Capstone Information

   Recent Projects
   Project Request Form

   Presentation Photos

   Banquet Photos

Need Help to Improve Your Company’s Productivity?

We Like to Help

 Continuing its tradition of working with and helping regional businesses, the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at North Dakota State University solicits potential projects for Project Management/Capstone course.  The Department has a proven success record in working on projects for clients including manufacturing and healthcare.  The Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering faculty and staff members take pride in using various opportunities to participate in projects helping businesses.

 The Project Management/Capstone course provides students with unique senior design experiences.  The course is intended to be a senior-focused class and is designed to draw on the skills and knowledge obtained throughout the students’ college careers.  Real-world client projects serve as the workload for the course, and student project teams are assigned to the various projects.  The purpose of the project teams is to study their client’s problems, develop alternative solutions, and propose implementation strategies. 

 We do realize the importance of your company to the economic health and prosperity of our communities, and we would welcome any opportunity to participate in your company’s efforts to become more productive.  Your company can benefit from interaction with faculty and students because of the multitude of ideas that can be generated through such projects.  In effect, your company will be increasing its engineering and management staff through such cooperative efforts.

 Project Types and Recent Clients

The following table is a summary listing of some of the areas that have potential for capstone/industry projects. 

 The types of organizations served include, but are not limited to, manufacturing, retail, health care, mail distribution, packaging equipment, food processing, and insurance services.  The Recent Capstone Projects link provides summary information about some of the most recent clients and their project objectives.

 Contacting Capstone and Industry Project Coordinator

Interested organizations are encouraged to contact the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Capstone Coordinator, Reza Maleki (Reza.Maleki@ndsu.edu) at (701) 231-8071 to discuss their needs.  Potential clients may also complete and submit the on-line Project Request Form.  If necessary, site visits will be made to better identify client needs and develop and/or refine candidate project proposals.  It is highly recommended that potential clients contact the department as early as possible, and no later than one month before the start of the Spring semester.

 Project Selection

Final selection of projects will take place during the first week of Spring semester.  Projects will be selected based on the number and background of students enrolled in the Capstone course.  The course is multidisciplinary and many times include students from various engineering programs, business, and facilities management.  Depending on requirements, some of the projects might be assigned to students enrolled in other courses related to the areas of quality, work place design, simulation, etc.

Project Duration

The Project Management/Capstone class begins in the first week of Spring semester and the selected project activities start during the second week of Spring semester.  The Course concludes with the Capstone presentations and banquet during the last Thursday of April.

Final Product

The final product is a professional quality consultant's report and an on-campus presentation.  Additional presentations at the client’s facility can be scheduled between the department team and client.

Client Responsibilities

Clients play an important role in the design of a solution to fit their needs.  The client is responsible for providing appropriate contacts within the company to meet and discuss with the project group. Contacts should be available to provide pertinent content to ensure the project team continues on task within the given time constraints.

The client organization can help to make the project a success by:

·         participating in an initial meeting to review project background, goals, requirements, timing, budget, review Statement of Work etc.,

·         providing the project team with access to pertinent information required for project completion,

·         providing access to the client facilities, and

·         designating a contact person to provide project team members with timely feedback and help in acquiring information and resources.

Project Costs

The costs of conducting projects are minimal.  The client provides reimbursements for expenses directly related to the client project(s).  This includes copies, paperwork, phone calls, and mileage expenses for out-of-town travel.  In addition, a modest fee will be assessed.  The client pays this fee only if the project team has produced satisfactory results.  This fee is dependent on the intensity of the project and the resources that the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering has to provide in support of the client’s project.  The fee will be negotiated and agreed upon by the client and the Capstone Coordinator.