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I know how tough it is for small businesses and entrepreneurs to afford engineering talent, especially if the need is not full-time. You can bet that is what those well-known sponsors are doing. That is a great way to evaluate the students and potentially recruit them for full-time employment. #Psu learning factory statement of work fullThe final benefit of the Learning Factory is that companies that submit projects get to work with engineering seniors for a full semester. The Learning Factory leadership will reach out to the Smeal College of Business for students to work on a marketing or business plan. Suppose you have an idea and not only need the idea developed to the prototype stage, but you’re not sure if the idea is marketable. The Learning Factory has broken the engineering boundary and can draw in students from Penn State’s other colleges. This cross-functional engineering approach makes the Learning Factory a standout, but once again, its leaders have not stopped there. If it is biomechanical, a biomechanical engineer is added. #Psu learning factory statement of work softwareIf software is required, an information technology student is added. If a company’s project is to prototype an electromechanical device, a team is assembled including mechanical and electrical engineers. The Learning Factory has broken that mold. Mechanical engineers team up on mechanical projects, electrical engineers on electrical projects and so forth. These projects are generally specific to the students’ departments. Most accredited engineering programs include a senior capstone project that applies students’ skills to real-world problems. Having access to all of that technology to solve a problem or prototype a new design for $3,000 is pretty impressive, but it is still the tip of the iceberg. Students can produce high-quality components and assemblies in a wide variety of materials. We also learned that the Learning Factory student teams can access a world-class network of facilities on campus including the Factory for Advanced Manufacturing Education, the Model Shop and the Bio Engineering Machine Shop. Those computers can communicate with a 3-D printer, capable of producing real 3-D prototypes. Tucked around a corner is a computer room where students can access state-of-the-art, 3-D design and analysis software. To begin, there is more in that nondescript building than I first noticed. That alone would pique my interest, but there is so much more. That makes a lot of talent and resources available to almost anyone. A small company or entrepreneur can have a team of four to six engineering seniors work on developing a new design or solving a problem for 15 weeks for about $3,000. Here is the beauty of it and the reason I’m writing about it: You don’t need the financial resources of Lockheed Martin or Boeing to sponsor your own project. ![]() The mission of the Learning Factory is “to help bring the real world into the classroom by providing engineering students with practical hands-on experience through industry-sponsored capstone design projects.” In 2010-2011, the 600 engineering students who worked on teams in the Learning Factory completed 126 engineering projects for 80 different sponsors. Inside, I found a classic engineering skunk works with a number of crowded rooms containing low-tech manually-operated machine tools, welding equipment and work tables strewn with half-finished projects.Īt first sight, the facility was a little disappointing, but a banner with the logos of the Learning Factory sponsors - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE, General Motors and Shell Oil, to name a few - told me there must be more here than meets the eye. ![]() #Psu learning factory statement of work how toIt is so nondescript that the attendant in the west campus parking kiosk couldn’t tell board members how to find it. I was surprised to find the Learning Factory in a nondescript building on Penn State’s west campus. When I got the invitation, I didn’t know much about the Learning Factory, but I figured the technology there was going to be especially cool. This meeting was scheduled for an engineering facility called the Learning Factory. The engineers on the PSEAS board enjoy scheduling meetings at different venues where we can interact with students and see the results of some of the cutting-edge research in the field. We didn’t solve the problem, but I did learn about a little-known, cost-effective engineering resource that could make a difference for manufacturers and entrepreneurs in Central Pennsylvania. This month I attended a board meeting of the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society (PSEAS) and participated in a discussion of the challenge of graduating more engineers to support an American manufacturing renaissance. ![]()
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