Global product development - an integral part of an engineering doctorate in automotive engineering management

摘要

The University of Hertfordshire has designed an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) scheme specifically for the Automotive Industry. A significant, and innovative, phase of the EngD will be an intensive two week course in Global Product Developmentfollowed by a semester long Global Project which will bring together Research Engineers and Applied Doctorate students from all around the world. The goals of this course are to rapidly build an understanding of the interplay of culture, engineering andbusiness in global management of the manufacturing enterprise. This paper seeks to place this project in the wider context of the EngD qualification and to share the experiences and approaches used in specifically developing and delivering this element of the EngD, which has challenged both the developers and the Research Engineers into global thinking, teamwork and multi-cultural management.