A Student-Centered Learning Approach to Design for Manufacturability: Meeting the Needs of an Often- Forgotten Customer

A hands-on learning module was implemented at Marquette University in 2012 to teach biomedical engineering students about basic manufacturing processes, lean manufacturing principles, and design for manufacturability. It incorporates active and student-centered learning as part of in-class assembly line simulations. Since then, it has evolved from three class periods to five. The module begins with two classroom presentations on manufacturing operations and electronics design, assembly, and testing. Students then participate in an in-class assembly line simulation exercise where they build and test an actual product per written work instructions. They reflect on this experience and suggest design and process changes to improve the assembly line process and quality, save time, and reduce cost and waste. At the end of the module students implement their suggested design and process improvements and repeat the exercise to determine the impact of their improvements. They learn of the importance of Design for Manufacturability, well-written work instructions, process design, and designing a product not only for the end user, but also for the assemblers and inspectors. Details of the module, and its implementation and assessment are presented along with student feedback and faculty observations

A Hands-On, Active Learning Approach to Increasing Manufacturing Knowledge in Engineering Students

This paper describes a new learning module implemented as part of the senior capstone design course at Marquette University to teach engineering students about basic manufacturing processes, lean manufacturing principles, and design for manufacturability. The module includes several examples of active and student centered learning as part of an in-class assembly line simulation exercise. Students reflected on this experience, and suggested process improvements to save time, reduce cost and waste, and improve the assembly line process. They learned of the importance of manufacturing documentation, process design, and design for assembly. At the end of the module, students understood the importance of designing a product not only for the end user, but also for the assemblers and inspectors. Details of the module design and implementation will be presented along with comments from students

Discussant Comments

Discussant Comment

A View From the Inside Out: Recipients\u27 Perceptions of Welfare

Welfare use is a highly stigmatized behavior in American society. The word itself conjures up various images of disdain in the minds of most Americans. Yet how do the recipients of welfare discern and react to being on public assistance? The focus of this paper is on understanding the manner in which recipients view their own situation, how they perceive the general public\u27s attitudes toward themselves, and their views on fellow welfare recipients. Also examined are how such attitudes influence recipients\u27 behavior towards welfare. These perceptions and behaviors are explored in detail through the use of in-depth, open-ended qualitative interviews with a random sample of welfare recipients. The concept of managing and coping with stigma is utilized to provide insights into the results

Asset Building Over the Life Course

Asset Building Over the Life Cours

Toward a New Understanding of American Poverty

This Essay argues that one of the fundamental reasons the United States currently has the highest poverty rates in the industrialized world is that we have consistently misunderstood the nature and causes of American poverty. Old strategies of addressing poverty have rested upon imagining a world that reflects a preferred set of myths, agendas, and policies; a new approach to poverty reduction must put in place a set of policies that reflects the realities of the world. These policies should be grounded in a new understanding of the nature and meaning of American poverty. This Essay provides the rudimentary details of such a paradigm

The Racial Injustice of Poverty

Professor Roberts’ conclusion is that we should be attacking poverty to improve the well-being of children. In order to shed more light on this, I would like to briefly discuss some of the research on which I am currently working that looks at the issues of poverty and race in a different fashion. My recent work attempts to paint a much broader view of poverty by looking at childhood and adulthood as a whole. Rather than asking what the rate of poverty is at a single point in time in a child’s or adult’s life, the question I am analyzing is: What is the likelihood of poverty across the entire span of the childhood and adulthood years

AFDC, Food Stamp, and Medicaid Utilization: A Research Note

During the past 20 years, social welfare programs have been expanding both in terms of federal and state expenditures, and in terms of numbers of recipients. Among the programs involved in this expansion were Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps, and Medicaid. However, knowledge of the sheer numbers of people and dollars involved provides at best an incomplete picture of these social welfare programs. The researcher, policy planner, and government administrator must also have an understanding of who is at risk of utilizing welfare in the general population. Such knowledge may provide insight into the present and future implications of policy changes. Therefore, the purpose of this research note is to provide a detailed analysis of the percentage of the population, broken down by demographic characteristics, involved in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamp, and/or Medicaid programs

Estimating the Life Course Dynamics of Asset Poverty

Poverty can be conceptualized and measured in several different ways. The most common approach has been to rely on a scarcity of income as the basis for poverty. This paper analyzes poverty using a relatively new and alternative measuring stick—that of asset poverty. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we examine the extent to which individuals have enough assets to allow them to live for three months above the official poverty line. Households that fail to have the necessary amount of assets are considered asset poor. Three different measures of counting assets are used in this paper—net worth; financial wealth; and liquid wealth. We construct a series of life tables that allow us to examine the period, cohort, and age patterns of asset poverty from 1984 to 2004. Our results indicate that asset poverty is widespread across the life course. The vast majority of those in early adulthood will experience asset poverty in terms of their net worth, financial wealth, and liquid wealth. For those in the middle and later stages of the life course, there remains a substantial risk of encountering financial wealth and liquid wealth asset poverty. In addition, individuals who have less education, are not married, are black, and who do not own a home, are all significantly more likely to experience asset poverty. The policy implications of these findings are discussed