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Learning is a process much like manufacturing; initial mistakes can lead to new discoveries while an ability to adapt and change can lead to an improved end result. ºÚÁÏÉçÇø College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs can now experience first-hand how manufacturing errors and pitfalls can turn into opportunities when smart manufacturing techniques are used. 

The Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab, set to be in use by ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs this fall, presents the pitfalls of manufacturing to ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs to workshop and make changes. Baked into the lab’s design is the ability for ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs to learn opportunities for optimization.

The Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab is “also built to last with extended data output loads, weight limits, and more flexibilities,” said Fazeel Khan, a Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering professor who helped spearhead the lab’s creation. 

Khan worked closely with ºÚÁÏÉçÇø alumnus  '79, current president and CEO of Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. Khan and Associate Professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Giancarlo Corti approached Summerville at CEC’s in April 2022 to share the vision they had for the lab.

From there, Summerville was instrumental in pushing this project forward and making sure his engineers built the technology to facilitate a learning environment, Khan said.

Designing the Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab presented an engineering challenge in and of itself. That’s because, in a standard production facility, the focus is on what elements would make the machinery the most efficient. However, in a learning environment, it's all about the process. 

“We don't want it to be optimal in terms of time; it should be slow so that ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs then recognize what changes they can make with any new product,” Khan said. 

Another key component of the design: it’s modular. The Lab has the distinct ability to run multiple projects simultaneously, and with a full range of Smart Manufacturing technologies, Khan said the Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab has extensive possibilities. 

With its changeable nature, the Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab will also produce graduates ready to step into what the workforce needs at that moment. 

“[The lab] can change; it will evolve over time based on our needs,”  Khan said.

It will also change the industry and who manufacturers hire. 

This Miami innovation is already impressing regional employers, according to Kahn. Mitsubishi clients have had the opportunity to peek at the Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab and have begun brainstorming small-scale integrations of the technology.

“[University clients and prospective employers] can then really identify or recognize that if this is the equipment we're training our staff on and the new people coming in from Miami, which are our ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs, would be the best ones to hire,” he said. 

This lab won’t only produce qualified manufacturing and mechanical engineers. Future process and product design engineers, machine learning specialists, automation engineers, machinery maintenance and quality control technicians, and many more career opportunities will be products of the Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab in their own right. 

The lab itself is one of a kind. While some facilities are starting to create the infrastructure or using similar technology for demonstration purposes, ºÚÁÏÉçÇø’s College of Engineering and Computing will be the first Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab of its kind, with the duality of education and functionality. 

Alongside the new lab, College of Engineering and Computing faculty have built out a curriculum to comprehensively train incoming Miami ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs on the technology. 

The curriculum and lab itself is targeted at honing in on smart manufacturing. Going beyond the technical operations of manufacturing, the lab captures data that ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs can use to understand where manufacturing mistakes are being made and how to improve them. 

As ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs progress through the smart manufacturing engineering major–currently the only B.S. in Smart Manufacturing program in the state of Ohio–they will learn the industry sequentially. Courses begin with product design and take ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs through the entire smart manufacturing process that ends with a course focused on how all the elements combine to make a finished product. 

As a functional lab, those products aren’t just in theory; they’re created in practice by ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs. The first of which will be a biomedical pump for IV fluids. While the pumps won’t be used in actual medical facilities, the project brings in a new component to the lab: collaboration. Electrical engineering ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs will be designing and creating motors and speed controllers for the pumps as part of their major’s coursework. 

“That mimics industrial operations,” Khan said. Having pieces come in from different facilities – such as the mechanical or electrical engineering departments at Miami – is much like the assembly and manufacturing processes of real-world production plants. 

Data coming out of the factory can even be used to analyze the sustainability of a production cycle in terms of how much electricity was used to produce the product. But also, sustainability was a piece of the thought process when designing the lab. 

“When we're producing this entire pump, there could be areas in which you can use recyclable plastics,” Khan said. “But also, in the last station is a packaging station where after the assembly operation, the user puts everything into a shipping container. You can identify materials that are either made from recycled materials or from virgin materials that are fully recyclable.”

From idea to implementation, the Smart Manufacturing Learning Lab represents a team effort of collaboration, challenge, and innovation. The lab was its own test of the manufacturing process, and Kahn said he is ready to see it in action. 

“It's a big project,” Khan said. “That's for sure.”