Manufacturing Commons^™

Process Improvement At "The Manse On Marsh", Kevin C. Manko

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The Manse on Marsh is an independent and assisted living facility that prides itself on providing life-enriching care for the elderly. Considering that the staff is essential to supply this care and turnover rates are a constant factor, the company would like to reduce the time it takes to hire new employees by at least one week. To facilitate this goal, process flow maps are utilized to assess the current state of the hiring process and metrics are applied to support future state design decisions. After performing a value added analysis and identifying areas of waste, a total of 20 …

High Bay Capacity Utilization Tool, Dante C. Mazzanti, Skyler L. Schilke, Conner P. Lawston

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Northrop Grumman’s Space Park facility has many inefficiencies in their high bay scheduling processes. Additionally, it is very hard for project managers to figure out the capabilities of each high bay in order to schedule their specific project. The purpose of this project is to develop a tool that can be used across the facility to easily create projects, assign projects, view room capabilities, and view a master schedule of the rooms. After researching commercially available tools, our approach to designing this system was to use tools that are already utilized at the facility (Microsoft Suite and Tableau) and engineer …

Design And Testing Of A Hands-Free Toilet Seat Opener/Closer, Jordan Benjamin Schaeffer

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

People tend to get frustrated when the toilet seat must be moved up or down before use. Men and women often leave the toilet seat in different positions when finished which can cause problems when men and women use the same bathroom. With gender neutral bathrooms gaining in popularity, this frustration will only increase. The objective of this project was to design and test a hands-free system to allow a user to quickly and easily open or close a toilet seat. For the product to be viable, it will have to be durable and easy to clean around, while also …

Reducing Overall Overtime Hours Accumulated By San Luis Sourdough, Marie Scholl, Emily Vallejos, Randall Yonce

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The packaging department of San Luis Sourdough Company was redesigned to increase bread throughput and decrease overtime hours issued to employees. Time studies were performed to get an accurate representation of the average throughput of bread with the current packaging conveyor system. After collecting data and surveying the employees and management, we came up with three design solutions to improve their current packaging system. The first design recommendation has a low-investment and is quick to implement as it pertains to changing the worker’s schedule to alleviate the employees from working long hour shifts while increasing the bread throughput. The second …

Vial Of Life Redesign, Andrew Scott Heim, Marisonn Manalo

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Cambria Anonymous Neighbors (CAN), a nonprofit organization assisting the residences of Cambria, hopes to standardize first responder procedures and make medical information easily accessible in case of a medical emergency. Currently the container costs $3.78. CAN would like to provide 2000 containers at a lower cost. After researching materials, acrylic was found to be the best option for the container material due to its low cost and durability. A laser cutter was used to cut the acrylic pieces, and then a set of step by step instructions were created to assemble the product. To reduce the cost of acrylic, the …

The Pad Route Setting Process Design, Katherine M. Peterson, Dylan C. Breitenbucher

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This study took place at The Pad Climbing, a rock climbing gym in San Luis Obispo. The problem was that the process of setting new climbing routes was time - consuming and potentially dangerous. This resulted in lower capacity, high labor costs, decreased customer satisfaction, and safety risk for employees and customers. The objective of this study was to analyze the route setting process and identify areas of waste and danger, then to redesign the process to improve these areas. Techniques such as time studies, Pareto charts, and process flow mapping were used to analyze the existing process. A new …

Atlas Copco Mafi-Trench Co. Inventory Management, Logan E. Barr, Sean P. Mcgaffigan

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This Senior Project Report includes three areas of focus pertaining to the inventory management practices of Atlas Copco Mafi-Trench Company (ACMTC) - cycle counting, ergonomics, and material purchasing. Various literature reviews as well as an analysis of the current state led to the project objectives. First, reduce time spent on the non-value added process of cycle counting. Second, eliminate the ergonomic hazard presented by the heavy inventory bins. Lastly, diminish the totals costs associated with inventory (ordering + carrying). The project objectives spurred numerous alternatives and a few specific deliverables. The creation of a ‘Small Parts Cycle Count’ Excel file …

Facilities Redesign Of Stockroom At Elcon Precision, David M. Brawner, Tyler O. Mastromattei, Jay Y. Matsumoto

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Elcon Precision is a company based out of San Jose, California specializing in the photochemical processing of materials and brazing of metals and ceramics for a variety of different industries. Three students from the Industrial Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo were contacted by Elcon Precision to help redesign their stockroom and inventory areas in their San Jose location in order to allow for the future growth of the company. Elcon asked the Cal Poly project team to help increase efficiencies throughout the stockroom by creating an alternative layout that best suited the company's needs. This …

Database Implementation For Fines Management Of Student Organization, Parker K. Nomura

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The Delta Upsilon fraternity at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, currently has no formal system for fines management. This facilitated over $9000 in uncollected dues and fines during the 2016-17 academic year. The executive board have difficult access to accurate financial information and general members have difficult access to personal fines information. This project aims to design, implement, and test a fines management system to reduce the annual amount of unpaid dues by $4500. The system is to be cost-effective, which will be measured as a decrease in uncollected dues. The system will be beneficial to …

The Design Of A Digital Scheduling Solution For Healing Alternatives, Hailey A. Malin, Krista L. Mcallester, Anne E. Shields

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The focus of this senior project is to assist Healing Alternatives, an acupuncture clinic located in San Luis Obispo, in developing a business management software to fit their needs and boost their overall organization. The approach to finding the right fit for this business included assessing their current system while simultaneously investigating other providers. Once alternatives were found that met all of Healing Alternatives’ initial requirements, trial demos were generated in order to perform user experience testing. The presented final solution, a scheduling software called Acuity Scheduling, was implemented in a three-phase move plan that occurred over the period of …

Development Of An Additive Manufacturing Compression Molding Process For Low Cost In-House Prototyping, Grant Forrester Warden

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Composite parts can be manufactured using various processes. Generally, a mix of resin and fiber is formed into the desired geometry using a mold and pressure. One process used by Dr. Joseph Mello in his research is known as compression molding. Compression molds are generally made from large billets of aluminum or stainless steel, are machined by a CNC mill, and are then hand-finished with polishes and mold preparation products. This process is expensive, requires large machinery and experienced operators, and introduces long lead times relative to the design cycle of the part being manufactured. The nature of Dr. Mello's …

Julian's Forecasting, Krista R. Bowdle

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This report focuses on developing a solution to a current problem faced at Julian’s Cafe and Bistro. The problem is that inaccurate order quantities are leading to inventory shortage and surplus which is causing unnecessary profit loss. After accessing and analyzing historical sales data, several forecasts were created using various approaches. After assessing each method and applying a mean absolute percentage error to see how accurate the forecasts were, the seasonal forecast with removing outliers initially was the selected method. After, this method was used to forecast the top three selling items at Julian’s and make demand predictions for busy …

Healing Alternatives Workspace Remodel, Lissandra Ilcyn, Jenifer Astrid Colmenares, Grace E. Kuffner

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Healing Alternatives is an acupuncture office space located in a repurposed house in San Luis Obispo. Healing Alternatives’ current facility layout does not allow for an additional treatment room or the space to provide additional services because of the wasted space within the facility. Furthermore, patients can be disrupted by noise outside the treatment room causing a negative customer experience. The project team’s objectives are to:

o Design two layout alternatives

o Provide a time estimate for each alternative

o Provide a cost analysis of each alternative

o Implement 5s methodology on the storage room

o Provide a 2D-3D model …

Designing A Manufacturing System To Reduce Production Learning Curve, Nicholas Devin Kuhnsman

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The goal of this project was to design a new manufacturing system for Patio Pacific that would reduce the learning curve and the skilled labor required in the production process. Multiple ideas to decrease the scrap rate in the vert manufacturing process were tested. It was determined that outsourcing the manufacturing of the vertical frame piece was the most optimal because it would reduce overall cost and increase product quality. A new facility and production layout were designed in order to accommodate the new pre-manufactured parts. The approved facility design included a new production flow that transitioned manufacturing from single …

Theatrical Turntable, Liam R. Martinez, Isaac Becker, Robert R. Reed, Caroline A. Whelan

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Defect Detection In Selective Laser Melting, Moira Foster

Master's Theses

Additively manufactured parts produced using selective laser melting (SLM) are prone to defects created during the build process due to part shrinkage while cooling. Currently defects are found only after the part is removed from the printer. To determine whether cracks can be detected before a print is completed, this project developed print parameters to print a test coupon with inherent defects – warpage and cracking. Data recorded during the build was then characterized to determine when the defects occurred.

The test coupon was printed using two sets of print parameters developed to control the severity of warpage and cracking. …

Farmbot Trackless Redesign, Cole Thomas, Cailey Kamm, Clayton Alderson, Otto Akerstrom

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

For this project the team PLANT3D worked along with Rory Aronson and FarmBot to generate a cheaper more user-friendly design for the FarmBot Genesis 1.3. Working with Rory and FarmBot, we as a team generated a list of design requirements and engineering specifications for the project. These requirements centered around creating a more accessible FarmBot model for the average person to be able to purchase and set up with ease. Much of this required taking the existing system and eliminating the most common problem areas. These were the track system, built using 1.5 meter aluminum extrusions and the complex interchangeable …

Solar Electric Immersion Heating Element Fabrication, Logan V. Kregness

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Believing that cooking with flame is cheaper and more efficient than cooking with electricity, Ugandan citizens have exposed themselves to several health and safety risks, including major respiratory issues through harmful emissions, pollution, and the burning down of many homes. Even though solar electric cooking is cheaper and healthier than cooking with flames in the long run, many Ugandans lack the resources to invest in cooking with electricity.

The Solar Stove student research team, led by Dr. Pete Schwartz, partnered with Aid Africa to bring solar panels and prototype solar electric cooking units to villages in Uganda. Observing how their …

Improving Efficiencies For The Loading And Packaging Departments At San Luis Sourdough, Alexis Bergstrom, Isabella Pereira, Claudia Robinson

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

San Luis Sourdough, currently has issues with efficiency and standardization in their packaging department, ergonomics problems in the packaging department, shipment accuracy in their loading department, and lacks an organized layout design. As a result, four objectives were designed within a six month period. The first was to create standard operating procedures for the packaging department. To inform this decision time studies were performed before and after creating these SOPs. It was discovered that there was a clear need for the SOPs due to variation in packaging efficiency among new and experienced associates. The second set of time studies showed …

Slm Materials Development, Justin G. Reiner, Michael T. Schembri

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this project was to create a procedure to efficiently determine a “recipe” of parameter values that create a desired set of mechanical properties. Research was conducted into the laser powder bed fusion process with focus on underdeveloped materials. A design of experiment was used with a set of density correlated parameters to establish a method of producing nearly dense parts. Our methods include SLM printing, metrology, and statistical analysis. An experimental procedure for materials development was designed, but unable to be validated during the scope of this project, due to unforeseen safety issues (exposure to Chromium 6, …