Project Affiliates

ME317 relies on Corporate Project Affiliates in both providing real-world projects for our campus-based students, and student-employees for in-house projects. This support provides the key learning vehicle for the ME317 curriculum, as well as ensures continued development of the design methods.

Key Bullets

Invitation

Stanford's Manufacturing Modeling Lab invites you to propose a project for ME317's 28th year. ME317 Design Methods is our two-quarter graduate-level project course in which 2-4 Master's and Ph.D. students work as a team on a project in affiliation with a company. Our focus is "design for business success". Typically, we have 4-5 on-campus projects. ME317 runs during Winter and Spring (early January to early June); the work product at the end is a report and, if appropriate, a model of the project concept.

Why Support an ME317 Project?

For $17,000 you will get the brain power and expertise of 2-4 Stanford Engineering Graduate Students plus a Faculty Member and a Teaching Assistant working on your company’s issue. At the end of Winter Quarter, your project team will present their Product Definition of their project highlighting the Value Proposition and the financial payback the project will contribute to your bottom line. In June, the students will make their Final Presentation and present you their Final Report on their findings and make recommendations on what your company should implement. Weekly, your company representative will discuss the project with your student team so you will always be in the loop. All company project work is done concurrently with our ME 317 lecture series where we teach the advanced methods of Product Definition and Quality by Design Methodology. The methods range from characterization of strategic objectives, societal needs, user scenarios and values, and manufacturability to other life-cycle complexities such as reliability, sustainability, financial analysis, FMEA, and cost drivers. ME317A develops a comprehensive product definition while ME317B seeks “Quality by Design” to generate concepts and a development roadmap that co-optimize the product design and manufacturing process.

Successful Projects

How to Get Involved