ERP-based, Web-enabled integrated industrial engineering curriculum pilot

This paper presents a pilot under way at the Industrial Engineering School to evaluate the benefits of applying a single Web-enabled ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system to facilitate the integration of the contents of eight subjects covering the last three years of the engineering program. Students will run a product line of a fictitious company throughout this period, taking different standpoints (logistics, finance, etc.) depending on the subject involved, while developing an awareness of the relationships among those approaches. Particular attention is paid to the entry barrier posed by the complexity of a real world ERP; several ways to overcome this barrier are explored in the pilot