO FACILITATE LEARNING OF DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING AND COST

Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) is an integral methodology for product development that aims to simplify the manufacturing process, increase productivity, and minimize costs while maintaining product quality. DFMA is often difficult since significant manufacturing knowledge is required. The importance of DFMA is underlined by the fact that a large portion of product manufacturing costs (materials, processing, assembly and indirect costs) is determined by early design decisions. Therefore, it is important for engineering students to understand the limiting factors and practices relevant to the application of DFMA. Although DFMA concepts can be taught through conventional lecture methods, true understanding of this multi-faceted and highly integrated strategy requires real-world practice. The case method provides an effective pedagogical approach to help students understand and fully appreciate the complexity of engineering practice, gain experience and develop the skills necessary to deal with this complexity, and make connections between various topics in their undergraduate curriculum. In this paper we describe the effort taken in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Waterloo (UW) to develop and implement case studies to address this gap.