Applying the continuous improvement process to engineering design in the laboratory

One of the contemporary issues in the evolution of engineering curricula concerns Total Quality Management (TQM). In many cases TQM topics are discussed in design seminars, and students are asked to apply and interpret the TQM principles in the context of their design projects. A difficulty emerges when students are asked to apply the principle of continuous improvement. Most students and student teams complete a typical design course when they demonstrate a first prototype, and they seldom engage in further design iterations using a systematic continuous improvement methodology. This paper describes a laboratory integration of engineering design and continuous improvement based on statistical measures of ensemble product performance. An intensive week-long full-time laboratory addresses the iterative design and implementation of a modest electronic instrumentation circuit, seeking improvements in topology and parameter selections which result in improved performance variances.