Materials Science, Manufacturing Engineering and The WPI Business School
Seniors Ryan Martin ‘24 MGE/ME and Philip Cass ’24 ME/IE and Associate Teaching Professor Walter Towner PhD MBA visited EMUGE-FRANKEN USA on the Worcester West Boylston line. EMUGE-FRANKEN USA is a German global lighthouse manufacturer of cutting tools primarily for the machining of metals. Phil and Ryan are working on the tooling side of an IE/MGE/ME MQP in the WPI Business School with five other team members.
The issue at hand is determining the best combination of cutting tool characteristics used in high volume CNC routers at another local company where the MQP takes place. The tooling team will integrate with the process team to analyze the cost implications of load/unload of raw material, speed and feed calculations, a design of experiments to verify outcomes, and will seek to minimize cost of frequent tool changes relative to the cost of newly designed cutting bits. The resulting model will offer the sponsoring company insight into driving efficiency in the CNC department informed by cost data. This MQP showcases the interdepartmental collaboration with the Materials Science and Manufacturing Engineering department, where ME Professor Christpher A. Brown PhD is the other MQP advisor, and the Industrial Engineering and Management Engineering programs in the Business School.