Senior Design Business Partnership Plan

• Identify a Project: Identify an internal project that can be accomplished by 3-5 engineers, each working 10 hours a week within a 9 month timeframe (ie. a project that can be completed by 1 engineer in 9 months). Typically a good project will be a “nagging issue” or desired project which the business has not had the man-power to assign, but would still be beneficial to the business. Urgent or high priority projects would generally not be good for this initiative.
• Submit Project Proposal Form: Submit the Miami University MME Senior Design Project Proposal Form by August 15^th (before Fall Semester) or January 15^th (before Spring Semester).
• Identify the Point of Contact: This should be someone in your company who can answer any questions on the project and provide feedback to the project team.
• Determine Project Budget: Determine how you would like project funding and project purchases to take place by the project team.

Business Partner Options

• Some businesses hold regular meetings with project teams for updates.
• Also some businesses like to bring the project team or 1 member onsite for a plant tour and visit to kick-off the project.
• Some businesses prefer making a donation to Miami University to help fund projects.
• Some businesses have come to Miami University to meet with teams or review projects in the beginning or middle or end.
• You are encouraged to engage with the team at whatever level you desire to influence direction and beneficial solutions.
• If deemed necessary, businesses will provide to the project team a standard Confidentiality Agreement Form to allow for proprietary interaction between the business and project team.
• Attending the MME Design Expo where all of the Senior Design Projects are presented. This takes place typically the first week of May and consists of an evening of poster presentations, followed by 3 days of 45 minute design reviews for each team. Typically 20-25 teams will present.

Course Structure & Requirements

• Approved Projects: are assigned a project team of 3 to 5 engineers by the course instructor and the each project team is assigned a faculty advisor to monitor and mentor the engineers throughout the course.
• Gate Process: This course is structured in a Gate Process. Stage Gates are approval points of a project that must be passed through before a project can proceed to the next gate.
• Gate Deliverables: Each group has standards and deliverables to meet in each Gate that will be clearly defined. It is the responsibility of each team to review these Gate Deliverables with their assigned advisor to determine which are necessary and how to fulfill them.
• Gate Reviews: Each Gate will be accompanied by reviews in a formal process where each team must present the project status and completion of the Gate Deliverables.
• Course Grading: Evaluation scores for each gate will be given and culminate in the final grade for the course.

Gate Structure

The gates for MME448/449 will follow the design process.

MME448 (1^st Semester)

Gate 1: Problem Definition/Objectives

Gate 2: Conceptual Ideas and Design Specifications

Gate 3: Proposal of Final Design Idea

Gate 4: Detailed Design Review of Final Design

MME449 (2^nd Semester)

Gate 5: Corrective Action from Design Review/Product Realization Plan

Gate 6: Development of Product/Testing Procedure Plan

Gate 7: Testing Results

Gate 8: Implementation of Product for Final Review