Now that ME 250 has wrapped up it is time for me to make a final reflection on team work, the class, and other things.
To start off, I learned that design doesn’t come as second nature to everyone, there are those that would rather manufacture and those who would rather write reports for the team. I also learned that both design and manufacturing are very time intensive processes, however you can cut way down on the manufacturing time if the design is good and you plan out exactly how something will be manufactured. For instance I ended up redesigning a part while I was making it in the shop when I realized that the press fit that we had planned for it was largely unrealistic, in that it was not a good use of time to try to create a shaft within a few thousandths of what I wanted given the tools available to us. I also learned methods to make manufacturing go more smoothly which I will definitely be incorporating into my drawings in the future.
I learned that teamwork is key to not overburdening any one member of the team. When a team is first created the members should each go over their strengths and weaknesses and what they hope to contribute to the team. Once that is established, creating a plan of action, establishing a team leader, and delegating is the next step to being successful, that and always being prepared for team meetings. Things tend to go a lot more smoothly when there is a list of goals that need to be accomplished, this also takes out a significant chunk of time spent in meetings. Good time management is also what makes or breaks a team in the long run. To minimize time spent manufacturing, creating a list of goals and what tools/tooling methods you need to accomplish them is a good direction to head in. Basically the more organized you are, the more success you will have in the long run.
I also learned that having a successful team is not just about being organized. If you’re going to be spending a lot of time around your teammates it is also wise to become friends with them. People are a lot more understanding and willing to help you if they like you. This also greatly helps in the creative process because people tend to build off of each other’s ideas more readily if they know the person whose idea it is. Basically, you cannot remove the social element from any group so I suggest embracing it and using it to your advantage. If done correctly, this will create a team that is both creative and productive.
There are multiple ways the course could be improved in my opinion. First of all the lecture time is far too early for most engineers to reliably be able to wake up in the morning and attend lecture, at this point most of us are out of the dorms (aka not freshman) and all live on central campus. This means we have to plan an extra .5 hour of travel time into our already early schedule. Either moving the lecture to central campus or holding it at a later time will see a significant increase in attendance. Another thing that could improve the class overall would be to have a shop cheat sheet, or data packet. I always took the exam info packet with me into the shop because I could consult it on size of tight fit and free fit through holes, as well as other miscellaneous data. The Machinists Handbook, in my opinion, is impossible to navigate when I’ve never used it before and when one does find the formula one wants in the book (e.g. lathe and milling speeds) the speeds tend to be way higher than what Bob or Mark would recommend. Basically if there was a single sheet of paper which had the drill chart, lathe turning speeds for various tools, mill speeds for several scenarios, and methodology for tapping holes (so people didn't break as many taps), then there would be a lot less time wasted trying to find formulas in the machinist’s handbook.
There is not much more I could have done to improve my performance. I communicated with my team regularly via text or email and tried to get them to come to the shop with me. I suppose I need to work on delegating the tasks more effectively. This would have spread the time spent manufacturing or designing more evenly between group members.
All in all I am satisfied with the amount of time and effort I put into ME 250 and look forward to using the lessons I learned to help craft a better, more efficient group in the future.
Andy Out
No comments:
Post a Comment