Although the first portion of this class seemed overwhelming, the process we went through to get to a finished machine taught me a great deal. I learned a great deal not only about general engineering principles and concepts, but also about working with a team to complete a common goal.
Prior to my experience in ME250, I had very limited background with basic manufacturing processes. In manufacturing the individual pieces that made up our final machine, I learned a great amount about the precision that needs to go into such processes. I also gained a good understanding of how to perform processes like milling, turning, and drilling. I feel that in learning how to do all of these things in this class, I will be much better prepared for challenges I will face in ME350 and ME450.
What I feel were the most important lessons learned through my experience in this class are those in teamwork, time management, and organization. I was apprehensive about trying to pick a team, especially since I did not know anybody in my lab section. It is always an uneasy feeling knowing that you are going to embark on a semester long engineering endeavor with people that you really don’t know anything about. I realized, though, that it was all part of the experience of the class and that I would learn a great deal from it. In picking our team and our initial discussions about how we wanted to approach the problem given to us, I found that I ended up in a good group. We had a wide range of experiences and capabilities, and every person was the type that I knew would be willing and able to get things done.
Once our team was picked and we started the process of designing and building our machine, teamwork and time management became very important. We all have busy schedules, so it took a lot of effort on everybody’s part to decide when to meet and get things done efficiently. In doing this, I learned the importance of communication in a group setting. Without each of us communicating with everybody else, we never would have been able to meet some of the deadlines we were presented with. Overall, the strict timetable we were presented with, as well as the necessity of cooperation in order to produce a working machine, taught me these lessons and will be extremely beneficial in my future experiences, both in similar classes and in my life after school.
As far as improvement of this course goes, I feel that there is definitely a great deal that can be done to make the semester move smoother. At the beginning of the semester, I was extremely overwhelmed with the amount of assignments we were required to hand in. Not only was it a lot of work for this class, it made it extremely difficult for me to keep up with the work I needed to do for my other classes. Also, I felt that the details of the contest were relatively disorganized throughout the majority of the semester. As the semester progressed, I did become more satisfied with how the class moved. When the homework and CAD assignments were done and the majority of our time was devoted to the design and manufacturing of our machine, the class seemed to be far more rewarding than it previously had. It was nice to see an actual product come from the time and effort we were putting into the project. Although the course had great room for improvement, I feel that it was a good experience, and taught me many things that I know will benefit me in future projects.
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