Using Internet based concurrent engineering tools to educate multinational students about the design, process planning and manufacture of new products

The data rich manufacturing environment provides an excellent educational platform for working in the emerging fields of E-engineering and distance learning. Engineers of the future, who are currently in their formation stages at universities around the world, will be responsible for the design and process specification for all types of products and components. Therefore, it is extremely important that different aspects of concurrent engineering are analyzed to develop appropriate teaching techniques for the next generation. Four universities have come together to design an experience, which educates students about interdisciplinary team building, virtual work groups and international standards by creating an environment of true collaborative engineering. Teams were composed of students from three institutions; a conceptual design group, a prototype development group and an industrial production group. Product ideas were based on simplifying computer interaction for the disabled. The project demonstrated the complexity of the entire "art-to-part" process and exposed obstacles and cultural differences that teams had to overcome.