Manufacturing and engineering are not what they were even a few years ago. Understanding emerging information technologies and their impact on the manufacturing and engineering industry, and the roles and responsibilities of IT and non-IT stakeholders in leveraging these emerging technologies in light of the digital transformation, will be at the heart of all of the courses.
New technologies allow companies to design and build products faster, more efficiently, and more reliable than ever. The Digital Manufacturing & Engineering Certificate focuses on the use of IT to enhance the strategic, tactical, and operational elements across the manufacturing & engineering industry value chain.
Naturally, having accurate, accessible, secure data is fundamental to a successful AI initiative, thus providing additional topics addressed in this program. The integration of IT and manufacturing / engineering has become essential. The courses in this certificate will provide candidates (IT and non-IT, professionals and executives) with the tools methods, techniques, and standards to derive strategies and plans to leverage current and emerging information technologies.
- Product line optimization and error reduction
- New product introduction timing
- Keeping the Equipment Healthy (Asset Maintenance Planning)
- Expediting Experiments and Design (Materials Design) with 3D design
- Understanding Processing Optimization
- Optimize the Design (Site Design Generation)
- A Helping Hand in the Field (Virtual Field Assistant for Engineers)
- Enhancing Employee Safety (Personalized OHS Training)
- Optimizing productivity by increasing throughput and yield and reducing conversion costs.
- Improving sustainability by reducing emissions.
- Increasing flexibility in the face of ongoing supply chain disruptions.
- Enabling greater customization and reducing costs of single-run and small-batch goods.
While manufacturing has long been taking advantage of automation, new AI-powered robotics systems are now capable of performing increasingly complex assembly tasks that once required human dexterity and decision-making. The economic parallels are noteworthy - just as companies secured favorable financing before interest rates rose, many manufacturing giants are investing heavily in automation. The World Economic Forum predicts that up to 20 million manufacturing jobs globally could be eliminated by 2030. Workers without specialized skills or technical training face particularly bleak prospects as manufacturing companies invest in AI to replace low-skill assembly and production roles.
The focus of these courses will be on leveraging IT to enhance manufacturing/ engineering practices and processes, to research and to develop tools, processes, machines and equipment, and to integrate the facilities and systems for producing quality products with the optimum expenditure of capital; to design and develop an integrated manufacturing / engineering strategy. This means applying IT to integrate a layered, heterogeneous network of different nodes, from the shop floor to business systems (e.g., purchasing and inventory management), and the overall strategy of the organization.
Organization's need technical leaders and managers who have a wide range of knowledge and expertise in engineering and manufacturing, technology. and business operations.
The IT in manufacturing/engineering certificate builds analytical, modeling, and design skills necessary to understand how to leverage IT in manufacturing and engineering organizations. The core business and information systems direction is complemented with a study of the full life cycle of the manufacturing/engineering enterprise, from product design to product delivery. The manufacturing/engineering courses are selected to give the candidate an understanding of the full life cycle of the manufacturing enterprise, from raw material to production as the industry transforms and regulations evolve especially in light of emerging information technologies (e.g., blockchain, AI, robotics, social media, cognitive computing, analytics, big data). The courses cover modeling, simulation, design, product design, and production systems.
The engineers' role has changed from performing solely technical operations to being involved in the integration of engineering, technology and business operations. This certificate provides this critical education by graduating engineers who understand the increasing demand for efficiency, effectiveness and integration in engineering and business operations across varied industries. The courses are designed for IT and non-IT professionals in the manufacturing/engineering industry whose roles involve leveraging digital manufacturing/engineering industry opportunities to provide demonstrable value from their IT investments, in light of the digital transformation and emerging information technologies (e.g., AI, blockchain, social media, analytics, big data, robotics), while addressing important considerations like providing a secure infrastructure and hybrid work environment.
