COURSE NUMBER: MBA290M.1, Cross-listed with ME and SIMS

COURSE TITLE: High-Tech Product Design and Rapid Manufacturing

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3

INSTRUCTOR: Paul Wright

E-MAIL ADDRESS: pwright@kingkong.ME.Berkeley.edu

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL): http://bmi.berkeley.edu/html/Me221/index_me221.htm

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30-11:00 AM

PREREQUISITE(S): None

CLASS FORMAT: Lectures and guest speakers but the main format is the group project, trade show, business plan and feedback from VCs

REQUIRED READINGS: None

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: At least 60% on group project

 

MISSION

 

This joint course with the engineering school is project oriented and has in the past created prototypes that go onto win business plan competitions and create real companies. This is chance to work with four other colleagues and begin a product in the general 'smart dust' space

 

OVERVIEW

 

http://bmi.berkeley.edu/html/Me221/index_me221.htm

 

PREVIOUS "PRODUCTS"

 

http://bmi.berkeley.edu/html/Me221/me221_tradeshows.htm

 

INSTRUCTOR

 

http://kingkong.me.berkeley.edu/people/paulpage.html

 

SUMMARY

 

This is a "manufacturing survey course" that deals with all aspects of the manufacturing processes relevant to today's production of consumer electronics or electro-mechanical devices. It also aims to provide a balanced view for the "Management of Technology". The course guides students through a product development cycle, and emphasizes modern Internet-based commercial activities between designers, rapid prototyping services and full-scale manufacturers.

In this course we will cover product concept, consumer ethnography, marketing, product design, modeling, rapid prototyping and ending in the final project Tradeshow. The class features guest speakers An especially valuable way of dealing with this material has been a semester-long class project. This places significant emphasis on group interactions. Students will design and prototype a new consumer electronic product based on RFIDs. Some connections to the Mica Mote (and TinyOS) used in previous Tradeshows may also arise.

Finding a useful (and commercially viable) application for the RFIDs, creating a functional package/enclosure, and giving a demonstration of its use, are key to the course. Development of a `marketing plan' and a `ramp-up to manufacturing' scenario is a vital part of the course.