THE FOUR PILLARS OF MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

Abstract

Manufacturing is critical to the economy of anycountry and it is essential that any program whosegraduates obtain professional positions in themanufacturing functions of product-producing industriesshould prepare them with adequate awareness, skills, andknowledge of the manufacturing engineering field. TheManufacturing Education & Research Community of theU.S. based Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)developed the Four Pillars of Manufacturing Engineering,created from the ABET accreditation criteria formanufacturing programs. The Four Pillars are: 1 –Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 2 – Product,Tooling, and Assembly Engineering, 3 – ManufacturingSystems and Operations, and 4 – ManufacturingCompetitiveness. Detail reflects the body of knowledge forcertified manufacturing engineers and technologists asdefined by the SME. Efforts are underway to use this conceptto enhance manufacturing-named curricula along withcurricula of related fields such as mechanical, electrical andcomputer, industrial, and materials engineering. Plansinclude the development of curricular materials forcurriculum enhancement. Index Terms ⎯  Curriculum, Industry needs, manufacturingeducation, manufacturing engineering, manufacturingtechnology, Society of Manufacturing Engineers.