2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The advent of Industry 4.0 and digital enterprise environments has brought new light into well-established concepts such as Product Data Management (PDM) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, which form the information backbone of the entire enterprise. As companies continue their digital transformation efforts, there is an expectation for the new generation of engineering and technology professionals to become proficient in these environments and be ready to contribute on day one.

In this paper, we describe our current efforts and experiences engaging industry partners in the development and delivery of a process-based curriculum for a large first-year engineering parametric solid modeling course with over 800 students. We discuss the evolution of the curriculum over time and how industry leaders in the PLM industry partners became active stakeholders by providing support, technology, and developmental resources.

The course emphasizes parametric solid modeling but relies on a PLM infrastructure that was customized for classroom use, yet it replicates a fully functional enterprise environment, including file management and version control, change management, and user access. Formal processes were defined via PLM for all course activities, assignment submissions, and student interactions. Student support is provided by a team of teaching assistants who leverage various tools and processes, including semi-automated chatbot technology, to minimize response times, provide feedback, and optimize the overall quality of the services.

We discuss how students embraced and adapted to the tools and processes taught in the classroom, and how some university engineering design build clubs voluntarily implemented them in their workflows. We also describe the challenges faced over the years during the implementation, and our strategies to overcome these obstacles. Our goal is to provide a roadmap for other institutions and curriculums to replicate our initiative.