Improving industrial production process using computer technology: An interdisciplinary curriculum

Abstract

With the recent advancement of science and technology, the modern industry-oriented competency requirements in mechanical engineering demand higher education for essential computer based knowledge. Production processes in modern factories these days, for example, mostly are controlled and operated by computers but current mechanical engineering curriculum doesn't provide such knowledge. In this paper, we proposed an interdisciplinary curriculum that is designed for undergraduate mechanical engineering major students so they may meet the competency requirements for the industry. An ideal industrial production process management method, where computer networking and cloud computing concepts are considered in the design, was proposed to illustrate such needs. The proposed method is designed to solve the problems that the modern production industries are experiencing. The proposed curriculum is designed to provide such computer knowledge to the mechanical engineering major students, which attempts to satisfy the modern industry-oriented competency requirements.