Course Description
Introduces fundamentals, principles, and techniques of quality engineering through a toolkit that includes project management, quality management, and quality improvement for products and processes. Throughout the course, students get hands-on experience in exploring, understanding, and developing quality management tools and strategies to address real-world industrial challenges.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
A term project will be required. Graduate students must reach out to UGA industrial partners or other relevant industries to determine an unmet or ongoing quality challenge and propose a quality management and improvement strategy. The deliverables for the project will include an oral presentation and a technical report.
Athena Title
Quality Engineering
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Third-year student standing
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
• Learn concepts of quality engineering • Understand principles of engineering project management and implications of effective/poor management • Gain knowledge of various project management techniques • Understand quality control and explore quality management systems • Learn principles and strategies of common process/product improvement methods including TQM, Six Sigma, and Lean Six Sigma • Utilize process improvement strategies during group class projects • Improve presentation skills • Practice in connecting with industry (graduate students) • Learn to critically assess industry challenges and propose quality improvement strategies (graduate students)
Topical Outline
• Introduction to quality engineering, designing for quality, and quality management in engineering • Project management life-cycle • Project management methods • Understanding users and stakeholders • Theory and understanding of quality control and management • Quality management systems • Review of quality improvement strategies: o Taguchi method o TQM o ISO9000 o Root cause analysis o Six Sigma - DMAIC and DMADV o Lean Six Sigma o Lean manufacturing • Case studies in product/process improvement in various industries • Individual term project: Undergraduate Students – report (presentation) on companies/products/processes that have effectively (or ineffectively) used quality improvement methods; Graduate Students – reach out to an industrial partner to identify a process/product and explore methods to improve the process/product. Present conclusions verbally and via written report. • Team project: groups will choose a design to manufacture using COE fabrication equipment or an automated process and use quality improvement techniques to produce three iterations of a product or process, showing successive improvement at each iteration.
Syllabus
Public CV