Digital Manufacturing & Design Technology Specialization

This course will expose you to the transformation taking place, throughout the world, in the way that products are being designed and manufactured. The transformation is happening through digital manufacturing and design (DM&D) – a shift from paper-based processes to digital processes in the manufacturing industry. By the end of this course, you’ll understand what DMD is and how it is impacting careers, practices and processes in companies both large and small.

You will gain an understanding of and appreciation for the role that technology is playing in this transition. The technology we use every day – whether it is communicating with friends and family, purchasing products or streaming entertainment – can benefit design and manufacturing, making companies and workers more competitive, agile and productive. Discover how this new approach to making products makes companies more responsive, and employees more involved and engaged, as new career paths in advanced manufacturing evolve. Main concepts of this course will be delivered through lectures, readings, discussions and various videos. This is the first course in the Digital Manufacturing & Design Technology specialization that explores the many facets of manufacturing’s “Fourth Revolution,” aka Industry 4.0, and features a culminating project involving creation of a roadmap to achieve a self-established DMD-related professional goal. To learn more about the Digital Manufacturing and Design Technology specialization, please watch the overview video by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://youtu.be/wETK1O9c-CA

This course will help you recognize how the "digital thread" is the backbone of the digital manufacturing and design (DM&D) transformation, turning manufacturing processes from paper-based to digital-based. You will have a working understanding of the digital thread – the stream that starts at product concept and continues to accumulate information and data throughout the product’s life cycle – and identify opportunities to leverage it.

Gain an understanding of how "the right information, in the right place, at the right time" should flow. This is one of the keys to unlocking the potential of a digital design process. Acknowledging this will enable you to be more involved in a product’s development cycle, and to help a company become more flexible. Main concepts of this course will be delivered through lectures, readings, discussions and various videos. This is the second course in the Digital Manufacturing & Design Technology specialization that explores the many facets of manufacturing’s “Fourth Revolution,” aka Industry 4.0, and features a culminating project involving creation of a roadmap to achieve a self-established DMD-related professional goal. To learn more about the Digital Manufacturing and Design Technology specialization, please watch the overview video by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://youtu.be/wETK1O9c-CA

There are opportunities throughout the design process of any product to make significant changes, and ultimately impact the future of manufacturing, by embracing the digital thread. In this course, you will dig into the transformation taking place in how products are designed and manufactured throughout the world. It is the second of two courses that focuses on the "digital thread" – the stream that starts at the creation of a product concept and continues to accumulate information and data throughout the product life cycle.

Hear about the realities of implementing the digital thread, directly from someone responsible for making it happen at a company. Learn how the digital thread can fit into product development processes in an office, on a shop floor, and even across an enterprise. Be prepared to talk about the benefits, and limitations, of enacting it. Main concepts of this course will be delivered through lectures, readings, discussions and various videos. This is the third course in the Digital Manufacturing & Design Technology specialization that explores the many facets of manufacturing’s “Fourth Revolution,” aka Industry 4.0, and features a culminating project involving creation of a roadmap to achieve a self-established DMD-related professional goal. To learn more about the Digital Manufacturing and Design Technology specialization, please watch the overview video by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://youtu.be/wETK1O9c-CA

Variability is a fact of life in manufacturing environments, impacting product quality and yield. Through this course, students will learn why performing advanced analysis of manufacturing processes is integral for diagnosing and correcting operational flaws in order to improve yields and reduce costs.

Gain insights into the best ways to collect, prepare and analyze data, as well as computational platforms that can be leveraged to collect and process data over sustained periods of time. Become better prepared to participate as a member of an advanced analysis team and share valuable inputs on effective implementation. Main concepts of this course will be delivered through lectures, readings, discussions and various videos. This is the fourth course in the Digital Manufacturing & Design Technology specialization that explores the many facets of manufacturing’s “Fourth Revolution,” aka Industry 4.0, and features a culminating project involving creation of a roadmap to achieve a self-established DMD-related professional goal. To learn more about the Digital Manufacturing and Design Technology specialization, please watch the overview video by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://youtu.be/wETK1O9c-CA