Teaching New Product Development through a Product Engineering Approach

Abstract

This paper describes experiences gained in teaching a new course aimed at providing junior-level undergraduate engineering students with some of the fundamentals needed in developing new products. A six-stage engineering approach to develop a new product is proposed. Through a cooperative education partnership arrangement with Block & Decker, a new product is introduced to the class. Engineers from this corporation present a series of lecture on some their real-life experience with this product. The students work as teams to complete assigned course projects related to the new product development. During the redesign, Pro/ENGINEER and a method of rapid prototyping are introduced. These tools aid the students in inventing new components and in visualizing their ideas in the learning process. An extremely positive response from the participating students reflects upon the innovative approach developed in this course.