The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

This course examines modern production and operations management tools and compares them to the processes required to produce engineering prototypes. The goal is to identify which of these tools are best suited for use in improving the prototype assembly process. Corporations have invested heavily in modernizing their manufacturing operations to achieve world-class performance. While traveling along the road to excellence, they have amassed a wide array of tools and techniques for squeezing every bit of value from their operations. Much has been written in recent years about how companies can maximize their manufacturing capabilities, yet the early engineering prototype stage of the product lifecycle has gone largely unattended. The purpose of this course is to compare prototype development and production with modern production and operations management to determine if tools that have become so commonplace in factories around the world can be successfully applied to the earlier stages of a product’s life.

The course begins with a brief examination of modern manufacturing theory and then proceeds to the development of tools that have led companies to their current levels of success. Each new tool is introduced with sufficient detail to enable the reader to comprehend its place and importance in modern production operations. These same tools are then examined in light of their applicability to the special requirements of engineering prototyping operations to see if they can be successfully applied in that realm. As would be expected, some of the tools offer much to improve prototype operations while others have less to offer. Each is presented objectively to allow students to determine applicability to processes in their own fields of endeavor.

This course is recommended for engineers involved with the development, production, testing, or evaluation of engineering prototypes. Although written with manufacturing companies specifically in mind, the principles taught herein may also be applied to the companies which develop prototype products or services other than manufactured items.

The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of fifteen (15) questions at the end of this course to earn PDH credits.

State Board Acceptance

This course can be used by professional engineers to fulfill PDH requirements mandated by state and provincial licensing boards. Decatur Professional Development is an approved provider of continuing education in all states that pre-approve course providers. In all other states that mandate continuing education for engineers, it is the individual engineer's responsibility to determine the suitability of activities for PDH credit. The state boards typically accept online* courses that cover technical, managerial** or ethical content and which are relevant to the practice of engineering. The course must have a clear purpose or objective with a content that will maintain, improve or expand the skills and knowledge of the licensee's field of practice. For questions about your mandatory PDH requirements, visit the website of your state licensing board.

*Online courses are accepted by all state licensing boards that mandate continuing education. Other than New York (which limits online courses to 18 PDH) and Iowa (which limits online courses to 6 PDH), there are no limits placed by other states on the number of hours that can be earned through online continuing education. Consult with your state licensing board if you have any questions about the acceptability of online courses.

**The New York State Board of Engineers does not accept general office management courses, but will accept project management courses that are offered by an approved provider and that are technical in nature and contribute to the engineer's professional practice.

Please Note: Continuing Education credits for this course are awarded as PDH (Professional Development Hour Credits).