Engineering Commons^™

Developing An Early Life Cycle Manufacturability Assessment For Conceptual Designs, Tonya Gamblin Mccall

Theses and Dissertations

Studies have shown that 70 – 80% of a product's life cycle costs are committed by the end of the product design phase (Anderson, 2014; National Research Council, 1991; Swift, 1987). This supports the general claim that decision making in the conceptual stage drives the cost throughout the life cycle. The use of concurrent engineering has been viewed as the answer to this problem, offering the Design for Excellence (DFX) as one approach for evaluating product designs across specific disciplines. This research focuses on a subset of DFX referred to as Design for Manufacturability to develop a means to assess …

Assessing Readiness For Implementation Of Prognostics And Health Management In Small And Medium Enterprises, Sara C. Fuller

Theses and Dissertations

Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) refers to using robust sensing, monitoring, and control to detect, assess, and track system health degradation and failure modes, allowing for enhanced management and operational decisions. The need for PHM within a manufacturing facility has increased due to a variety of reasons, such as the increasing complexity of manufacturing equipment.

A lack of readiness for digital implementations is linked to failure. The literature highlights certain barriers and enablers that can signal whether a technology implementation will be successful, such as management and maintenance employees’ desire to change the existing process, an understanding and willingness to …

The Matrix Revisited: A Critical Assessment Of Virtual Reality Technologies For Modeling, Simulation, And Training, George Demetrius Lecakes

Theses and Dissertations

A convergence of affordable hardware, current events, and decades of research have advanced virtual reality (VR) from the research lab into the commercial marketplace. Since its inception in the 1960s, and over the next three decades, the technology was portrayed as a rarely used, high-end novelty for special applications. Despite the high cost, applications have expanded into defense, education, manufacturing, and medicine. The promise of VR for entertainment arose in the early 1990's and by 2016 several consumer VR platforms were released. With VR now accessible in the home and the isolationist lifestyle adopted due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, …

Evaluating Measurement Of Strain Hardening Method For Mechanical Assessment Of Geomembrane Service Life In Msw Landfills, Alaa Alsharaballi

Theses and Dissertations

The increased household production result in more construction of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills and lagoons. One major part of these engineering projects is high-density polyethylene (HDPE) geomembrane. Geomembrane is an impermeable layer that used along bottom and sides of landfills and lagoons to contain the leachate and to protect the groundwater. Although of their chemicals resistance and high strength, it can be aged under service conditions such as high temperature, ultraviolet (UV) light, and chemicals exposure. These conditions accelerate oxidation of geomembrane and lead to brittle behavior and stress cracking which reduce its service life.

Our objective in this …

Development Of A Supplier’S Delivery Time And Delivered Quality Performance Index And Assessment Of Alternative Decisions Regarding Underperforming Suppliers For The Aerospace Industry, Clint Saidy

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates current practices of supplier’s delivery assessment so that a comprehensive index and a cost function model could be properly developed. Following a thorough literature review, a framework was created based on a penalty cost function that integrates both suppliers’ ability to deliver on time, as well as suppliers’ capability to deliver good quality. Afterward, suppliers could then be ranked and placed either in good standing, or transversely on probation. Underperforming suppliers face three potential outcomes based on current literature: (1) switching supplier, (2) increase collaboration, (3) maintaining the status quo. The decision vis-à-vis failing suppliers is based …

Assessment, Prevention And Remediation Of Corrosion In Weathering Steel Transmission Line Poles, Matthew Bruce Barragan

Theses and Dissertations

Electric utilities routinely use weathering steel (WS) in transmission line structures, capitalizing on corrosion resistance and associated cost savings. The formation of a protective iron-oxide patina on uncoated above-ground WS surfaces depends on the operating environment and exposure conditions. In fact, exposure to common aggressive environments, such as those found in sulfate-contaminated industrial areas and chloride-laden coastal areas, may dramatically hinder the corrosion resistance of WS transmission line structures.

To assess the corrosion behavior of WS transmission line poles, field inspections were conducted at five test sites comprising diverse operating environments and pole designs. These sites included three locations in …

Development And Initial Validation Of An Innovation Assessment, Jacob D. Wheadon

Theses and Dissertations

In the past two decades, there has been an increased demand for more innovative individuals and organizations. In response to this need, a number of groups have begun to teach innovation courses to improve people's innovation skills. While many of these groups report success in helping people become more innovative, there is no way to test the effectiveness of the innovation courses. This study describes the development and initial validation of an innovation test instrument. It demonstrates how the author identified the content domain of the test and created test items. Then it describes initial validation testing of the instrument. …

Creativity And Innovation: A Comparative Analysis Of Assessment Measures For The Domains Of Technology, Engineering, And Business, Tyler Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this literature review is to investigate and discuss: (1) the characteristics measured by innovation assessments, and (2) the comparison of characteristics measured by creativity assessments with those of innovation assessments. This will be done by: (1) collecting creativity and innovation assessments, and (2) comparing and contrasting the characteristics measured by each assessment. This study reveals that innovation assessments do not measure the innovation process in its entirety. The findings show that creativity and innovation assessments lack in assessing the entire innovation process, assessing the innovation process on an individual level, and assessing an individual's change or growth …