Deep Thoughts By: Chock-full-o-nutz Larry Kreger JD Miknis Lance Hagerman Nicole Szekeres Josh Matz

Suppliers Must maintain contact Allow enough time to reorder if the initial shipment is wrong Be assertive and ask for what you want, not what they have Remember price is negotiable

Manufacturing Have a backup plan Remember to leave at least one hour for setup on CNC machines Expect to get frustrated Plan for the process to take longer than expected Don’t manufacture during hunting season when living in Pennsylvania

Manufacturing Stock extra material so that the production run is complete INCLUDING defects Be creative with fixturing, don’t rely on other’s work (i.e. vacuum plate) Don’t hang on to bad ideas Design for adaptability

Design Changes Again, don’t hang on to bad ideas Take all advice seriously Consider all options BEFORE making a decision Know when to call for no more changes The best aesthetics may not be the most manufacturable Depend on nobody except yourself

Overall We Learned… Patience Focusing How to work with others How to consider all options objectively How to work with time constraints

Overall We Learned… Communication Documentation of work (i.e. who you talked to and when) Public speaking Cost justification Licensing issues and how to work with business associates

Course Positives/Negatives Pros Cons Professors Ideas Hands on experience Concept to production Developed “soft skills” Integration of business and engineering Lack of structured syllabus Fuzzy expectations Final design approval scheduled too late in the semester

Thanks to the professors for two great semesters Discussion/Comments Thanks to the professors for two great semesters