Unit Overview-Student Materials
“Manufacturing means making things. Manufacturing engineers direct and coordinate the processes for making things - from the beginning to the end. As businesses try to make products better and at less cost, it turns to manufacturing engineers to find out how. Manufacturing engineers work with all aspects of manufacturing from production control to materials handling to automation.” http://www.discoverengineering.org/Engineers/mfg_engineering.asp Boise State Engineering has been hired to design, test and implement a pilot production process for manufacturing peanut butter cracker sandwiches. Your goals for the 10 minutes pilot production run will be to:

• produce the maximum number of good peanut butter cracker sandwiches (defined “good” by meeting the specifications provided to you on the next page) using the process you have designed.
• generate a profit as determined by a cost analysis you will perform as part of Activity 5.

Your pilot production process will be implemented by production operators. You will have up to 10 minutes, prior to the start of production, to train them and provide them with the appropriate instructions to carry out your process. You will summarize the design of your process and the results of the pilot production run including suggestions for modifications you would make before ramping up the process for full production in a written report that will be turned in to your instructor.

Unit Objectives

• Design, test, and implement a process to manufacture peanut butter cracker sandwiches.
• Recognize basic quality control principles.
• Prepare a flowchart to model your process.
• Conduct production cost modeling and results analysis.
• Communicate your process plans to production operators who will work for you.
• Evaluate and analyze your process and formulate recommendations for future improvement.

Student Materials
Manufacturing – Student Document (pdf)
Modular Approach to Technical Writing (pdf)
Flow Charts (pdf)

Unit Overview-Instructors Guide
“Manufacturing means making things. Manufacturing engineers direct and coordinate the processes for making things - from the beginning to the end. As businesses try to make products better and at less cost, it turns to manufacturing engineers to find out how. Manufacturing engineers work with all aspects of manufacturing from production control to materials handling to automation.” (http://www.discoverengineering.org/Engineers/mfg_engineering.asp ) During this unit, students will be given the opportunity to design, test and implement a pilot production process for manufacturing peanut butter cracker sandwiches. This product was chosen since the materials are readily available and reasonably priced. The pilot production process will be implemented by production operators; students will be given up to 10 minutes to train their production operators and provide them with the appropriate instructions to carry out the process they have designed. Students should be encouraged to be creative in their process design and to produce the maximum number of peanut butter cracker sandwiches during a 10 minute pilot production run. The student goals for the pilot production run are to:

• produce the maximum number of good peanut butter cracker sandwiches (defined “good” by meeting the specifications provided in the student handout) using the process you have designed.
• generate a profit as determined by a cost analysis you will perform as part of Activity 5 (in the student handout).

The learning objectives of this lesson, as stated in the next section, are to provide students with first-hand experience in key areas of manufacturing including process design, process analysis, cost analysis, inventory control, quality control, etc. Students will complete a production cost modeling exercise to gain an understanding of financial metrics. While it is possible to make a profit, very few students actually do so. Students will be required to submit a written report which will include a summary of their process design, results analysis of the pilot production run and suggestions for future enhancements.

Unit Objectives
• Design, test, and implement a process to manufacture peanut butter cracker sandwiches.
• Recognize basic quality control principles.
• Prepare a flowchart to model the process.
• Conduct production cost modeling and results analysis.
• Communicate process plans to production operators.
• Evaluate and analyze your the process and formulate recommendations for future improvement.

Instructor Materials
Manufacturing – Instructors Guide(pdf)
Modular Approach to Technical Writing (pdf)
Flow Charts (pdf)
Excel Demo (Word File)
Excel Demo (Excel File)
Answer Keys Available Upon Request – Manufacturing Activity1 (Word and Excel files) and Manufacturing Activity 2 (word file)