ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT - 2023/4

Module Overview

This module addresses engineering management in terms of informed decision making, based on technical, quality, commercial and legal requirements. Engineering activities are considered in the context of complex projects, organisational structures and economic/societal/legal/ethical constraints. Modern approaches for efficient and informed decision making are introduced, including the use of advanced project management, systems engineering, uncertainty management, quality management, systems security, company accounting, project evaluation and the management of intellectual property. Legal requirements, associated with managing risk and safety, are considered. The module hence provides key insights and knowledge in preparation for working in a professional engineering environment.

Module provider

Mechanical Engineering Sciences

Module Leader

BAKER Mark (Mech Eng Sci)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

ENG2087 Project Management

Module content

Indicative content includes:

Advanced Project Management

• Networking methods, Activity on Arrow, Activity on Node, Critical Path Analysis, Total/Free Float


• Time-limited and Resource-limited project planning, Resource Levelling


• Organisational Structures, Impact of Organisation on Projects

Uncertainty Management and Risk

• Quantifying uncertainty, Pessimistic-Likely-Optimistic, Central Limit Theorem


• Project duration based examples, PERT, Event Probabilities


• Quantitative/qualitative risk assessment


• IT security

Systems Engineering

• Systems Approach, Requirements Analysis, Functional Breakdown, Physical Breakdown, System Architecture, Verification and Validation


• Systems security

Organisation and Financing of Companies

• Types of business, elements of company law, sources of funding, classes and types of shares, share transactions, FTSE100 and other indices.


• The business environment, company ethos and structure, economies of scale.

Introduction to Management Accounting

• Basic accounting concepts, interpretation of accounts, ratio analysis.

The Company in Business

• Company structure, elements of product cost, manufacturing costs, general costs, fixed, variable and marginal costs, cost behaviour, marginal costing, break-even analysis, profit sensitivity analysis.

Project Evaluation

• Return on capital, payback time, discounting and net present value, comparison of alternatives, risk and uncertainty in investment. Environmental impact and project sustainability.

Project sustainability analysis

• Introduction to Design for Environment (DfE), Quantitative tools and standards for environmental impact assessment (Life cycle Assessment (LCA),  Carbon footprinting), case studies in environmental impact assessment, Introduction to concepts in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  

Quality Management

• The ISO 9000 eight quality principles, ISO 9001- its context and value to the business.


• Quality tools – affinity diagrams, process maps, fishbone diagrams, SWOT analysis.


• Quality methods – Deming Cycle, Sigma Six, Statistical process control, Kaisen, Lean Manufacturing.

Intellectual Property & Patents

• Different classes of intellectual property, national and international context, patent application process, non-disclosure agreement, value of intellectual property in business.

Industrial Legislation

• Working Environment, Health and Safety


• Identification, quantification and control of hazards/risks


• Need for high professional & ethical conduct

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate understanding of engineering management aims/constraints and the application of methods to inform associated decision making. The coursework allows students to demonstrate that they can use advanced project management techniques to predict project schedules, including the ability to manage uncertainty. It also allows demonstration of systems thinking during the initial definition of a project, by addressing a top-level project requirement and presenting a clear breakdown of the resulting requirements and solution architecture. The exam allows students to demonstrate understanding of organisational, commercial, quality and intellectual property aspects, together with application of financial assessment methods.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Coursework     [Learning outcomes 1,2,3,4,5]     (35 hours)   {30%}


• Examination    [Learning outcomes 1,6,7,8,9]     (2 hours)  {70%}

Formative assessment and feedback

• Formative verbal feedback is given in tutorials


• Written feedback is given on the coursework

 

Module aims

• A critical understanding of how engineering management depends upon informed  and ethical decision making, encompassing technical, quality, commercial and legal requirements and sustainable development and corporate social responsibility
• An introduction to modern approaches for efficient management of engineering based activities, particularly associated with development of complex engineered systems
• The ability to apply advanced project management techniques, including application of systems engineering and uncertainty/risk management
• An introduction to various organisational models and the impact on project/business operations
• An introduction to quality management, company accounting and financing, cost analysis, project evaluation and the management of intellectual property
• A framework for personal and corporate professional and ethical behaviour, 

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

introduce the key aspects of engineering management, through theory, reference to standards, real world cases and worked examples. This is delivered through lectures and tutorial classes, feeding into a large coursework assignment and final exam.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• lectures (including some pre-recorded content)


• tutorials (in groups)


• Project and Systems Engineering Coursework

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ENG3169

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.