of any engineering system in the sense that the complexity and dynamic characteristics become two critical factors to deal with when the system is continuously evolving. The modularity concept has proved to be an effective way to deal with system complexity and dynamic characteristics (Bi et al. 2008). In the similar way, the modularity concept is proposed to deal with the misalignment of discipline‐oriented curricula and a large variety of computer aided software tools in manufacturing engineering.
Figure 1.22 shows an alternative to the discipline‐oriented curriculum. It can be referred to as a 4‐P engineering curriculum since the manufacturing fundamental is differentiated for Product, Process, Production, and Platform, respectively, for the required system functionalities in a product lifecycle. The objective of the proposed curriculum is to minimize the impact of the ever‐increasing complexity of the system as well as computer aided tools. Since any manufactured product has its own lifecycle, a taxonomy of engineering courses based on the product lifecycle can sustain its consistence, even though the scope of a manufacturing system or computer aided tools may vary with respect to time.
Following the axiomatic theory (Cochran et al. 2016a, 2016b, 2017a, 2017b), the high‐level functionalities for the product, process, production, and platform can be further decomposed as a modularized structure. Take an example the functional requirements (FRs) for a product design, FRs have been decomposed further into the designs of geometries, motions, product families, and a sustainable design related to the product life cycle. The granularity of the functionalities can be appropriate to match the functionalities for well‐established engineering sub‐disciplines as well as available computer aided tools. Due to the modularized structure, the proposed framework has the flexibility to customize the selection of sub‐disciplines and corresponding computer aided tools in a specific engineering curriculum.
Figure 1.22 Proposed course framework for digital manufacturing.
1.8 Design of the CAD/CAM Course
The modular framework of digital manufacturing provides the flexibility to select course elements to customize the educational needs in a specific engineering programme. This book is written as a CAD/CAM text to achieve two main goals: (i) introduce manufacturing fundamentals, which are not usually covered in depth in traditional mechanical engineering programmes and (ii) expose students to as many computer‐aided software tools as possible, so that they can utilize advanced computing tools to deal with the designs related to manufacturing processes.
1.8.1 Existing Design of the CAD/CAM Course
The importance of computer aided technologies in manufacturing engineering has been well recognized. The majority of higher educational institutions offer one or several CAD/CAM courses in their engineering programmes. However, selecting an appropriate textbook proves to be a challenge since all of the textbooks are too sophisticated in certain subjects but lack in coverage on a broad scope of disciplines and CAD/CAM tools. In our primary survey, we found a few common CAD/CAM textbooks that were adopted by different institutions, as shown in Table 1.5.
Table 1.5 Examples of existing CAD/CAM textbooks (Wang and Bi 2018).
| Author(s) | Title | Year | Publishers |
| M. Groover and E. Zimmers | CAD/CAM: Computer‐Aided Design and Manufacturing | 1984 | Pearson |
| P. Martin, N.E. Larsen, and David D. Hansen | Computer Aided Design in Control and Engineering Systems | 1986 | Pergamon |
| M. Bedworth, R. Henderson, and P.M. Wolfe | Computer‐Integrated Design and Manufacturing | 1991 | McGraw‐Hill International |
| M. Groover and E. Zimmers | CAD/CAM: Computer‐Aided Design and Manufacturing | 1993 | CRC Press |
| Jami J. Shah and Martti Mäntylä | Parametric and Feature‐Based CAD/CAM: Concepts, Techniques, and Applications | 1995 | Wiley |
| Nanua Singh | Systems Approach to Computer‐Integrated Design and Manufacturing | 1996 | Wiley |
| Kunwoo Lee | Principles of CAD/CAM/CAE | 1999 | Pearson, Elsevier |
| Alberto Paoluzzi | Geometric Programming for Computer Aided Design | 2003 | Wiley |
| T.C. Chang, R.S. Wysk, and H.P. Wang | Computer‐Aided Manufacturing | 2003 | Prentice Hall |
| Ibrahim Zeid | Mastering CAD/CAM (Engineering Series) | 2004 | McGraw‐Hill |
| André Chaszar | Blurring the Lines: Computer‐Aided Design and Manufacturing in Contemporary Architecture | 2006 | Wiley |
| Khoi Hoang | Computer‐Aided Design and Manufacture | 2011 | McGraw‐Hill Custom Publishing |
| Kuang‐Hua Chang | Product Manufacturing and Cost Estimating using CAD/CAE | 2013 | Academic Press |
| Kuang‐Hua Chang | Product Design Modeling using CAD/CAE | 2014 | Academic Press |
Since the information technology (IT) has developed so rapidly in recent years, most of the textbooks in Table 1.5 are out of the date, and the last three recent ones cover only the integration of CAD and CAM. No appropriate textbook has been found that has a wide coverage of subdisciplines and computer aided tools.
1.8.2 Customization of the CAD/CAM Course
Undergraduates in mechanical engineering with a minor in manufacturing engineering must understand theoretical fundamentals related to the design of products and manufacturing processes. On the other hand, the theories and methods relevant to high‐level planning, scheduling, or computer implementation might not be the first priority for them. To meet our specified teaching needs, the engineering curriculum in