The purpose of this study is to determine the required attributes and competencies required for a graduate from a manufacturing engineering technology baccalaureate program. A document called “Competencies of Manufacturing Engineering Technology Graduates” was compiled in October 2004. This document lists twelve attributes thought to be important for MET graduates: Leadership, Professionalism, Creativity and Problem Solving, Management, Materials, Processes, Quality, Systems, Design, Communication, Safety and Environmental Issues, and Global Awareness. Under each attribute is a list of five to seven competencies creating a total of seventy-three competencies for graduates of an MET baccalaureate program. This list of attributes and competencies was converted into a survey for the purpose of evaluation by two manufacturing groups: educators and industry representatives. Overall, educators and industry representatives rated the attributes and competencies as important. Ninety-nine percent of the combined educator's and industry representative's competency questions had a mean response of 3.50 and above. Therefore, the competencies are relevant for MET graduates. It was determined that educators did significantly differ from industry representatives for their ratings of the attributes, but educators did not significantly differ from industry representatives for their ratings of the competencies. Generally, industry representatives rated attributes less highly than educators; however, the pattern of responses was similar across educators and industry representatives. The rankings of each attribute section from those rated most important to those rated least important were as follows: Professionalism, Communication, Creativity and Problem Solving, Manufacturing Processes, Design, Safety and Environmental Issues, Quality, Materials, Leadership, Management, Manufacturing Systems, and Global Awareness. Current literature mentions aspects of manufacturing that are considered important and these include: global or international awareness, lean manufacturing, life long learning, and communication. This survey indicated that the Global Awareness section was rated the least important of any section. The lean manufacturing competency had an average ranking out of all seventy-three competencies. Communication has been an important concern for MET graduates since the earliest studies and the survey results suggest that communication continues to be highly valued. MET educational programs should provide many opportunities for students to improve their communication skills.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BGMYU2/oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-1806 |
| Date | 27 October 2006 |
| Creators | Williamson, Loni S. |
| Publisher | BYU ScholarsArchive |
| Source Sets | Brigham Young University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/ |
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