ISE Capstone Projects
What is a Senior Design Capstone?
The Senior Design Capstone for Industrial and Systems Engineering is a collaborative and practical experience for both the students and the sponsor.
In this capstone course, teams of 3-4 ISE students will be assigned a real-world problem posed by an industry sponsor. The students will collaborate with the sponsor and their teammates to address the problem using their skills in statistics and data analysis, probability and simulation, operation research and optimization, inventory and manufacturing planning, work design and human factors, six-sigma, lean methods. Over the course of a semester, students will work together to create a viable solution to the problem.
What is a sponsor?
A sponsor is an industry client located in southeast Ohio. Each client identifies a problem within their company or organization and an ISE student team will be assigned to address that problem over the course of a semester. In the past, student teams have worked to address problems involving test facility flow analysis, product measurements, product flow efficiency, operator ergonomics, maintenance cost, restaurant customer flow an deficiencies, emergency department analysis, and many others.
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What should a sponsor expect?
Throughout the semester, students will work closely with the sponsor to achieve their goals. Students are expected to report to the sponsor on a weekly basis. The teams will follow a strict timeline and produce a PDR report in the middle of the semester and FDR at the end of the semester. You will have input throughout the process.
Questions? Contact the course instructor, Dušan Šormaz.
Introduction
All Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) students take a senior design capstone project as the culminating experience in their undergraduate program. This is a 6 credit hour course taking place in one semester. ISE design projects address the needs of industrial, service or other potential clients in Southeast Ohio. Students are divided into teams of 3-4 and work together to provide the solution to a problem posed by the client or sponsor.
Potential Problems to Solve
Using the skills developed in previous ISE course, such as statistics and data analysis, probability and simulation, operation research and optimization, inventory and manufacturing planning, work design and human factors, six-sigma, lean methods, senior design projects aim to give students the opportunity to practice those skills for a real company and client. In the past, students have worked on problems such as test facility flow analysis, product measurements, product flow efficiency, operator ergonomics, maintenance cost, restaurant customer flow an deficiencies, emergency department analysis, and many others.
Project Methodology
ISE project teams should follow the DMAIC methodology (from Six Sigma). They can use similar methodology for other projects (e.g. simulation and information systems have slightly modified approach). The teams follow a strict timeline and tollgates with Performance Development Review (DPR) report in the middle of the semester and Final Development Report (FDR) at the end of the semester. Weekly reporting to the instructor and client is also required.
Project Scope
The project needs utilize ISE methodologies. Students are expected to dedicate 10-15 hours per week (outside class sessions) to their project. In sum, projects typically take 400-600 hours, combining the work of three members over 14 weeks.
Project Timeline
The course instructor with gather project concepts from the potential clients at the beginning of the Fall semester. The instructor will survey the students to gauge interest in the potential projects. From there, students will rank their preferred projects and peer collaborators. The instructor decides the teams and assigns them to the projects. By the end of the Fall semester, teams should establish initial contact with client. Therefore, students should be ready to start their project on the first day of Spring. They are expected to complete the work by the end of Spring semester.