From DDL Wiki

Carnegie Mellon University Course number 19-484, 19-784, 24-484, 24-784

---

This course provides engineers with a multidisciplinary mathematical foundation for integrated modeling of engineering design and enterprise planning decisions in an uncertain, competitive market. Topics include economics in product design, manufacturing and operations modeling and accounting, consumer choice modeling, survey design, conjoint analysis, decision tree analysis, optimization, game theory, model integration, and professional communication skills. Students will apply theory and methods to a team project for a new product or emerging technology of their choice, developing a business plan to defend technical and economic competitiveness. Students may choose to select emerging technologies from research at Carnegie Mellon for study in the course, and in some years venture capitalists and other industry leaders will take part in critiquing student projects. This course assumes fluency with calculus and some prior programming experience. Graduate students will conduct an additional independent research project.

Winter 2008 Course Information

Instructors:

• Professor Erica Fuchs
• Professor Jeremy Michalek, SH-323

Administrative Assistant:

• Nancy Beatty, 8-2908

Lecture:

• BH-A53
• MW 12:30-2:20

Office Hours:

• TBA

Winter 2008 Schedule

Date	Topic	Reading Due	Homework Due
Jan 14	Course introduction
Jan 16	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Jan 21	Cost functions
Jan 23	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Jan 28	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Jan 30	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Feb 4	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Feb 6	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Feb 11	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Feb 13	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Feb 18	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Feb 20	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Feb 25	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Feb 27	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Mar 3	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Mar 5	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Mar 10	Spring break - no class
Mar 12	Spring break - no class
Mar 17	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Mar 19	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Mar 24	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Mar 26	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Mar 31	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 2	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 7	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 9	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 14	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 16	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 21	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 23	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 28	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA
Apr 30	Production functions	Ch 2 ESA

Winter 2008 Project Guidelines

This course provides engineering students with a tool-set to asses and communicate the economic competitiveness of a new product design or innovative technology. The course is framed around one, team-based semester-long project. Teams will be expected to apply topics covered in class, as well as general engineering knowledge, to develop quantitative models of design, production and projected market response to the product. By nature, each team will have somewhat different tasks and areas of emphasis, depending on the product selected; however, all projects will be expected to demonstrate mastery of the topics covered in class and to address the criteria and guidelines required for project deliverables.

Students will form teams of three people and select projects during the first week of class. Students have the option to:

1. Select a new technology with market potential that has not yet been introduced into high-volume manufacturing, such as a new invention from a research laboratory at Carnegie Mellon or a new product concept developed by one of the team members; or
2. Select an existing product to model parametrically in order to optimize its design for profitability.

The following guidelines should be used in selecting a product or technology. All products must be improved by the instructors:

• Well-Defined Product: This course focuses on mathematical modeling to support decision-making. There is not sufficient time in the course for conceptual design of a new product. The project should involve an existing product or a new design that has already been well-defined at the conceptual level.
• Moderate Scope and Complexity: The product or technology should involve moderate complexity. For example, a non-differentiated commodity, such as sugar, would be too simple a product unless new competitive manufacturing processes are being explored. On the other hand, a complex product involving many components and manufacturing operations, such as a vehicle, would require a plan for scoping the problem such that only specific manufacturing processes and product attributes are examined in the model with all others fixed.
• Expertise: If the product involves a new technology that requires specialized knowledge of high-tech materials, design, or manufacturing processes, the team should have reliable access to experts who can supply the requisite knowledge.
• Product Attributes: The product or technology should be differentiated in the market: It should compete with existing alternatives along several quantifiable attributes (such as price, efficiency, size, weight, performance, etc.).
• Decision Variables: Design and planning for the product should involve several decisions in design and production that are non-trivial; for example, using a new material, setting dimensions of a component, selecting among a set of alternative component configurations, or choosing the extent of end-product reliability. The models developed in the project will be used to support decision-making along such dimensions.

Examples:

New product or technology	Existing product
polymer spinal implant ceramic coating for Ti hip implant extruded super-conducting wire injection molded hockey sticks anti-fog goggle lens carbon nanotube wall-hanging tape	electric screwdriver microphone stand laptop drill tripod scale