Engineering and management schools face significant challenges in educating the latest generations of students due to their attention span and the hyper-connected networks they have access to. Traditionally, professors have used active tools (such as problem-based learning, project-oriented learning, and the case method) to reach educational goals. In recent years, supportive, engaging tools (gaming and storytelling, among others) have been essential to attract the attention of millennial and centennial students within specific educational activities. Literature shows instances of the positive impact (on student comprehension and skills development) of using a specific active or engaging tool in an educational activity. However, there is a gap in exploring multi-engaging and active learning tools. This research explores using a mixture of active and engaging tools to design single significant motivational, student-centered educational activities to obtain a student's more profound understanding of the management or engineering tool, the skills required to use it, and the potential consequences to stakeholders. The contribution of this work is twofold: a) a transdisciplinary framework to design specific, active, multi-engaging educational experiences that can be deployed among course sections, and b) an illustrative instance based on an operations management graduate course.
Academic Technology Centers (ATCs) have been attracting increasing attention from scholars and practitioners due to their central role in fostering innovation in complex fields, particularly those based on hard sciences. ATCs are semi-autonomous university arms intended to conduct a portfolio of collaborative R&D Projects and offer services in high-specialized technology fields in the context of University-Industry partnerships. Their operations bear on market-driven development of research-based, cutting-edge technologies, which may culminate in technology transfer to established companies or even new ventures. However, despite such importance, strategizing for ATCs is challenging since business and management literature is highly biased to companies' business contexts. The present study outlines the development of strategic guidelines for an emerging Biotechnology Academic Technology Center with high innovative potential within a Brazilian University. By examining the current state of business planning and strategic management literature in academic settings, we investigate auxiliary methods as an intersecting domain to anchor the analysis. The study scrutinizes the distinct aspects of the context encompassing this particular ATC and strives to adapt a strategic planning approach to support the institution's path. As a result, we offer an adaptable roadmap tool with macro itineraries and influence factors for the context of the case analyzed.
Management Methods and Tools (MaTs) are artifacts that assist decision-makers in organizations and have a unique role in innovation and technology-based entrepreneurship. Such a context is characterized by uncertainties and risks that make processes complex and dynamic. The positive impact of adopting MaTs in organizations is well documented in the literature. However, MaTs for innovation and entrepreneurship constitute a myriad of options today, and managers often face the tricky challenge of selecting MaTs properly and implementing them in fruitful ways. In this context, productizing MaTs emerges as a promising path. Productization is the process of analyzing a need, defining, and combining elements to obtain something replicable and understandable, which can be adopted as a "product". Guided by the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, this article develops and discusses a proposal for the productization of MaTs for innovation and entrepreneurship. The study is based on the actual demand of a research network focused on developing and applying MaTs by innovation intermediaries, such as technology parks. The proposed process advances the agenda of disseminating MaTs to potential adopters, fostering more informed applications and positive organizational impacts. It also contributes to the emerging debate on the productization of MaTs from an academic perspective in contexts of high uncertainty and risk, characteristic of innovative companies.
Academic timetabling is a core process of higher education institutions (HEIs) with profound implications for stakeholder satisfaction and organizational efficiency.This process serves as the operational backbone of every HEI.It involves the allocation of professors to course-sections, schedules, and facilities such as classrooms and laboratories for a specific academic term.Given its mathematical complexity (NP-Hard) and despite the extensive literature on timetabling practices, real-world applications often present challenges that deviate from standard problem formulations, creating a gap between theory and practice.This research addresses these challenges by promoting knowledge integration and improving decision-making processes.The contribution of this article is twofold: Firstly, it introduces a transdisciplinary framework that considers stakeholder preferences and available organizational resources to optimize the expected academic performance of HEIs.At the core of this framework lies a quantitative decision support tool (based on a mixed integer optimization model) designed to bridge knowledge and resource gaps, thus aiding the decision-making team in achieving their objectives.Secondly, the article presents a practical demonstration of this framework using data from an entire HEI Campus, encompassing all schools and academic programs, to illustrate its efficiency and benefits.
Solution generation in transdisciplinary engineering is increasingly buttressed by computational modeling and simulation tools implemented by highly skilled experts. As powerful as these tools may be, they tend to exclude non-technical stakeholders from the solution design process. With this concern in mind, we discuss the method, implementation, and preliminary results for an experiment designed to measure the efficacy of “inclusive” computational modeling techniques that allow non-technical stakeholders to participate more actively in solution generation. In the experiment, we asked individuals to play the role of an empowered citizen who must choose the final and best design for a real estate development in their city. Participants accessed a browser-based digital design tool to view, edit, and create building scenarios. Ultimately, we asked participants to specify a single solution as their final choice, while also reporting their levels of satisfaction and confidence regarding that choice. We found that non-expert participants are quite willing to exercise their own personal discretion to make decisions, even to the point of overriding or ignoring existing professional recommendations. This work may have important implications for technology-enabled participatory design processes in transdisciplinary engineering.
The introduction of Human-Robot Collaboration assembly (HRC) adds complexity when designing layouts, as e.g. new safety and security issues need to be considered. In this paper, the usefulness of digital tools, such as simulation and emulation tools, to support the transdisciplinary activities in an integrated product and production development process for HRC layouts, is explored. The empirical findings was collected through interactive workshops between industrial experts and researchers, developing and analyzing challenges and needs while using digital tools. The conclusions indicate a need for an understanding of the cost drivers when utilizing digital tools, and how the reuse of digital models and knowledge can reduce development time and cost. This includes understanding of how new versions of digital tools may drive costs. Four important activities while designing a HRC layout, utilizing a digitalized production preparation process, were identified. It was also found that an efficient and reliable assessment method related to different regulations and standards is needed to support the selection and use of digital tools when designing a HRC layout.
Firms outside of traditional software and internet technology disciplines face unfamiliar challenges in managing portfolios of innovative digital products as their industries are reshaped by digital transformation. When rapid prototyping of proofsof-concept (POCs) is the responsibility of a specialized Digital Innovation Team (DIT), the rate of idea creation can quickly outpace the capacity of this dedicated group. Systematically identifying and pursuing the highest-value ideas aligned with business needs, innovation goals, and enterprise strategy becomes both a vital and difficult technical challenge. This study examines a prioritization and selection (PAS) approach founded on systems engineering (SE) methods to manage the work progressed within a DIT. The assessment combines stakeholder analysis with surveys to characterize a multi-attribute utility function measuring POC benefit. POC resources are estimated from anticipated duration, development needs, validation requirements, and process change necessary for the technical solutions. These metrics characterize a cost-benefit trade-off, complemented by innovation measures associated with each POC. The proposed workflow supports portfolio shaping and work prioritization across different business segments while facilitating the stakeholder alignment and prototype visibility necessary to drive product commercialization. Future work will address a remaining gap in the consistent valuation of lower-benefit innovative work that is a foundational dependency for higher-value POCs.
To reduce the time and costs associated with the lifecycle of military equipment for continued operational effectiveness, Departments of Defense purchase Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products. In this way, design and development costs are passed on to the manufacturer. At the same time, it is possible to take advantage of the rapid pace of technological advances in the industry. However, due to the nature of Defense equipment, COTS must be carefully evaluated and selected to mitigate the risks associated with entering government stockpile products that do not perform as intended or fail prematurely throughout their lifecycle. The present study develops an analytical framework to consolidate the prevailing research on COTS selection and evaluation for Defense use, identifies gaps, and proposes future research. We adopted a morphological analysis approach to systematically review the identified studies. We create a morphological structure with five dimensions specified by the Input-Process-Outcome (IPO) approach; it functions as a repository of the literature and allows the researcher to make changes as the literature portfolio grows, given its flexible representation and modularity.
Several references in the literature help manufacturing companies improve quality, production performance, and waste reductions in shop floor processes. Different Systematic Literature Reviews (SLR) help researchers refine their reference results to apply them to manufacturing activities. Thus, to improve and speed up the research of the state-of-the-art references from the engineering and scientific platforms on a given topic, this article presented an improvement of the systematic review named iSLR. It consists of a detailed analysis of bibliographic results first searched in predefined publishers and next in databases using the Automatic Bibliography Researcher (ABRe) program to generate valuable references in an organized list. This procedure ensures the addition of relevant references not in the database results. A case study using iSLR was applied to search and select the DfX (Design for Excellence) references related to Civilian Armored Vehicle (CAV) operations in Brazil to help these automotive aftermarket firms to guidelines and enhance their armoring operations. Additionally, to validate the consistency of iSLR and the case outcomes analysis, the authors performed VOSviewer®, a bibliography network map software. The iSLR can be replicated for research on other topics where the Scopus platform databases and other scientific bases are used, adjusting the ABRe program.
The athletes reception and selection represent the biggest opportunity for young soccer players to get into a club. However, it is perceived that this process still with a high content of subjectivity. This study aims to develop, from Design Thinking, a way of athletesâ selection alternative to the actual process, using data analysis of their main physical and technical characteristics. This methodology is generally used for innovative solutions, improvement plans for existent products, and to enable new market entrants. Design Thinking focuses on final user satisfaction, with empathy to their pains and trying to solve them. The results allowed us to identify the main problems faced by the personas, such as the subjectivity involved in the process, the athletesâ needs to be seen, and the lack of robust resources that allow the data analyzed by soccer market analysts. For validation of the selection method, was developed an app that encompassed solutions for clientsâ requirements, as reports Generation with athletesâ principal characteristics, filters systematically that segment athletesâ according to clubs needs and grouping by attributes. As result, we achieved a virtual app that represents soccer analystsâ athletesâ data reports, with their main qualities, as their physical and technical characteristics, such as videos. The prototype was shown to users, which that evaluated with a satisfaction survey and proposed improvements for the second round of analysis.
Despite increasing attention and calls for transdisciplinary (TD) working in engineering, a lack of clarity surrounding what constitutes a TD research approach persists. This paper aims to reduce ambiguity by characterising TD and identifying when the TD approach should or should not be used. Specifically, the research answers the question: when might it be beneficial to take a TD rather than a single, multi or interdisciplinary research approach? Survey responses from twenty-eight authors (50%) who presented papers at the 28th ISTE International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering (TE2021) were qualitatively analysed. Findings show a TD approach to research is beneficial for complex problem-solving. New understanding reveals that TD could be used to evidence scientific and social impact, and that context determines the appropriateness of TD adoption. However, even where TD adoption is deemed appropriate, institutional barriers to adoption may exist. In other words, the work environment (culture) in which we do our research, may determine if any meaningful benefits from TD are, or are not realised. Lessons from engineering education are used to discuss how to institutionalise TD, future transdisciplinary engineers and researchers might be taught and socialised in the competencies needed for transdisciplinary research.
Nowadays, the layout, tasks, and work sequences of assembly lines are designed according to several Design Principles (DPs) related to Industry 4.0 (I4.0). I4.0 is a manufacturing process revolution that includes innovative technologies and new paradigms among systems and operators. A vast collection of simulation software can be used to evaluate I4.0assembly lines. In this context, the paper aims to provide a framework for guiding the assessment of simulation software in the context of I4.0assembly lines. First, process requirements are evaluated and mapped to select DPs, prioritized according to design goals by an analytical hierarchy process. Then, suitable simulation software is selected accordingly, and the virtual model is designed. Finally, the possibility of the software providing meaningful elaborations for the selected DPs is assessed. The framework was applied to a prototypal I4.0assembly line composed of automated logistic systems, cobots, and vision systems to guide the execution of tasks. The assembly line has been modeled in Siemens Process Simulate. The functionalities of this software have been analyzed according to the defined DPs.
Societal shifts associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed challenges associated with online engineering education. These challenges encompass both those inherent to the digital learning environment and those associated with the scalable presentation of content to learners with a range of different backgrounds, learning goals, and user attributes. Universal design principles can be applied to benefit all learners in some cases (e.g., modularized content, captioning of audiovisual material). However, some interface configurations for content presentation and contextualization may benefit one type of learner at the expense of others (e.g., the expertise-reversal effect). Such examples of conflicting user needs indicate a demand for adaptable interfaces that inform the information architecture and user experience interface design. A case design approach applied to a transdisciplinary systems engineering course identifies three primary interface components to target for adaptation: (1) the initial topical “entry point” into the course content, (2) the preferred presentation medium (e.g., text notes, presentation slides, or video), and (3) the navigation mechanisms supporting exploration of the learning environment and highlighting interconnections amongst the material. These adaptations address diversity in backgrounds, learning priorities, presentation preferences, and levels of expertise to appropriately scaffold the learning process for the diversity of learners experiencing transdisciplinary courses.
Transdisciplinary project-based learning is an opportunity for undergraduate engineering students to acquire valuable skills in translating individual knowledge to other disciplines and interacting with non-academic stakeholders. In the authors’ project-based education experience, these skills have been developed in both course-based and co-curricular learning contexts. The necessary foundation to implement transdisciplinary projects in education is introducing students to collaboration across disciplines as well as with stakeholders, consummers, and users. Furthermore, students practice holistic problem-solving techniques that account for emergent behaviors during project development. Emergent behaviors are inherent to complex real-world problems. Engineering students would benefit from the opportunity to practice adapting to evolving project requirements and goals in low-risk, academic settings prior to enduring these challenges at the career level. This active learning approach can increase student agency and diversity as students work in multi-disciplinary teams on relevant problems, drawing from previous experiences. Additionally, students learn the value of qualitative data for characterizing exigencies of stakeholders, consummers, and users that are often unavailable from quantitative data, though generally more emphasized for use in engineering design decisions. Students participating in transdisciplinary project-based learning gain agency and develop a skillset for investigating the cross disciplinary implications and sociotechnical contexts of real world problems.
One way business students apply theoretical knowledge and enhance their decision-making skills is by using digital simulators and seldomly in real life due to the strategic and economic nature of the consequences involved. Besides, engineering students practice their knowledge and skills in laboratories and or actual companies, in many cases, due to the economic and tactical nature of the decisions involved. Due to the COVID pandemic starting in 2020, many engineering schools closed their laboratory access while companies also paused their students' involvement. Hence, many engineering faculties searched for new ways to keep educational schedules and standards. The contribution of this work supplies a transdisciplinary framework (involving faculty, students, and practitioners) to redesign engineering practices to achieve and improve pre-pandemic learning levels. A Six Sigma experience using a web-based Virtual Reality production facility illustrates the framework through three iterations: one-way information flow, two-way interaction with limited capabilities, and complex systems simulations to explore sophisticated challenges. Results show that students experience a more substantial engagement in these novel practices where they expose themselves to challenges that, in many cases, could not be possible in a real-life experience due to safety and economic consequences.
