MSc - Manufacturing Management with Advanced Project

University of Hertfordshire

This module offers a comprehensive overview of Quality Management principles from foundational theories and philosophies of Quality Management to examples of applications. The module will introduce students to quality models and tools used for assessment, monitoring, and improvement in quality processes.

The module is designed to equip students with a deep understanding of the key components of operations management, from strategic planning to practical implementation of systems and methodologies, preparing student for effective leadership in operational roles. This module explores how operations strategy is derived from and contributes to the organisational/ business strategy.

There is an increasing demand for modern sourcing systems aimed at enhancing speed, process integration, and customer satisfaction. Given that procurement spending often constitutes a significant portion of a company's budget, effective management of procurement and inventory becomes essential for optimizing the supply chain. This module focuses on designing and managing processes and control systems within the inbound supply chain.

This module prepares students to understand and apply principles and strategies that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of product design and its integration with the supply chain. Students will acquire the knowledge and skills to design products that are not only innovative but also optimized for efficient and cost-effective manufacturing and supply chain management.

The module introduces smart manufacturing and asset management using technologies like the Industrial Internet of Things to drive production operations. In addition, the application of Industry 4.0 will be introduced in the module. The industry 4.0 prioritise automation, intelligent interconnection, and data exchange in manufacturing technologies, processes, and operations are improving industrial performance. The module will also develop students as asset managers who can proactively plan, monitor, and immediately maintain and manage long-lasting, valuable industrial assets to ensure their availability and optimal performance are in high demand. This module will allow students to integrate and use smart manufacturing and asset management skills and emphasise cybersecurity due to the large amount of data generated in these fields.

The module aims to provide an overview of materials for manufacturing, introducing their general properties and behaviours to enable informed decision for supporting development of the material to product chain. The module will also provide some key understandings on how to incorporate sustainability into manufacturing by introducing notion of ethics, economy and environmental impact linked to material supply and considering the general impact of material use during product life cycle. The module will offer weekly lectures and team-based activity to explore case-study offering complex discussion for data-informed decision making concerned with compromising the performances with environmental, societal and economic impacts of material selection for manufacture.

This module provides a comprehensive exploration of modern manufacturing principles, techniques, and methodologies with a focus on efficiency, innovation, and quality. It begins with an in-depth look at lean manufacturing, including its definitions and techniques, with a particular emphasis on the Toyota Production System, renowned for its efficiency and effectiveness. The module also addresses Project and Resource Planning and Communication, Product Design Methodology, fundamentals of Additive Manufacturing, Laser Cutting, and CNC Machining, Prototype Test and Validation.

This module uses group project work to provide students with the opportunity to apply their project management skills and develop their professional and employability skills. The module will provide a mix of careers support, enterprise and business insight and challenging thinking about future skills needs of graduates and employers. Students will gain an appreciation of a range of engineering careers and sectors to enable them to better understand future opportunities.

Students successfully completing this module will be equipped to work within, and lead, high-performing multidisciplinary project teams. Students will develop a critical awareness of their skills, attributes, impact and contributions to project teams, and team roles, as well as an awareness of leadership, including differing leadership styles and cultural issues in projects. The module will support students in the application of other critical components of project management including risk management, cost management, project quality management, human resources management, communications management, and procurement management. The module will make use of experiential learning, case study examples, reflective practice, and guest speakers blended with traditional learning methods.

The module is designed to challenge and further develop critical thinking skills at a post-graduate level. It provides the student with the opportunity to bring together and apply much of what they have learnt both in their undergraduate and postgraduate studies to solve manufacturing and supply chain management matters. The project should relate to a supply chain and logistics related topic, e.g. procurement/purchasing, outsourcing, material/production control, inventory optimization, or transport planning.