Manufacturing Engineering as a Field of Study

Manufacturing Engineering

Every product you have ever purchased was once processed or made in a manufacturing facility. The process in which the product was created was designed by an engineer, more specifically a manufacturing engineer. Not every manufacturing process has been designed by a manufacturing engineer, but that is the primary focus of the field of study.

Overview

With a manufacturing engineering degree, there is a lot of flexibility of what an official job title could be. The job could retain to the design and testing of the product, or it could the design of the

Automotive Production Line

processes used to make the product. The job could potentially include both aspects of these and make a more involved engineer. It is also known for manufacturing engineers to be in charge of the whole production floor of a facility. These different job titles vary company to company, but ultimately depend on what the manufacturing engineer wants to have for a primary focus.

Aspects of Engineering

Engineering Thought Process

The aspects that has been taught thoroughly at North Dakota State University is the Process and Production Engineering. These both involve other aspect of engineering but are the foremost popular focuses in the field. Process Engineering is the thought process and utilization of tools and resources to create a process that is not only efficient, but effective. Production Engineering is the thought process and utilization of tools and resources used to create a whole facility containing multiple processes. One is heavily dependent upon the other because the Process Engineering will help derive machines needed, the tooling involved, time restraints, and other important characteristics. Another aspect that brings the Process and Production Engineering together is called Product Engineering. Product Engineering is thought process that helps derive key information to aid in the Process Engineering. Some examples are material composition, key feature of the parts, how the product is designed to work, and a general idea of how the pieces might need to be manufactured. The chart below helps describe how all the aspects of engineering work together.

How Product, Process, and Production Engineering Tie Together

Purpose of Manufacturing Engineering

Manufacturing engineering isn't exclusive to the products that have mechanical uses, manufacturing engineering is huge in the medical, food, and chemical industries for example. Processes for these different things must also be designed for the use in everyday life. The importance of this field is what attracts many people, it is in everything that everybody uses.