For my Intro to Industrial Engineering class, we have been given a term project where my group and I have to find a process to document, review, and improve. We have to use the techniques we’ve learned in class throughout the semester. This is includes engineering design, systematic layout procedure, flow diagrams, process charts, multi-activity charts, time studies, principles of motion economy, principles of material handling, statistical analysis and quality control principles, and other tools. After using these tools, we have to recommend a change to the system/process, then describe and measure the savings in terms of cost or time.
My group and I decided to try and improve the Northeastern Resmail process. We all know how long those lines can get and how frequent our packages get lost in the process there. The Resmail system is currently just inefficient, and has much room for improvement that my group and I are willing to find. We haven’t been able to collect data on how their process actually works yet and what their layout is; but from what I can tell, it seems like their packages are just sorted out in rows based on their size and then you just come in and sign a little pad to pick up a package and they go looking for it for a pretty long time. These long lines can get pretty annoying and frustrating, so it will be a big help if my group could figure something out.
I’m pretty excited to work on this project because it’s my first actual engineering project. I think I’ll be able to use a lot of the things I’ve learned this past semester and put it into something tangible. Reading through textbooks, listening to lectures, doing assignments and exams is just not the same experience as projects like this. I really enjoy the freedom of this project and just the fact that we are actually doing something with what we’ve learned. It will especially (hopefully) be helpful with future co-ops or jobs where I have to use the different techniques that I’ve learned in this class.
If you have the time to help out my group and fill out this survey to help us collect some background data for our project, I’d appreciate it a lot! It’s pretty quick and just asks a few questions about your experience with Resmail this semester.
Here it is: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EB406oaTWe-CbysC5C-LNyVWMuB1l3sxJSoEpsqfQJs/
