Principles of Manufacturing

Randomness is inherent in all processes including manufacturing. The fundamental concepts taught in this course will help learners develop powerful statistical process control methods that are the foundation of world-class manufacturing quality.

As part of the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters program, this course will introduce statistical methods that apply to any unit manufacturing process. We will cover the following topics:

• Recognizing inherent variability in continuous production
• Identifying sources of process output variation
• Describing variation in a structured manner
• Applying basic probability and statistics concepts to characterize process variation
• Differentiating between design specifications and process capability
• Synthesizing novel approaches to unfamiliar situations by extending the core material (i.e. go beyond the “standard” uses).
• Assessing the appropriateness of various statistical methods for a variety of problems

Develop the engineering and management skills needed for competence and competitiveness in today’s manufacturing industry with the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters Credential, designed and delivered by MIT’s #1-ranked Mechanical Engineering department in the world. Learners who pass the 8 courses in the program will earn the MicroMasters Credential and qualify to apply to gain credit towards MIT’s Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing & Design program.

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In this course, part of the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters program, you will learn how to analyze manufacturing systems to optimize performance and control cost. You will develop an understanding of seemingly opaque production lines with a particular emphasis on random disruptive events – their effects and how to deal with them, as well as inventory dynamics and management.

Manufacturing systems are complex and require decision-making skills and analytical analysis. Managers and practitioners use a wide variety of methods to optimize the performance of manufacturing systems and control costs. The many processes and functions involved in building and maintaining these systems demand a high-level of knowledge.

In this course, you will learn about these various methods and processes. We will start with a review of probability and statistics, and then cover topics in linear programming, queueing theory, inventory management and the Toyota Production System (TPS). Lastly, we will introduce stochastic manufacturing systems models developed here at MIT.

The topics covered will provide the basis for learners to continue into the manufacturing field in such roles as an operations manager or supply chain manager.

Develop the skills needed for competence and competitiveness in today’s manufacturing industry with the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters Credential, designed and delivered by MIT’s #1-ranked Mechanical Engineering department in the world. Learners who pass the 8 courses in the program will earn the MicroMasters Credential and qualify to apply to gain credit towards MIT’s Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing & Design program.

Managerial ability is an important element of technology companies in an increasingly global and diverse business environment. Combining learned heuristics and techniques for effective decision-making while leveraging technical knowledge is a highly in-demand skill by employers at technical companies. This course will help you bridge the gap between engineers and business people, placing you in an important position that few others can fill.

As part of the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters program, this course aims to teach learners key principles and practices used in engineering management. You will first learn basic business functional knowledge--financial accounting, sales, marketing, operations, and topics related to entrepreneurship. The focus is on the development of individual skills and management tools.

Develop the engineering and management skills needed for competence and competitiveness in today's manufacturing industry with the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters Credential, designed and delivered by MIT's #1-ranked Mechanical Engineering department in the world. Learners who pass the 8 courses in the program will earn the MicroMasters Credential and qualify to apply to gain credit towards MIT's Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing & Design program.

A supply chain entails two or more parties that are linked together by material, information and money flows. The management of a supply chain attempts to coordinate the activities of the parties so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time, in order to minimize system-wide costs while satisfying service level requirements.

As part of the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters program, this course will expose learners to concepts and models important in supply chain and manufacturing system planning,so that you canbettercoordinatevarious resources and assets to optimize the delivery of goods, with an emphasis on key tradeoffs and phenomena. There will be a particular emphasis on how to cope with variability as it arises across a supply chain. The course will introduce a set of operational tactics for dealing with supply chain variability, including:

• Risk pooling
• Inventory placement
• Integrated planning and collaboration
• Information sharing
• Delayed differentation
• Dual sourcing
• Smoothing

Lectures, computer exercises, and case discussions introduce various models and methods for supply chain analysis and optimization.

Develop the engineering and management skills needed for competence and competitiveness in today’s manufacturing industry with the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters Credential, designed and delivered by MIT's #1-ranked Mechanical Engineering departmentin the world. Learners who pass the 8 courses in the program earn the MicroMasters Credential and qualify to apply to gain credit for MIT’s Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing & Design program.

As part of the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters program, this course will build on statistical process control foundations to add process modeling and optimization.Building on formal methods of designed experiments, the course develops highly applicable methods for creating robust processes with optimal quality.

We will cover the following topics:

• Evaluating the causality of inputs and parameters on the output measures
• Designing experiments for the purpose of process improvement
• Methods for optimizing processes and achieving robustness to noise inputs
• How to integrate all of these methods into an overall approach to process control that can be widely applied
• Developing a data-based statistical ability to solving engineering problems in general

The course will conclude with a capstone activity that will integrate all the Statistical Process Control topics.

Develop the engineering andmanagement skills needed for competence and competitiveness in today’s manufacturing industry with the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters Credential, designed and delivered by MIT’s #1-ranked Mechanical Engineering department in the world. Learners who pass the 8 courses in the program earn the MicroMasters Credential and qualify to apply to gain credit for MIT’s Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing & Design program.

Manufacturing systems are complex systems that require analytical analysis. Managers and practitioners use a wide variety of methods to analyze and optimize the performance of manufacturing systems and control costs.

In this course, part of the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters program, you will learn about Multi-Part-Type Manufacturing Systems. We will discuss Material Requirements Planning (MRP), Multi-Stage Control and Scheduling as well as Simulation and Quality.

This course will enableyou to develop an intuition about stochastic production lines.You will understand the importance and cost of inventory buffers, run basic simulation and optimizations and develop a policy to manage production systems.

The topics that we cover will provide the basis for you to continue into the manufacturing field in roles such as an operations manager and supply chain manager.

This course should be taken in sequence following Introduction to Manufacturing Systems.

Develop the skills needed for competence and competitiveness in today’s manufacturing industry with the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters Credential, designed and delivered by MIT’s #1-ranked Mechanical Engineering department in the world. Learners who pass the 8 courses in the program will earn the MicroMasters Credential and qualify to apply to gain credit towards MIT’s Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing & Design program.

As part of the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters program, this course focuses on decision making for system design, as it arises in manufacturing systems and supply chains.

You will learn about frameworks and models for structuring key system design issues and trade-offs that arise in today’s supply chains and manufacturing systems.

The course will also cover various models, methods and software tools for decision support for:

• Logistics network design
• Capacity planning and flexibility
• Make-buy
• Supply chain contracting
• Supply chain risk mitigation

You will learn through industry applications and cases to illustrate concepts and challenges.This course should be taken in sequence following Supply Chains and Manufacturing Systems: Planning.

Develop the engineering and management skills needed for competence and competitiveness in today’s manufacturing industry with the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters Credential, designed and delivered by MIT’s #1-ranked Mechanical Engineering department in the world. Learners who pass the 8 courses in the program will earn the MicroMasters Credential and qualify to apply to gain credit towards MIT’s Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing & Design program.

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Please note: edX Inc. has recently entered into an agreement to transfer the edX platform to 2U, Inc., which will continue to run the platform thereafter. The sale will not affect your course enrollment, course fees or change your course experience for this offering. It is possible that the closing of the sale and the transfer of the edX platform may be effectuated sometime in the Fall while this course is running. Please be aware that there could be changes to the edX platform Privacy Policy or Terms of Service after the closing of the sale. However, 2U has committed to preserving robust privacy of individual data for all learners who use the platform. For more information see the edX Help Center.