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ContentsPARTNERING -- A UNIVERSITY, A COMMUNITY COLLEGE, AND LOCAL INDUSTRY DEVELOP A BSMfgE PROGRAM
ABSTRACT
Western Michigan University's (WMU's) new BS degree program in manufacturing engineering is one university's attempt to expand its engineering degree offerings in a responsive and cost effective manner. WMU's BSMfgE program was tailored to meet the specific needs of manufacturers in the Muskegon, Michigan area. The area's local community college, Muskegon Community College (MCC), is WMU's partner in a 2+2 arrangement. In an attempt to be as cost effective as possible, the program not only has MCC offering the first two years of courses at the community college fee schedules, but has WMU's courses offered on the campus of MCC with MCC's laboratory facilities used by WMU's courses.
Program development included the active participation of the manufacturing companies in the region, MCC, and WMU. The manufacturers, represented by senior management and especially engineering management, defined the skill and knowledge set they desired new manufacturing engineers to have. The educators, along with the manufacturers, developed a scheme of courses to provide this skill and knowledge set. Where practical, existing courses from existing engineering departments were used in the program. Degree specific courses offered exclusively in the BSMfgE program were developed for teaching by a separate WMU department with offices on MCC campus.
In September of 1996 Western Michigan University, Muskegon Community College, and industry in the Muskegon, Michigan region reached the latest milestone in a cooperative effort started three years ago. A bachelor's degree in manufacturing engineering from a state university is being offered, in its entirety, through on-site classes in Muskegon, Michigan.
This cooperative effort started three years ago when the World Class Manufacturing Council of Muskegon County (WCMC) approached Western Michigan University's (WMU's) College of Engineering and Applied Science to request WMU's assistance in meeting an educational need in the Muskegon region. WCMC believed that a local source of trained engineers was needed to support WCMC's efforts in continuing the transition of the local economy from one dominated by declining "smokestack" industries into one based on internationally as well as nationally competitive manufacturing companies. In additional, the ability to expand existing manufacturing operations (as well as to attract new manufacturing operations, especially high technology based operations) was seen to be hindered by a shortage of technically competent, manufacturing-oriented engineers in the region. WCMC wanted a manufacturing-oriented engineering degree offered in Muskegon.
In response to the request from the WCMC, the dean of WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Science began looking into the possibility of offering an engineering degree in its entirety in the Muskegon area. Muskegon (the name of both a county and its major city) is approximately 100 miles northwest of Kalamazoo, the location of the campus of WMU and where WMU traditionally offers its undergraduate engineering programs.
Muskegon is the home of Muskegon Community College (MCC), whose programs include an associate degree that is articulated with the state's four-year colleges and universities. MCC also offers a variety of vocational and technical courses and degrees utilizing the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities (including drafting and CAD, machining, metallurgy, metrology, robotics and automation, and electronics) in its technology building.
Muskegon Community College (MCC) was at the time in the process of completing a 95,000 square foot building, the Higher Education Center (HEC), where three cooperating universities (including WMU) were to offer upper division and graduate courses. MCC was (and is) extremely interested in expanding the upper division offerings from cooperating universities to better utilize the new facility and to offer opportunities for its students to continue their education locally and in as seamless a manner as possible.
Students in Muskegon were able to complete the first two years of most engineering curriculums at MCC, but had to leave the immediate Muskegon area to earn an EAC/ABET accredited engineering degree. Many of MCC students went on to WMU (and other four year colleges and universities) to complete their engineering degrees. For a variety of reasons, including family considerations and finances, many local students were unable to leave Muskegon to pursue an engineering degree.
WMU's presence in Muskegon was (and remains) the Muskegon Regional Center (MRC), a branch of WMU's Division of Continuing Education, located in rented space near MCC's campus. The MRC offered courses toward a bachelors' degree in technology (currently titled BS in Industrial Management), a BA/BS in General University Studies, eight (8) master's degree programs, and a teaching certificate program. These WMU courses were (and are) primarily for part-time evening students and utilize local part-time instructors and regular WMU faculty members who commute from Kalamazoo one night a week. One regular faculty member (a tenured professor from the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering teaching courses in the MS Engineering Management program, MS Industrial Engineering program, and the BS in Industrial Management program) is located in Muskegon. The MRC staff consists of the regional center director and her secretary. The Muskegon Regional Center moved into the Higher Education Center at Muskegon Community College upon completion of construction.
Initial study indicated that an engineering program in Muskegon was viable. Development of a proposal to establish an engineering program was initiated. Early on it was decided that a location-specific engineering program would be needed for Muskegon and that it could be tailored to local needs. WMU established two basic requirements that had to be accomplished by any off-campus engineering program: (1) that curriculum be accreditable by EAC/ABET (in keeping with College of Engineering and Applied Science policy) and (2) that the off-campus program be self supporting (in keeping with WMU policy). To ensure meeting local needs and expectations, program development was a joint effort of local industry (in the form of WCMC members), MCC, and WMU.
Development of the curriculum for the new engineering program was overseen by a committee composed of representatives of WCMC, WMU, and MCC. WMU's dean of engineering and the director of WMU's MRC (a non-academic position) represented WMU. MCC was represented by its dean of community services, a science professor (who teaches engineering physics, statics, and dynamics), and the head of MCC's technology department. WCMC was represented by a group of 13 engineers, engineering managers, and manufacturing managers from 13 local manufacturing companies. This committee developed an overall structure for the curriculum as well as defining specific skills and experiences that the courses in the curriculum should provide:
"The goal of this curriculum is to develop students who have the ability to take a product design or concept and design the manufacturing process. Students must be able to communicate effectively and be problem solvers in an industrial environment.
The industrial steering committee further specified that the curriculum must provide
Based on this goal and these requirements, the degree earned through the new program was defined to be a "Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Manufacturing)" - WMU's engineering degree's are awarded as BSE(Specific Area) and are accredited as discipline specific degrees (not general engineering degrees with concentrations in an discipline). Selection of the BSE (Manufacturing) - (BSMfgE) - degree for the program simplified development of a location specific degree as WMU does not offer the BSMfgE in Kalamazoo or any other regional center. This degree differentiation also simplifies the accreditation process both for the new degree and for existing degrees.
From this goal and these requirements, a sequence of courses was developed using existing MCC courses, existing WMU courses, and new WMU courses tailored to the needs of the new program. The sequence of courses selected allows the program to meet both the "old" and "new" EAC/ABET criteria for manufacturing engineering programs. Additionally, the degree was designed to be offered on a two plus two (2 + 2) basis with MCC teaching the lower division courses (60 semester hours) and WMU teaching the upper division courses (as well a three lower division engineering courses - one course per semester during the freshman year and one course in the sophomore year - or 70 credit hours). The resulting program contains 15 new courses - 13 MFE (manufacturing engineering) courses and 2 electrical engineering courses (new courses with their content tailored to the requirements of this program).
Development of specific courses was done by the faculty of WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Science. The input from industry was also used in course development. An example of this is a survey using the industry members of the committee to rank selected topics in the quality field. This survey resulted in design of experiments and manufacturing process quality systems being at the top of the ranking and inspection planning at the bottom. This ranking was used to develop the BSMfgE course in quality assurance.
A plan to deliver the program in Muskegon was also developed. Considering WMU's requirement that off-campus programs be self supporting, the costs for conducting the program were carefully detailed.
One way in which the startup costs for the program were minimized was in the area of capital costs (specifically laboratories). Muskegon Community College is an enthusiastic supporter of the BSMfgE program as exemplified by MCC's agreement to allow WMU to use the existing MCC for WMU's engineering classes as required. WMU and MCC have also agreed to cooperate in the enhancing, adding, and expanding labs in the future. This significantly reduces the cost of creating a new engineering program. Additionally, MCC allocated faculty office space in the HEC for the WMU faculty teaching in this program.
To teach the new MFE courses, a new department in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Department of Manufacturing Engineering, was established in Muskegon. Although a Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering exists at the Kalamazoo campus, it does not offer a degree program in manufacturing engineering - its most closely related bachelor degrees are in manufacturing engineering technology and industrial engineering. The establishment of a new department located in Muskegon (with offices in the HEC at MCC) places WMU faculty on-site for teaching, student advising, and student recruiting and retention. It also allows for departmental policy and procedures to reflect the expectations of the college for this faculty unit.
The eventual ability of the program to pay for itself is dependent on its student base. The results of a professional marketing research study exceeded the steering committees' projections of demand for an engineering degree program in Muskegon County (and confirmed that a Muskegon-based program would also draw students from the counties to the north and south of Muskegon County). Based on this research, it was established that when the program was offering its full schedule of courses and had filled the pipeline with students, the program would be a break-even proposition for WMU.
The problem was that this ramp up would take about 4 years. During the first three years, reduced course offerings and smaller class sizes (plus one time startup costs) were projected to create a shortfall in excess of $470,000. To offset this shortfall, local manufacturing companies, the MCC Foundation, local civic groups, and WMU's Division of Continuing Education pledged supplemental support to underwrite the program during its first three years. Indicative of the support this program has had from MCC is the lead in raising funds that was taken by MCC's president. Additionally, the MCC Foundation was a major contributor.
The plan for the curriculum and the plan for conducting the program were submitted to the various committees, councils, and boards with final approval for the program being obtained in the summer of 1996. Almost immediately upon final approval of the program, the Department of Manufacturing Engineering was made operational with the hiring of its first faculty member and the offering of the first WMU course in the program.
The catalog/ brochure for the bachelor of science in manufacturing engineering describes the program as a cooperative effort by WMU and MCC. The WMU web page [http://www.mich.edu/engineer/Manufac/index.html, revised Feb. 24, 1997] for this program is headed:
and carries both a MCC and WMU logo. The course listings are for the appropriate WMU and MCC courses - the MCC to WMU course conversions are done in the background. The program is designed to be seamless with the students in the program accepted at WMU and MCC concurrently with a transition from a course load of predominately MCC courses to one of totally WMU courses in the senior year.
If successful (and all the cooperating parties are doing everything possible to make the program successful), the program provides substantial benefits to all the parties involved. The local manufacturing companies now have their local source of degreed engineers as well as a means to develop promising employees through additional education. The engineers coming from the program will have the skills identified as important to local industry. The engineers graduating from the program will be familiar with the local area and have their roots in it. Additionally, local industries now have easier access to the research capabilities and applications' expertise of Western Michigan University.
Muskegon Community College benefits from the close ties it has established with WMU. The manufacturing engineering program will be adding equipment and capabilities to the labs at MCC that will benefit students not in the manufacturing engineering program . Both MCC and WMU are now more competitive in proposals for grants that encourage cooperation between institutions. Additionally, Muskegon Community College is demonstrating its ability to support bachelor's degree programs in Muskegon that may lead to more bachelor degree programs being offered locally. This allows MCC to continue to grow and to be a significant voice in the development of higher education in the area.
Students in the program are benefiting from the close ties the program has with local companies in the availability of internships with local industry. The costs of completing this program are substantially less than taking all the courses at a four-year college since half the courses are taken at the lower rates charged by the community college while the remainder can be taken without leaving home. A significant benefit in time and money to the students is the seamless movement between MCC and WMU that results in no wasted effort in courses which do not transfer.
Finally, Western Michigan University benefits from an increased presence in a growing area of the state. The potential for additional programs in this part of the state is becoming a possibility from increased awareness of WMU's willingness to serve the region in non-traditional ways. Companies are recognizing WMU as a potential partner in growth. This is also leading to increased opportunities for faculty involvement with Muskegon area companies in research, consulting, and training. Additionally, WMU has reaped significant good-will in the region from its efforts in establishing this program.
Indicative of the potential for this program is the development of a plan of study for students at the community college approximately one hour's drive north of MCC - West Shore Community College (WSCC). In cooperation with WSCC's administration, a plan of study is being developed which allows students to complete the first two years' courses at WSCC - supplemented by a freshman level WMU BSMfgE course (which does not require laboratory work) presented via compressed video. The possibility of offering required MCC courses (such as statics and dynamics) whose equivalent is not offered by WSCC via compressed video is being explored.
In conclusion, Western Michigan University, Muskegon Community College, and industry in the Muskegon area have come together to develop a program that benefits not only the cooperating partners but the Muskegon community that they serve. This paradigm of cooperation is a model which others can use in meeting local engineering education needs through the offering of quality degree programs at minimal cost.
The Author
WILLIAM R. PETERSON is an assistant professor in the Department of Manufacturing Engineering at Western Michigan University. Dr. Peterson received his BIE from Auburn University in 1970, his MBA from Kearney State College in 1984, and his Ph.D. (Industrial and Systems Engineering) from The Ohio State University in 1995. Dr. Peterson has extensive industrial experience as both an engineering manager and as a plant manager.