2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This research paper investigates how students’ understanding of manufacturing processes influences the clarity and quality of their engineering drawings. The ability to effectively communicate design intent via engineering drawings is a critical skill for successful engineers. Engineering students are often introduced to engineering graphics early in their coursework, but exposure to manufacturing processes typically occurs later in the curriculum. With this sequencing of topics, students are able to generate drawings that portray geometry, but they are unprepared to anticipate the informational needs of machinists and makers, resulting in drawings that are often cluttered or incomplete. At Washington State University, a new activity was incorporated in the first-year Computer-Aided Design course, providing students with a brief introduction to manufacturing processes to supplement their training on engineering drawings. The intervention involved adding a brief lecture on manufacturing processes, a manufacturing drawings guide, a guest talk from a local machinist, and an assignment where students created drawings and manufacturing plans for parts from a jack stand assembly after reverse engineering the parts using measurement tools. These new activities were implemented in the Fall 2025 semester in sections 2 and 3 of the class while the first section—taught by the same instructor as section 2—did not participate in the intervention and served as a control group. The outcomes were assessed by evaluating student drawings from the jack stand parts to compare clarity of dimensions/views, notes on material/finish, tolerances, and general neatness. A pre- and post-assessment survey was also given to all three class sections to observe changes in students’ confidence and understanding of manufacturing processes. The inclusion of the new activities, compared to the control group, resulted in improved neatness/clarity of drawings and more thorough drawing notes. In addition to improving drawing quality, this approach aimed to broaden students’ perspective from focusing solely on drawing creation to intentionally communicating design intent with an awareness of their audience and the implications of their documentation.