Product Design and Manufacture including an Industrial Year BEng Hons
Program Overview
The four-year BEng Product Design and Manufacture program combines creativity and engineering principles, providing real-world experience through an industrial year. Students gain skills in design communication, materials selection, manufacturing processes, and user-centered research, preparing them for careers in industrial design and related fields. The program is accredited by the IET and IED and utilizes modern technology to ensure graduates are equipped for the evolving industry.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
Our four-year BEng Product Design and Manufacture course includes an industrial year during which students will gain real-world experience within design or a similar field. The course combines creativity with engineering principles and provide students with all the necessary skills to enter a design facing career. The world around us is full of problems, some small inconveniences and other global challenges such as climate change. Product Designers combine a broad range of creative, engineering and manufacturing skills to produce commercially viable solutions to these problems.
Outline:
Year 1
- Drawing for Design
- Dynamics of Mechanical Systems
- Engineering Design Project
- Industrial Design 1: An Introduction
- Materials and Manufacturing
- Mathematics for Engineers
- Statistics and Mechanics of Solids
Year 2
- Design Communication
- Industrial Design 2: Skills and Knowledge
- Materials and Manufacture 2: Design for Manufacture
- Materials in Design
- Projects 1: Developing Design Project Skills
- Projects 2: Group Design Projects
- User Centred Research and Design
Year 3
- Year in industry
Year 4
- BEng Major Design Project
- Industrial Design 3: Engineering Ecology and Analysis
- Major Project Preparation
- Materials and Manufacture 3: Polymer and Timber Processes
- Projects 3: Technical Design Projects
Assessment:
Assessment methods include coursework, examinations, group coursework, presentations, research projects, and practical assessments.
Teaching:
Teaching methods include group study, independent study, lab sessions, lectures, supervision, tutorials, and workshops.
Careers:
Graduates will gain the practical and theoretical skills needed to design commercially viable products and services within the industrial design sector. Their skill set will be well suited to both small design-based consultancy roles as well as large multinational organisations. In addition, their abilities in communication, problem solving, and creative thinking will make them highly employable in several alternative roles.
Other:
- The course is accredited by the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) to meet the further learning requirements of a Chartered Engineer.
- The course is also accredited by the Institute of Engineering Designers (IED).
- The course utilises modern technology - from digital sketching through to high end 3D printing, rapid prototyping facilities and virtual reality equipment, to ensure our graduates leave prepared for the modern world of product design.
- Students study a broad range of modules to develop practical design skills and knowledge in key areas including manufacturing, materials, ergonomics, marketing and more.
- Project work is a key part of the course, responding to challenges in a variety of sectors including medical, automotive, packaging, appliances and electronic goods and many more. Projects enable you to take a realistic approach to design, utilising your taught knowledge of manufacturing and engineering principles. You’ll develop products and components that are appropriate for mass manufacture and consider commercial factors.
- Our courses are delivered by academic staff who have industrial experience, in conjunction with Product Designers who currently work in industrial roles. This ensures that our course is relevant to the current needs of employers.
- On this course students could undertake their industrial year in between their second and third years of study.
