Academic Field of Engineering Design
"Monozukuri"
An Expansive Approach to Engineering
MATSUNO, Kenichi
Head of the Academic Field of Engineering Design
Professor of Mechanical and System Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology
Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT) reorganized in 2006, combining two undergraduate faculties, to enable more organic relationships among our educational and research bodies. The Undergraduate and Graduate Schools of Science and Technology are composed of the three academic fields: Materials and Life Science, Engineering Design, and Design Science. The field of Engineering Design, which I head, is subdivided into four "Monozukuri" or manufacturing programs which stem from our previous engineering-related departments. Organizing a university into academic fields is unusual and you will be hard pressed to find departments calling themselves Engineering Design in other universities in Japan. Compared with conventional programs, Engineering Design at KIT focuses on a more comprehensive and penetrating approach to engineering. We stress that in creating something, it is essential to have concrete planning and concrete design concepts in place before taking action. After a design becomes a product, an evaluation is necessary to eliminate glitches in functionality. All aspects of this process are interconnected, and every evaluation becomes meaningful feedback when reexamined at the planning, designing and production stages. Planning must encompass design and production. It is meaningless to plan to develop a flying car, for example, if the plan can not be realized. In addition to technical obstacles, cost is an important consideration.
The aim of our academic field is to nurture human resources who can bring innovative projects to fruition and who have an understanding of and can oversee the entire process from planning, to design, production and evaluation. It goes without saying that our graduates have the knowledge and techniques to accurately create a product from a plan. The edge KIT engineering students have over students at other programs is their mastery of comprehensive planning, valuable product development experience and a highly specialized knowledge of the intellectual processes involved in the design to manufacturing process. More than this, they know at an intellectual and a practical level, about product demands, why they exist and how to meet them.
The four educational research fields composing Engineering Design cover the spectrum of industrial needs: Electronics develops new electronic devices, Information Science innovates computer or information processing technologies, Mechanical and System Engineering develops versatile machinery, equipment and systems and Design Engineering and Management comprehensively develops manufacturing through the fusion of design, management and engineering. Areas of specialization differ but all programs provide an understanding of manufacturing, expanded through numerous experiments and much research. In our practical curriculum, students work cooperatively with industry under a program which has received the "Good Practices in Education" designation from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, for its unique contribution to community revitalization.
In addition, we encourage students to participate in international conferences, thereby nurturing young people for work in international environments. Again to this purpose, Japanese and international students are studying together in many of our research laboratories. The intense work load of our students demands they quickly develop time-management skills. As head of Engineering Design, I am proud to see the majority persevere and gain acceptance to graduate schools or find lucrative employment. I will continue to provide support for students and instructors and hope students will make time in their future work schedules to visit the university from time to time after graduation. I have no doubt our graduates will look back with pride on the grounding they receive in Engineering Design.
