Search results

This paper aims to demonstrate how science and engineering graduates can be recruited and trained to Masters level in precision engineering as an aid to reducing the skills shortage of mechanical engineers in UK industry.

The paper describes a partnership between three UK academic institutions and industry, creating an Integrated Knowledge Centre (IKC) in Ultra Precision Structured Surfaces. Within this project sits a Knowledge Transfer activity that seeks to channel graduate scientists and engineers through an MSc in “Ultra Precision Technologies” into the UK engineering industry. The creation and implementation of this pipeline, its systems and its processes, is the subject of this paper and its case study.

In order to retain competitive advantage, the UK precision engineering industry requires a regular supply of technically proficient and organizationally prepared graduates. This paper has explained the approach taken at Cranfield University to increase the size of the pool of postgraduate precision engineers. The approach involves the design of a multi‐level system, which draws on increased connectivity between the University, UK engineering companies, and the student. Academic institutions need to exhibit the appropriate flexibility to meet the demands of industry and the aspirations of the student.

The paper describes only the early stages of implementation, and further work is necessary.

The systems model and case studies provide a framework and detail that is of immediate benefit to manufacturing industries and higher education establishments.

The originality of the approach lies in the level of integration between the sub‐systems that comprise the Open system, within which students and skills are forged together in a programme to produce employable engineering postgraduates.

After studying the case, the students will be able to: 1. understand the business and existing HR practices at Precision Engineering; 2. evaluate the factors affecting business that may require the company to formalise its HR practices; 3. create recruitment and selection-related solutions for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals; 4. create training needs identification and evaluation practices for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals; and 5. create performance planning and review-related solutions for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals. The case helps students objectively assess HR practices related to three core verticals – recruitment and selection; training; and performance management systems. It also enables them to reassess these practices with the help of specific metrics and models.

Precision Engineering was a manufacturer of machined metal components in the Indian automotive components industry. It had been a family-run business since its inception in 1995. Precision was awarded the prestigious Automotive Component Manufacturers of India award in 2020 for excellence in HR. Ms Sakshi Kapoor, General Manager of Innovation, was ecstatic at the receipt of this award. She, however, was thoughtful about the informal human resource (HR) practices at the company. The top management had announced an aggressive growth plan and advised Ms Kapoor to leverage HR practices to facilitate these plans. Recruitment and selection, employee training and performance management systems needed to be formalised on a priority basis to strategically aid the future business agenda at Precision. Ms Kapoor faced the challenge of preparing the roadmap of HR 2.0 while preserving the employee-centric beliefs at Precision. The case initiates a discussion to achieve this goal by adopting suitable HR metrics and models.

It should be taught in the core course on Human Resource Management for first-year Masters in Business Administration (MBA) students. Alternatively, it could be used in elective courses such as Strategic Human Resource Management, Training and Development and Performance Management Systems for second-year MBA students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a strategic approach with an intelligently integrated management system in advanced manufacturing industry to meet the requirements of high precise measurement tasks and essential measurement know-how within the sophisticated production systems.

The continuous development toward ever-higher precision and closer tolerances in the manufacture of workpieces is in line with the perspective of nanotechnology. To meet the metrological requirements new high precision intelligent measuring instruments have been developed, which are proposed in this paper.

In modern industrial production, need for high precision metrology at micro and nano scale provides high quality requirements as well. Therefore, while providing adequate metrology applications, good management of resources and environmental, energy consequences shall be addressed in an integrated manner with an integrated management system of quality, environment and energy.

Metrology as the measurement science provides the functional methodology for quality control under the defined specifications and standards. New levels of manufacturing precision are the key requirements to enable advanced machining processes that demands improved techniques of metrology.

The practical industrial use is now quite possible, but uncertainty and calibration with respect to certain questions still open. In various technical fields, there are increasingly new applications being mainly mechanical engineering, precision machining, biomedicine and precision engineering are mentioned.

This paper provides measurement results and experimenting a strategic approach to develop a smart integrated system applicable in manufacturing industry using the intelligent networking for the digital factory by first an inter-university network that accesses, cooperates and operates at distance in the laboratory of distant research laboratories that can be applicable to all other industrial organizations.

COMMON to a diverse range of manufacturing industries, is the drive to miniaturise and produce higher precision products. Electric switches and relays, for example, operate faster when they are smaller. In turn this pushes forward the need for greater understanding of materials and processes at the molecular and atomic level.

Within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which administers the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), a NIST technical division has initiated a Baldrige‐based effort to increase the effectiveness of its research and services. The Precision Engineering Division is responsible for providing US industry with practical access to the international and national standards of length and for conducting a diverse program of R&D and services in measurements and standards. These measurements and standards relate to industrial control of dimensional tolerances on features of manufactured goods. The start‐up of this Baldrige‐based effort reported factors such as has involved: introductory training of all staff on the basic concepts of the MBNQA and team processes; training on leading and facilitating teams and site visits to other agencies and industry organizations carrying out TQM‐type programs. This paper reports on employee‐identified successes and failures, managerial lessons learned, and some potential next steps in the start‐up effort’s further development.

This paper aims to provide an assembly method to improve cylindrical components assembly quality. The proposed method not only could be applied to tolerance allocation, but also could guide the assembly of cylindrical components.

The paper claims to provide a stack-build assembly method using a connective assembly model to take the location and orientation tolerances of a rotor stage into account. Through the separate analysis of the location and orientation tolerances propagation process in the assembly, the quality of the final assembly of the rotationally symmetric cylindrical components assembly could be improved by properly selecting component orientations to minimize the eccentric deviation in the assembly.

The effectiveness of the proposed stack-build assembly technique in improving the tolerance propagation in the assembly of cylindrical components was verified through experiments run with a measuring machine. A real aero-engine rotor was assembly using the proposed method; compared to the direct-build assembly technique, which had the component orientations without consideration, the stack-build assembly technique could be used to reduce the eccentric deviation in cylindrical components assembly by nearly 50 per cent.

Different with the old methods, the new method defined the tolerances in detail, such as perpendicularity and angle of the lowest point, and could guide the assembly by the features of surfaces on different components. Through measuring the special tolerances of surfaces on the components, the best assembly angle for each component could be obtained.

Mechatronics is a very important area of research in industrial applications. The purpose of this study is to find some of the most important components of the literature on this subject.

The analysis is based on the use of the database Compendex; it was searched in the broadest way for documents related to mechatronics. In addition, subject guides from libraries of universities with mechatronics programs were studied to find resources available in those areas.

The literature of mechatronics is extensive and multidisciplinary. Based on the results from Compendex, the following data were found: most productive authors, list of leading journals and conference proceedings, publishers and grant organizations, authors’ affiliations and other minor details. Based on the analysis of subject guides, the following types of resources were found: research databases, reference books and ebook collections.

Part of the analysis is based on a search performed in one technical database, Compendex; it was the database that generated the largest number of citations as compared to Inspec and the Web of Science. The results have a strong English language focus. It is possible that by using the results from multiple data bases, some additional sources could be obtained.

Mechatronics is a relatively new technological field comprising a number of scientific and engineering areas. The results obtained summarized a significant amount of bibliographic information.

The work is original; to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study has analyzed the literature on this subject.