Capstone Report

This report was prepared by students as part of a university course requirement. While considerable effort has been put into the project, it is not the work of licensed engineers and has not undergone the extensive verification that is common in the profession. The information, data, conclusions, and content of this report should not be relied on or utilized without thorough, independent testing and verification. University faculty members may have been associated with this project as advisors, sponsors, or course instructors, but as such they are not responsible for the accuracy of results or conclusions.

[Use this text exactly, include in all documents.]

[Provide a one-page summary of your project, including description, design, and results.]

[Include in Final Report only.]

[Use this page for acknowledging those who have substantially supported or assisted you, such as faculty and staff members, fellow students, sponsor mentors, etc.]

[Include in Final Report only.]

[Use your word processor to delete the following Table of Contents and insert a new TOC. Include front matter (except for the cover page), body of the report, and all appendices. The Table should include four levels of headings, e.g., down to 2.2.1.3, as illustrated below.]

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DISCLAIMER 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

1 BACKGROUND 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Project Description 1

1.3 Original System 1

1.3.1 Original System Structure 1

1.3.2 Original System Operation 1

1.3.3 Original System Performance 1

1.3.4 Original System Deficiencies 2

2 REQUIREMENTS 3

2.1 Customer Requirements (CRs) 3

2.2 Engineering Requirements (ERs) 3

2.3 Testing Procedures (TPs) 3

2.4 Design Links (DLs) 3

2.5 House of Quality (HoQ) 4

3 EXISTING DESIGNS 5

3.1 Design Research 5

3.2 System Level 5

3.2.1 Existing Design #1: Descriptive Title 5

3.2.2 Existing Design #2: Descriptive Title 5

3.2.3 Existing Design #3: Descriptive Title 5

3.3 Subsystem Level 5

3.3.1 Subsystem #1: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.1.1 Existing Design #1: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.1.2 Existing Design #2: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.1.3 Existing Design #3: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.2 Subsystem #2: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.2.1 Existing Design #1: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.2.2 Existing Design #2: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.2.3 Existing Design #3: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.3 Subsystem #3: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.3.1 Existing Design #1: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.3.2 Existing Design #2: Descriptive Title 6

3.3.3.3 Existing Design #3: Descriptive Title 6

4 DESIGNS CONSIDERED 7

4.1 Design #1: Descriptive Title 7

4.2 Design #2: Descriptive Title 7

4.3 Design #3: Descriptive Title 7

5 DESIGN SELECTED – First Semester 8

5.1 Rationale for Design Selection 8

5.2 Design Description 8

6 PROPOSED DESIGN – First Semester 9

7 IMPLEMENTATION – Second Semester 10

7.1 Analytical Analyses 10

7.2 Design Changes 10

8 TESTING 11

9 CONCLUSIONS 12

9.1 Contributors to Project Success 12

9.2 Opportunities/areas for improvement 12

10 REFERENCES 13

11 APPENDICES 14

11.1 Appendix A: Descriptive Title 14

11.2 Appendix B: Descriptive Title 14

[Use this section to introduce the reader to your project. Describe what the project is, project objectives, why it is of interest to the sponsor (project relevance), and how the project benefits the sponsor and other stakeholders, upon completion. A large emphasis in the section should be on why this project is important. What contemporary issues does this project address?]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Provide the sponsor's original project description, as presented at the beginning of fall term. To credit the source, precede the description with text, such as “Following is the original project description provided by the sponsor.” Set the Description in a block quote (i.e., indented from the surrounding text). If the description has been changed, provide an explanation of what has changed and why.]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports]

[If your project was a re-engineering project, that is, one to redesign, improve, or add onto an existing system, use this chapter to describe, in detail, the original system, that is, the system as it existed at the time your project began.

If your project was a new-design project, that is, one to design a completely new system, include the following text, replacing “<system>” with the name of your system ...

This project involved the design of a completely new <system>. There was no original system when this project began.”

… and omit the following subsections.

In either case, include this chapter in the Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Use this section to describe the physical structure of the original system, including parts, features, equipment, material, facilities, and personnel, as appropriate. Include a text description and, as appropriate, supporting figures, engineering, drawings, bills of materials, and layout drawings. Cite sources of information where they are not your own.]

[Use this section to describe how the original system, existing at the time your project began, operated or functioned. Obtain or collect operational data and describe operations in writing and include, as appropriate, supporting functional capabilities, functional models, task analyses, and other functional descriptions.]

[Use this section to describe the performance of the system at the time your project began. Obtain or collect data and compute and present statistics on weight, volume, speed, accuracy, power requirements, efficiency and other system performance parameters. Include sample calculations as appropriate but place extensive calculations in an Appendix. Clearly document and justify your approach to collecting and summarizing performance data. This section should clearly present a baseline against which the performance of your re-engineered system may be compared.]

[In this section, explain, with reference to its performance and other characteristics, why the original system did not meet current Customer (and, optionally, Engineering) Requirements.

[Use this section (2) to describe to the reader what is required from the project.]

[Sections 2.1 and 2.5 are required for the Background Report]

[Sections 2.1, 2.2, and 2.5 for the Preliminary Proposal]

[All sections for the Final Proposal and Final Report.]

[List and discuss all Customer Requirements and weightings. Customer Requirements must fully incorporate all the project requirements provided by the sponsor. Additionally, the Customer Requirements should fully specify and clarify the overall project objectives.]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Use this section to list and discuss the Engineering Requirements that have been developed. ER’s must be verifiable, that is, specify objectively measurable parameters or conditions. Each ER must have a target, or design-to, value with tolerance along with justification/rationale for the selected value and tolerance]

[Include in Preliminary Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Use this section to discuss the testing procedure developed by the team for each Engineering Requirement. Number each testing procedure for reference in House of Quality. Testing procedures MUST be detailed enough to completely describe how each Engineering Requirement will be tested to prove it has been satisfied (including what the testing equipment is, where the team will acquire the equipment, how the test will be performed, etc.).]

[Include in Final Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Use this section to describe how your design meets each ER. Provide a meaningful description, but limit the amount of text to one paragraph per engineering requirement. Number each DL for reference in the HoQ]

[Include in Final Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Summarize project requirements in a House of Quality using the template provided on the course website. Print your HoQ on 11” high by 17” wide paper and replace this page with your HoQ, folded to 11” high by 8.5” wide. If your HoQ takes more than one 11”x17” page, insert extra, “dummy” pages” in this document to preserve proper page numbering. If the HoQ is small enough you may include it here as landscape or portrait. Include a detailed introduction to the section and a discussion of how the HoQ has helped the team in the design process. Be specific and detailed (i.e. do not write any statements that could be applied to multiple projects besides your own).]

For the Background Report include only CRs, Weightings, and approvals: signatures on the HoQ or attached e-mail(s) clearly affirming approval.

For the Preliminary Proposal include only CRs, Weightings, ERs, Target Values (with tolerances), and approvals.

For the Final Proposal and Final Report include all HoQ elements and approvals]

[Use this chapter to describe alternative approaches to designing your new or re-engineered system. Sources for this information include existing product descriptions, catalogs, engineering textbooks, the engineering literature, and the internet. Another very important source for some projects, especially (but not exclusively) for process re-engineering projects, is benchmarking.]

[Put introduction to Ch. 3 here.]

[Use this section to describe how existing designs were researched. This could have been done by examining similar systems, literature review, or web searches. If benchmarking was used, describe the plans (in the Background Report) or the completed process (in the Preliminary Proposal) here. Be extremely detailed and thorough here when describing your research process.

Benchmarking involves on-site visits to organizations, observation, and interviews with employees to see how others have approached this type of design problem. Benchmarking can also be done online through extensive research. Based on your completed Original System analysis and the Project Description, identify relevant problems / issues / opportunities that would benefit from the Benchmarking Study. More than one area of the project should be identified for benchmarking. Include the findings of the Benchmarking Study in the remaining sections of this chapter.]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Use this section to discuss existing designs that address requirements relevant to your project at the system level. For example, if you were designing a race car, one would use this section to describe entire race cars meeting similar or related requirements. List at least three system-level designs and add more as necessary. Cite the sources from which the designs were identified, including your own benchmarking results, if appropriate. Use this section to describe the rationale for your selection of the systems described in the following subsections.]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe this system-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe this system-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe this system-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Use this section to (i) describe a functional decomposition or system/process hierarchy of your system and (ii) discuss existing designs that address requirements relevant to your project at the subsystem level. Describe your functional decomposition in this section. List each subsystem in your functional decomposition with appropriate headings in the following subsections. Under each subsystem heading, list existing designs meeting similar or related requirements. Your functional decomposition must contain at least three subsystems and there must be at least three existing designs described under each component. For example, if you were designing a race car, your functional decomposition would include braking, steering, and suspension subsystems (among others). The content of this section would then include a discussion of existing designs for (i) braking, (ii) steering, (iii) suspension, etc.

Use this space to describe the main functions of the projects and elaborate on your functional decomposition process.]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe this subsystem from your functional decomposition]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Describe this subsystem from your functional decomposition]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent documents]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Describe this subsystem from your functional decomposition]

[Include in Background Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Describe this subsystem-level existing design and explain how it relates to your requirements.]

[Note: Copy & paste additional headings as necessary. Be sure to update your Table of Contents.]

[Using the information and data collected as a result of the benchmarking, the design team should complete a group brainstorming session of how to solve the design problem(s). Provide at least TEN complete possible designs for your system. Each possible design must include all subsystems in your functional decomposition. Include 4-6 of the designs here and put the rest in an Appendix. List advantages and disadvantages of each using brief but compelling technical analysis.]

[Do not confuse Designs Considered with Existing Designs. Designs Considered are new concepts you generate. Existing Designs are entities that currently exist.]

[Include in Preliminary Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe in detail a design solution you have considered. Include a list of Pros and Cons.]

[Include in Preliminary Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe in detail a design solution you have considered. Include a list of Pros and Cons.]

[Include in Preliminary Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Describe in detail a design solution you have considered. Include a list of Pros and Cons.]

[Include in Preliminary Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Note: You must discuss at least TEN Designs Considered. More are encouraged. Put the majority of your concepts in an Appendix, but include at least 4-6 in this section. Copy & paste additional headings as necessary. Be sure to update your Table of Contents.]

[Put introduction to Ch. 5 here.]

[Use this section to explain / justify the design solution selected. Your selection must be one of the possible solutions described in the previous chapter or a combination of several, and you should discuss why, given the various advantages and disadvantages of all of the options given, the selected solution is most appealing. All teams must include a Pugh Chart and Decision Matrix to justify their findings. Use an Appendix for any lengthy engineering calculations or large figures/tables.]

[Include in Preliminary Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Use this section, with additional subsections as appropriate, to fully describe your design. Show engineering calculations (or if lengthy, place them in an Appendix and refer readers to that part of the report) to justify the proposed design. Create, and refer to, detailed engineering drawings, 3D models, parts and materials used, simulations, facility layouts, or other appropriate tools to completely specify all aspects of the design. Include pictures of the prototype constructed during Fall Semester with a description of what you learned by doing the prototype and what changes to the final design were made due to the construction of the prototype.]

[Remove the Individual Analytical Analyses from the first semester from this section. Teams will be required to create a separate document that contains all the individual analytical analyses done for the project for both semesters.]

[Include in Final Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Use this chapter to provide a complete description of how you plan to implement your design (e.g. by fabricating a prototype, creating a proof-of-concept, programming a simulation, writing software or operator procedures, or making physical and operational changes to the current system.). It must include a detailed breakdown of all resources needed to implement the chosen design: information, people, materials, facilities, etc. As appropriate, include a complete bill of materials, including sourcing (if manufactured, by whom and how, if purchased, from what company). Unless your bill of materials is very brief, place it in an Appendix. A comparison of the implementation costs and budget must be included. The plan must also include a detailed schedule for all implementation activities. Include an Assembly view and Exploded view of the CAD model for your proposed design.]

[Include in Final Proposal and all subsequent reports.]

[Note: This section documents all design / prototype changes made before testing begins (i.e., changes due to implementation issues). Changes made due to test results are to be described in the next chapter.]

[Include in Midpoint Report and all subsequent reports. Continually update this section as you progress in ME 486C second semester.]

[Provide a detailed discussion of all the methods of manufacturing necessary to complete this project in the second semester. Detail any calculations or analyses required to ensure engineering requirements are met based on the manufacturing of the project. Include details for ALL iterations of the design, including failed iterations or minor prototypes.]

[Include in Midpoint Report and all subsequent reports.]

Design Changes

[Discuss how the implementation actually occurred and describe problems encountered. Update this section as the project progresses, and add sections as necessary if the design is subsequently changed due to implementation problems. For design changes, include engineering calculations and revised part drawings or other design specifications (probably in appendices) as necessary.]

[Include in Midpoint Report and all subsequent reports.]

[Discuss your testing plan. Referencing the Chapter 1 design requirements, listed specifically and exactly, explain how you independently and scientifically tested each. Provide complete test results and discuss problems encountered. Clearly show which of the design requirements are satisfied, which are not, and which are ambiguous. For every failed test, (i) provide a compelling technical argument of why success was expected, (ii) provide a detailed and technically justified redesign to address the problem including supporting engineering calculations, part drawings, and other documentation as necessary

[Note: This section documents design / prototype changes made after testing begins (i.e., changes made due to test results). Changes due to fabrication issues should be described in the previous Chapter.]

[Include in Final Report only.]

[Include here a Post Mortem analysis of the project following the guidelines given in lecture. Organize the information into two categories as you answer the seven fundamental questions of a Postmortem: “9.1 Contributors to project success” and “9.2 Opportunities/areas for improvement”]

[Answer the seven fundamental questions of the Postmortem in a report format and include information on how the project was a success here. DO NOT list the questions and your answers; compile your answers into cohesive paragraphs of information that flow from topic to topic. This subsection should be extremely detailed (at least one page in length).]

[Include in Final Report only.]

[Include in Final Report only.]

[Include here all references cited, following the reference style described in the syllabus. There should only be one Reference list in this report, so all individual analytical analysis reference lists must be compiled here with the main report references. If you wish to include a bibliography, which lists not only references cited but other relevant literature, include it as an Appendix.]

[Use Appendices to include lengthy technical details or other content that would otherwise break up the text of the main body of the report. These can contain engineering calculations, engineering drawings, bills of materials, current system analyses, and surveys or questionnaires. Letter the Appendices and provide descriptive titles. For example: Appendix A-House of Quality, Appendix B- Budget Analysis, etc.]

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