Every year, through Professor Kos Ishii's world-renowned, two-part course, ME317: Design for Manufacturability (dfM), over 150 students from around the world acquire the tools to define, develop and produce competitive products. "The students are part of something dynamic," says Ishii. "The class is a validation ground." It is a living laboratory for students, faculty and company partners.

Dissecting the Better Mousetrap:  from Definition to Design

Global company partners work with Stanford to create course projects addressing real product/process issues to which students will apply methodologies acquired in ME317A (Winter). In ME317B (Spring), these projects are the proving ground for students to integrate methodologies and introduce cutting edge practices to effect actual product/process improvements.

Last year's projects reflect the course's wide range of applied methodologies, industries and topics:

• Magnets for the Next Linear Collider-permanent magnets vs. electromagnets.
• TT Backup Power Systems: how to maintain performance but minimize environmental impact.
• Improving the manufacturing process for an Agilent transceiver: making the best even better.
• Marketing AIBO-Sony's artificially intelligent entertainment robot-in the USA. It took Japan by storm, but wasn't a sprinkle in the USA.
• Greening the Corolla: how to actualize Toyota's goal of 95% recyclability.
• Cheaper, higher quality housing-for Full Authority Digital Engine Control modules in jets.
• Sending InFocus back to school: targeting the university markets for InFocus projectors.

Industry-Based, Global, Current: Proven Course for Success

• Proven Track Record: ME317 was developed in 1985 by the late Professor Phil Barken, and acquired global success. Ishii credits the course's success to Barken. "He had an exceptional vision of a product development course delivered globally." Today, over 100 distance students, from a dozen companies in countries on three continents, enroll in ME317 through SCPD.
• Award-winning Professor: Ishii, an award-winning teacher himself, has built on that success. Most recently, for his work in ME317, Ishii received the 2001 Dean's Award for Industry Education Innovation in the School of Engineering. (For more on Ishii, visit his Web site: http://me317.stanford.edu/
• Constantly updated curriculum: Ishii offers structured lectures on dfM methodologies used globally-constantly refining and updating them to assure that students have state-of-the-art tools to apply to their work. Industry-based projects: Company partners not only offer real-life dfM issues, but also work with Ishii to develop course projects. They offer company liaisons to advise and work with the student teams formed to address their product/manufacturing issues.
• Global perspectives: In a shrinking world, this is a must. ME317 offers students unique opportunities to broaden manufacturing perspectives-through global methodologies offered through Ishii's lectures, peer interactions with distance students in other industries and other countries, and interactions with liaisons from international company partners.

Global, Living Lab: Research Reciprocity

Ishii stresses the reciprocity of the course; he constantly learns and channels what he learns back into the course. "For me, it's a fantastic laboratory! When your research is in the field of design methods and tools, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. With over 40 project teams, mostly from industry-engineers in the 'trenches' — ME317 provides an outstanding needs assessment and validation ground for my research. Professor Barkan left me a "lab" that many of my peers envy."