The competitive assessment laboratory: introducing engineering design via consumer product benchmarking

• DOI: 10.1109/te.2002.808216
• Publication Date: 2003-03-07T18:58:16Z
• Authors: A.J. Marchese; R.P. Ramachandran; R.P. Hesketh; J.L. Schmalzel; H.L. Newell
• Keywords: Benchmarking; Product line

In today's quickly changing and increasingly competitive market place, it is imperative that manufacturers keep abreast of the technological advances design innovations incorporated into competing product lines. The term assessment (or benchmarking) has been coined by to describe process ethically acquiring, inspecting, analyzing, instrumenting, testing lines other manufacturers. Competitive Assessment Laboratory at Rowan University funded National Science Foundation (NSF). laboratory, multidisciplinary teams freshman engineering students from each four departments perform above tasks on a consumer product. laboratory contains series appliance test stations featuring PC-based data acquisition systems capable measuring thermocouple voltage/current signals. Each station also equipped with mechanical measurement equipment portable materials equipment. addition introducing science art design, enables faculty assess constantly evolving initial conditions under which typical student enters his or her course study.