Production Engineering and Operations Management (Work Placement) MSc

Overview

If you’d like to pursue a managerial role in factory operations, this MSc in Production Engineering could help you take that next step up.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the UK’s industrial sector has increased by 1.4% a year since 1948. In our increasingly competitive global marketplace, modern manufacturing companies are being placed under even greater pressure to reduce the time and cost of producing high quality products. To respond effectively to these challenging market requirements, there is a growing demand for highly trained individuals with skills and expertise across engineering, business and management. This Master’s course is designed to meet that need, developing multidisciplinary production engineers capable of designing lean and competitive manufacturing facilities and delivering operational excellence.

This course is accredited and recognised by the following bodies: Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) & Chartered Management Institute.

Course information

The overall aim of the course is to advance your abilities within the area of production engineering and operations management so you can assist manufacturing companies to meet these demands head on – achieving competitive advantage and making an impact on profits and sustainability.

We will encourage you to systematically and critically evaluate engineering design and process choices around materials, production technologies and production processes. You will then have the opportunity to design solutions to complex production engineering and operations management problems using 3D computer solid modelling and the latest industry standard software, interfacing with current leading production machines.

You will study two of the more popular approaches being used to improve manufacturing processes with a view to making companies more productive and cost efficient, namely lean and agile manufacturing. Agile manufacturing is designed to respond to an environment of continuous and unanticipated change, focusing on the ability to generate a rapid response to unpredictable customer demand. It relies on capacity to reduce production cycles and requires the support of innovative staff and suppliers. Whereas lean operations, first adopted by Toyota Motors, refer to the operational techniques used to add value by maximising available resources and reducing wastage.

Career prospects

Our partnership with the Unipart Manufacturing Group and our close links with a range of engineering companies ensures this course is highly vocational in nature, designed to produce ‘industry ready’ graduates.

On completion of this course you should have developed as a manufacturing engineer and increased your knowledge of the application of technology and developed your business and management skills. You could go on to pursue a successful career in manufacturing industry in roles, which typically include manufacturing engineering, process planning, production planning, quality, systems improvement, projects and operations management.

To enter this course you should have a minimum 2:2 honours degree in an appropriate engineering discipline such as Mechanical, Automotive, Motorsport, Manufacturing or Aerospace Engineering. However, entry qualifications are flexible and applications are welcomed from other technical disciplines, mature candidates and those with industrial experience for review by the course director.