2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A cornerstone of most modern engineering curricula includes Computer-Aided Design (CAD), often taught alongside introductory engineering design principles. However, these courses often omit topics such as manufacturing, machining, and production, or instruction on how the parts students model are actually manufactured. In response to an observed gap in education on the connections between manufacturing processes and CAD, this paper intends to explore the impact of manufacturing education on student design methodology. Second-year undergraduate engineering students had the opportunity to observe an engineered part manufactured in a university machine shop or 3D print lab. Specifically, students observed the operation of a CNC (computer numerical control) milling machine, lathe machine, or Fused Deposition Method (FDM) 3D printer. Data collection primarily occurred through the Multi-User Computer-Aided Design program (MUCAD) Onshape, which allowed direct access to students’ modeling data and summative statistics natively. Following the manufacturing demonstrations, students were tasked with modeling the part observed during the manufacturing demonstration in Onshape. A control condition without exposure to a manufacturing process was compared to the conditions that witnessed the part being manufactured on a CNC machine, a lathe, or an FDM 3D printer. Results indicate a significant difference in students’ approach to creating their CAD models. Students who observed the part being printed on an FDM 3D printer modeled with less efficiency (more overall CAD features to achieve the same final model) compared to the Control Condition. In addition, correlations exist between prior manufacturing experience and their modeling behaviors overall, regardless of condition. This work demonstrates how exposure to manufacturing processes early in an undergraduate engineering program can impact students’ CAD behaviors and design efficiency.