Reports

Four (4) written reports must be produced and submitted during the course of the semester. Each report is a step in a logical series that eventuates in the final report, which will receive the team GE 494 grade assigned by the PGC. The formats of the three earlier reports are based on the format of the final report. Make sure you understand and adhere to the report formats given in this chapter. Your report will not be acceptable if the proper format is not used. Several examples of final reports will be made available through 104 TB and specific guidelines will be given in mandatory meetings prior to the due date for the first written report in this series. If you have questions about report formats, content, etc., ask your advisor or the course chairman.

Chapter 8 in the handbook lists specifics for each type of report to be submitted. Section 8.6 (Report Elements) gives a detailed discussion of each required report element. Make sure you understand the structure of each element. Also, note that some report elements are omitted from the final report. Again, if you have questions, ask your advisor or the course chairman in TB 104B.

REPORT OUTLINE

You are required to prepare, and submit to your Advisor, a report outline which will contain the structure and content of your successive reports (Pre-Report, Midterm, Draft, Final). This is designed to facilitate the organization of your report information into the proper format, and to readily share this organization with team members and your Advisor. Once the outline is reviewed and agreed upon by all parties, you can write your successive reports by fleshing-out your outline into paragraphs, sentences, lists, figures, etc. The outline is intended to be highly detailed, and to include all the technical detail and content of the report. The rule is: if the detail is in the report, it must be in the outline. An example of an outline is given at the link below:

Report Outline

FINAL WRITTEN REPORT

The overall goal of the semester is to submit a complete and polished Final Report to the PGC. The prior reports and PGC feedback should have provided you full opportunity to get clear, unambiguous insights and directions for submitting an excellent report.

The Final Report must include the following items:

Cover sheet
Title page
Abstract
Key words
Acknowledgements
Table of contents
List of figures
List of tables
Introduction
Problem Statement
Objectives
Body
Economic analysis
Conclusions
Recommendations
References
Appendices
Mechanical drawings

Note: Summary of Communications and Project Schedule should NOT be submitted with the Draft Final Report.

Submittal of Copies
Staple the report securely, (do not bind) and submit 3 color originals to 117 TB. Office personnel will give them to your Advisor and each member of PGC. The PGC members will provide feedback in the form of comments written on your Final Report, and on the evaluation form (Form FWR).

You must submit the Draft Final Report with PGC comments with the Final Report.

Edits to the Final Report
The feedback from the PGC will clearly indicate what edits are required to be made before the final project grade is reported. You are strongly encouraged to arrange a meeting with your PGC to get clarification for any required edits. If edits are required, you must meet with the Chairperson of the PGC to get approval of your edits.

It is your responsibility to arrange a time to meet with your PGC for these purposes.

PRE- REPORT AND COMPANY-SIGNED PROBLEM STATEMENT

Each Senior Engineering Project team will prepare and submit a "Pre-Report" to the Project Grading Committee (PGC), per the Senior Engineering Project schedule. The "Pre-Report" is due soon after the first subgroup meeting when the ideas of the project are well in mind. This report introduces the team to report mechanics and requirements and gets much of the detail work out of the way which will be the basis of the later reports. Comments from the PGC are intended to troubleshoot the problem statement, initial direction of the project, and preliminary report mechanics. The "Pre-Report" consists of the following items:

cover sheet (see example)
title page (see example)
abstract (see example)
table of contents (see example)
introduction (see example)
problem statement (see example)
objectives (see example)
Sample of a Pre-Report (see example)

Pre-Report Outline
A detailed outline will be prepared for the Pre-Report, per section 8.1, and will be reviewed with your Advisor. Again, the outline should contain the structure and detail that will be incorporated into the Pre-Report.

Submittal of Copies
Staple the report securely, (do not bind) and submit 3 copies to 117 TB. Office personnel will give them to your Advisor and each member of PGC. The PGC members will provide feedback as comments written on your Pre-Report, and on the evaluation form (Form PR) (see Chapter 14, Grading). Arrange a meeting with your graders if you would like feedback clarification.

Company-Signed Problem Statement
At the time the Pre-Report is due, the project team will submit to 117 TB a copy of the complete problem statement, scope of work and deliverables, signed by the company contact to verify the problem statement and scope of work for the project. Any changes to the problem statement, scope of work, or deliverables later in the semester, must be approved and signed by the company, and a copy be kept on file with the course chairman.

MIDTERM WRITTEN REPORT

Each Senior Engineering Project team will submit a Midterm Written Report to their Advisor and Project Grading Committee (PGC), per the Senior Engineering Project schedule. The midterm report must contain the elements given in the listing below. Note that the only acceptable generic section titles are: abstract, introduction, problem statement, conclusions and recommendations. You should use descriptive, informative section and subsection titles for the body of your report. Use the appropriate tense to describe activity: "past work was done;" "future work will be done." The format for midterm written report is as follows:

cover sheet (see example)
title page (see example)
abstract (see example)
table of contents (see example)
introduction (see example)
problem statement (see example)
objectives (see example)
body

Because the midterm will include several body sections that include continuing work, each body section of the midterm, should be divided into "Work Completed to Date", in which you will describe tasks, analyses, results and their significance, and Future Work, in which you will describe what remains to be done, how long you expect the tasks to take, and your plan to overcome anticipated obstacles.

The Midterm must include an Economic Analysis section, even if your analysis is incomplete. You should have the current costs of the problem you are asked to solve, as well as the payback period required by the Sponsor. From this you should be able to present a preliminary discussion and calculation examples for ROI, NPV and payback period for your pending solution, along with a preliminary cash flow diagram (see sect. 8.6 & Ch. 9).

economic analysis*
summary of your communications
references list (see example)
project schedule
appendices

*The economic analysis may not be complete at this point, but this section must be included to show the bases for the calculations that will be used for the draft and final reports. The basic equations should be listed, and the manner in which savings to the sponsor will be calculated. Tentative possible results should be included and clearly described as such in the text. This will allow the final figures to be inserted later into the draft and final reports with little change in the structure of this section.Since many of the items in the midterm report are identical to the final report, get these items into their final form at midterm and save yourself some work later when time will be precious.

It is not necessary to have a Conclusions or Recommendations section in the midterm.

Since many of the items in the midterm report are identical to the final report, get these items into their final form in the midterm and save yourself some work later when time is precious.

Midterm Outline
A detailed outline will be prepared for the Midterm, per seciton 8.1, and will be reviewed with your Advisor. Again, the outline should contain the structure and detail that will be incorporated into the Midterm.

Submittal of Copies
Staple the report securely, (do not bind) and submit 3 color originals to 117 TB. Office personnel will submit them to your Advisor and each member of PGC. The PGC members will provide feedback as comments written on your midterm paper, and on the evaluation form (Form MWR). You are strongly encouraged to arrange a meeting with your graders for feedback clarification. After your PGC responds, you will provide two revised midterm reports to 117 TB. One copy will be reviewed by the Senior Engineering Project Chairman. The second copy will be sent to company sponsor. These copies must be clearly marked "Midterm Report" on the front cover.

IMPORTANT: Always submit the previous PGC report comments and report with the current report due. In order for the PGC to evaluate your progress, you MUST submit your previously graded report, in its entirety, with the report which is currently due. This means:

1. Submit the "Pre-Report" comments and report with the Midterm.
   
2. Submit the Midterm comments and report with the Draft of the final report.
   
3. Submit the Draft comments and report with the Final Report.
   
4. Make sure your graders return these reports to you each time.

DRAFT OF FINAL WRITTEN REPORT

Draft Outline
A detailed outline will be prepared for the Draft Final Report, per section 8.1, and will be reviewed with your Advisor. Again, the outline should contain the structure and detail that will be incorporated into the Draft Final Report.

The Draft Final Report provides your last opportunity for evaluation and feedback by your Advisor and PGC prior to production of your graded Final Report. The Draft should therefore be as complete as possible and include all necessary drawings, photographs, etc., for review. While the Draft need not be a smooth, finished copy, it should include all sections that will appear in the final report. If a section is still in the "idea stage" write it up to the best of your ability to give an accurate representation of what the section will contain in the final report. The PGC cannot give feedback on what is omitted.

Use this last feedback opportunity wisely! Include your solutions, economic analysis, conclusions, and recommendations. You may have to include these in terms of data which is not yet available, but include a discussion of how your conclusions will be made and what metrics you are using to make your decisions. Again, your economic analysis must include ROI, NPV and simple Payback Period. Discuss the feedback with your PGC if you are unclear about any editing comments or requirements.

Project Grading Committee (PGC) members will expedite examination of the document so that students are afforded the full benefit of feedback. You are strongly encouraged to arrange a meeting with your graders for feedback clarification.

The draft of the Final Written Report must incude the following items:

Cover sheet
Title page
Abstract
Key words
Acknowledgements
Table of contents
List of figures
List of tables
Introduction
Problem Statement
Objectives
Body
Economic analysis
Conclusions
Recommendations
References
Appendices
Mechanical drawings

Note: Summary of Communications and Project Schedule should NOT be submitted with the Draft Final Report.

Submittal of Copies
Staple the report securely, (do not bind) and submit 3 color originals to 117 TB. Office personnel will distribute the reports to your Advisor and each member of PGC. The PGC members will provide feedback in the form of comments written on your midterm paper, and on the evaluation form (Form DWR). This is the most detailed and important feedback you will receive during the semester to help you satisfy the PGC requirements. You are strongly encouraged to arrange a meeting with your graders for feedback clarification.

You must submit the Midterm Report with PGC comments with the Draft Final Report.

REPORT ELEMENTS

Report Format for Word Processing
When preparing the Final Written Report, adhere to the following word processing format:

Margins: 1" left and 3/4" right margins. (1" LEFT MARGIN NEEDED to accommodate binding!)

Spacing: 1-1/2 line spacing for all reports, including the final draft and final report

Font: Use 12 point Times New Roman or Times font, for the body of the text. Other fonts may be selected for specific purposes. For example, you may wish to use a non-proportional font such as Courier to set off examples of programming code as disctinct from the rest of the body text.

Page Numbering: Lower right in the page footer, 12 point Times New Roman or Times font to be done as follows:

• The Title page through the List of Tables should be numbered with small Roman numerals with numbers i, ii, iii, etc.
• The first page of the introduction is page 1, with page numbering continuing through the last page of the References section.
• Each Appendix (Appendix A, B, C, etc.) should have its own numbering scheme with the numbering beginning with A-1 through A-8, etc., B-1 through B-5, etc.

To do this in MS Word:

1. Insert Page Numbers for the entire document.
2. At the beginning of the new numbered section, (Introduction, Appendix A, etc.), insert a Section Break by clicking on Insert, Break… , Section Break Type: Next Page
3. In the section that is to be renumbered, unlink the section from the previous one by clicking View, Header and Footer, then click the button Link to Previous so that it is deselected.
4. In the new section to be renumbered, click Insert, Page Numbers, Format, Start At, and then enter 1.

You can finish the Appendix page number formatting by manually inserting the "A-", "B-", etc., before the page number fields in the footers in each Appendix section.

Cover sheet
The Cover Sheet must adhere strictly with the guidelines given on the following page. The information on the Cover Sheet will be viewed through a die-cut window in the rigid binding cover of the Final Report.

Title page
The Title Page must contain the types of information as shown in the example below. Make sure that the information is spaced in a manner that is pleasing to the eye as shown in the example. Be sure to use middle initials in the Student and Advisor names.

Abstract
A good abstract is a concise summary of the entire project: introduction, problem statement, work accomplished, results, conclusions and recommendations. This requires efficiency of words and phrases. An abstract is written to stand alone, without jargon or reference to figures and tables in the report body. Note that an abstract emphasizes what was accomplished. The abstract should be about 200 words. The abstract should be on a separate page in the report.

Key words
Provide a list of words or short phrases that are descriptive of your project - words that would enable a researcher to zero-in on your work in a database search. List these below the abstract. Future Senior Engineering Project students will locate your paper by searching on the key words. Include approximately 10 words.

Acknowledgements
Acknowledge the contributions of the sponsor, university staff, other students, faculty, and other persons who were of assistance. Be tactful in your descriptions of the contributions of those acknowledged.

Table of Contents
The table of contents should reflect the organization of the report. Sections and subsections in your report should be numbered and titled in such a way as to assist the reader in understanding the organization of the report. In MS Word, legal-formatted outline numbering works very well for a structured table of contents. The Table of Contents should follow the abstract and be on a separate page.

Note that the Table of Contents should be structured to exactly follow the list of Objectives. The Objectives should map out the "plan of attack" for solving the problem. The Objectives provide an excellent structure for the rest of the report and show the reader what to expect in the rest of the report.

List of Figures
A simple listing of all figures in the report and their location by page number should follow. The figures should be numbered in order with the chapter number and the figure number within that chapter. Use dot leaders which are put in by formatting the Tabs in MS Word. The List of Figures should immediately follow the Table of Contents without a page break.

List of Tables
This is a simple listing of all tables in the report and their location by page number. The tables should be numbered in order with the chapter number and the figure number within that chapter. Use dot leaders. Again, these are put in by formatting the Tabs in MS Word. The List of Tables should immediately follow the List of Figures without a page break.

Introduction
The Introduction should be a brief but thorough discussion of the context of the problem. This is accomplished by discussing the Company, the product, the market, etc., and transition into the area that will be the focus of the project. Discuss the current status of the product, process, or system that reasonably makes it something that should be analyzed for improvement or redesign. There should be a brief discussion of current excessive costs or potential increased revenues from addressing the current focus of the project. In other words, the introduction should be both an engineering and an economic introduction to the project. There must be both engineering and economic motivation discussed in the introduction. It should be clear that the sponsor will increase profits in some manner through the project that is being introduced.

A typical introduction will be about 1½ to 2 pages long and MUST include photos or other illustrations that give the reader better understanding of the context of the project and its eventual focus. As the reader comes to the end of the Introduction, the next logical idea presented to the reader should be the Problem Statement in the next section. Do not make the mistake of putting the Problem Statement into the Introduction, or of putting the Introduction into the Problem Statement. Each of these sections serves a distinct purpose.

As one finishes reading the Problem Statement, one should understand what the company is about, how it makes money in its business, how the focus of the project is involved in making money, and what challenge or opportunity is presented with the current status of the product, process, system, etc. One is then ready to continue to the Problem Statement which will precisely define what the Company sponsor wants to accomplish.

Problem Statement
The Problem Statement must be a concise and complete statement of the focus of the project and the specific criteria, constraints, and deliverables that will be observed and completed. The Problem Statement should also be considered a complete scope of work for everything that is to be accomplished. In other words, the Problem Statement is to be completely unambiguous in nature. It should precisely define what the project should include, and once those items are completed, the project is finished. It defines the goal line. If the Problem Statement is ambiguous, then the goal line is ambiguous and it becomes impossible to precisely determine if you have completed everything you have been asked to do - because it is subject to broad interpretation. This can result in "Scope Creep" which allows the project to be extended and expanded again and again such that you never get done. Keep in mind that if you write a precisely defined Problem Statement, you will know when you have done everything that is required, and so will your Advisor, your Graders, and your Sponsor.

Again, the Problem statement is not meant for ANY introductory information. ALL introductory information belongs in the Introduction. An efficient Problem Statement can be written by completing this sentence, "Acme, Inc. desires that ... (insert goals of the project) ... subject to the following criteria:" Then give a numbered list of the constraints, criteria, and deliverables. Continue with the Problem statement immediately after the Introduction without a page break.

Objectives
The objectives form a "battle plan" for the project, and are essentially a breakdown of the logical steps or accomplishments that must be completed to achieve the overall project goals. The Objectives give the reader a high-level problem solving "algorithm" of all the major tasks that must reasonably be accomplished to complete the project. The Objectives should be established in the first 2-4 weeks of the project. These will be used to direct the effort for the rest of the project, and may be subject to some revision as the project progresses. The Objectives form a reasonable structure, not only for the work on the project, but also for the rest of your report.

The Objectives should be a numbered list of items with one or two sentences of explanation. If the Objective is almost self explanatory, use only one sentence of explanation. If more explanation is necessary, then a second sentence may be used. The Objectives should not be written as a mini-report of the work you have already accomplished, what it means, etc. Save all of that for the body of the report. Write the Objectives with a viewpoint from the beginning project just after the first plant trip and first few advisor meetings when the objectives were first established.

Note that the first objective should be "Analysis of Current (Process/Product/System, etc.) ". This Objective is done to establish the current status, costs, metrics, design goals, etc. for the project. See more details about this in the Initial Analysis section in Chapter 2 of the handbook. In some cases, it may be appropriate to begin with a "background" section to give the reader more technical information about the context of the project.

The Objectives can be listed after a single sentence such as, "The following objectives were determined to be necessary for the successful completion of this project:"

The Objectives should follow immediately after the Introduction with no page break.

Body
The Body of the paper is the meat of the report in which the work completed and the results are reported. Keep in mind that the report is an engineering report and therefore should be written in a technically rigorous manner. But, it is also essentially the report of a consulting team which is written for the client. It must be written for the needs of the company sponsor and with regard to the motivations of the company sponsor. The final purpose of the project is to make the company more productive and profitable, and this is a theme that should be followed in some manner through the entire report. Keep in mind that economics motivate the very existence of the project, as well as the direction of the possible solutions, and the selection of the final solution to be recommended to the company sponsor.

The Body of the paper consists of several major sections which are logically structured and arranged. As mentioned above, the Body structure can come directly from the list of Objectives. The Body will be more detailed in structure, but the basic flow should be essentially the same. Again, the major section should be entitled "Analysis of Current…". (The only exception to this is a "Background" section, if deemed necessary.) This initial analysis, forms a basis for the entire report and sets the design criteria, metrics, and costing criteria that will be used to gauge the final solutions. See the "Initial Analysis" section in Chapter 2 of the handbook for more detail.

In each section, use consistent terms, definitions and jargon, and establish main points or themes that will be developed and followed through the later sections of the report. Motivate each section with a brief discussion of what the section is contributing to the report. Include the approaches used, present results, and assess the significance of each result in achieving the goals of the project, specifically with respect to the items listed in the problem statement. Include some conclusions in each section and a transition to the next section if appropriate. This is especially essential in the Initial Analysis section. Include relevant data analyzed, discussion of results of calculations and experiments, and drawings of prototypes. Place figures and tables where they enhance discussion in the text.

You MUST use figures, tables, graphs, numbered lists, bulleted lists, drawings, etc., to support your discussion and make the comprehension of your paper as pleasant as possible for the reader. See the section Figures and Tables.

Do not embed lists of significant items in the sentences of a paragraph. Place the list of items in a numbered list or table for the ease of the reader. For example, your report MUST include:

1. Figures
2. Tables
3. Graphs
4. Numbered lists
5. Bulleted lists
6. Drawings

If your discussions are not supported with figures, graphs, tables, numbered lists, drawings, etc., then your report is not acceptable.

Include raw data in the body of the paper when it is germane to the immediate discussion. Other data may be included in an appendix. When referencing an appendix, make sure you tell the reader where to look in the specific appendix page number, e.g. (See Appendix A-4). Don't create a wild goose chase for data that is misplaced or doesn't exist.

After one section of your report is completed, continue with the next section on the same page, if possible. Do not waste paper with unnecessary blank space.

Economic Analysis
Include an analysis of the economic impact of your work and its significance to the sponsor. Most sponsors will specify their investment requirements in terms of payback period which must be met by all project recommendations. Your Economic Analysis must include the following four items:

1. Net Cash Flow Diagram
2. Payback Period
3. Net Present Value
4. Return on Investment (ROI or IRR)

Typically the economic analysis is the most crucial section in the report for the sponsor, as it will dictate the most logical and profitable way to implement your recommendations. Make sure your economic analysis is clear and your sponsor is in agreement with your calculations and predicted savings. This is NOT a place where you want last minute surprises from your sponsor or vice versa. Make sure you have discussions with your sponsor's cost accounting, marketing, and/or other personnel who can give you accurate costing information and help you understand how your sponsor tracks costs, profits, overhead, burden, materials, inventory, marketing, warranties, etc. See Chapter 9 of you handbook for more discussion of economic analysis.

The economic analysis section must be included in the midterm and the rough draft even if the final results of the economic analysis are not completed. You should be able to show the methods that will be used for the analysis, including the total cost of the problem and the potential savings of the proposed solution, even if rough estimates are used at this point.

In some cases it is impossible or impractical to directly measure or calculate the savings from your recommendations. You may have to indirectly estimate savings as a function of a parameter yet to be determined from the project result. In this case, the economic analysis can be done as a function of that parameter, through a range of its possible values. An example of this is found in the Solo Cup thermoforming project. The technical result that improved airflow in the thermoforming die could not be directly translated into cycle time reduction in the thermoforming process. Test implementation in the actual production process was prohibitively expensive during the course of the project. The students expressed the potential savings as a function of cycle time reduction in hundredths of a second. Since the cycle time costs were well known, the potential savings could then be easily expressed. See your Advisor or the GE494 Chairman for clarification, if necessary.

Note that ALL calculations for costs, savings, etc. must be endorsed by your company sponsor for use in your economic analysis.

Conclusions
Summarize the conclusions obtained from your work, and relate them to the project goals and objectives. Be specific. It is often helpful to present conclusions as a numbered list with adequate discussion to fully clarify each item. Also, when possible, quantify the dollars saved and technical benefits. There should be nothing new here; all conclusions should be an echo of conclusions drawn in previous sections.

NOTE: The Conclusions section is NOT to be simply a summary of the entire paper and everything you did. Conclusions are just that… what you conclude from the work you have done and the results you have obtained, as well as their impact on the business model for the company sponsor.

The Conclusions section is also your opportunity to clearly illustrate and tactfully state that all of the requirements of the problem statement have been met. You may also include additional insights which you gained during the course of the project, not specifically required by the problem statement, but still of potential value to the sponsor.

Tact: Avoid subjective statements that may be interpreted as negative by the sponsor. Keep in mind the sponsors take pride in their operations. Instead of saying, "The quality of the production line is poor." rephrase to, "The production line does not currently meet quality requirements and specifications."

Recommendations
These are a list of specific actions to be taken as a result of the conclusions of the project and economic analysis. Recommendations should include an introductory paragraph or two, followed by a numbered list of specific actions to be taken. Reference specific drawings, vendors, part numbers, costs, maintenance requirements, training, software, etc. There should be no guesswork by the sponsor here. It may be appropriate to list recommendations in order of their importance, costs, savings, etc. You may want to group them for a stepwise implementation program into phase 1, phase 2, etc. (Again, do not surprise your sponsor; all recommendations should have been discussed or at least alluded to earlier.)

Note: If your project recommendations include significant procedural steps and capital expenditures, you may need to include a section on implementation strategies to map out an implementation plan. Typically sponsors will want to implement the most cost effective items first, and wait for others. If your plan involves a major disruption to production, give a stepwise implementation strategy which minimizes disruption. This may involve planning for implementation during annual plant shutdowns or other periodic opportune times.

References
Include references for all significant sources of information, such as textbooks, scientific papers, manufacturers' publications, etc. (In some cases a list of special sources may be appropriate, such as web sites, systems used for patent searches, etc.) Begin compiling your reference lists at the start of the project as you are doing your research.

Reference and Citation Format
You must include a list of references that you cite to support facts that are not common knowledge, or expert opinions that you include in your report. In general, it is better not to use a bibliography of sources consulted for general background knowledge, instead, make a habit of citing the sources that you actually used. The following examples demonstrate the format to use in your report and in the Reference section at the end of the report Body.

Book:
For a discussion of some of the weaknesses of Taguchi methods, see Montgomery (1991).
or
Taguchi methods have a number of well-known shortcomings [Montgomery (1991)].

Article:
There are a variety of outlier rejection methods [Stefansky (1972)] available for experimental design.

Report with no author:
Critical values for the random variable with an F distribution are available from the Bureau of Standards (1943).
To fit a generalized linear model to the data the GLM procedure in SAS (1988) was used.

Conversation:
A linear model was chosen since they are often appropriate for power plants [Wearle (1995)].

References:
Montgomery, D. C. (1991). Design and Analysis of Experiments, John Wiley and Sons, New York.

SAS/STAT User's Guide (1988), SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina.

Stefansky, W. (1972). "Rejecting Outliers in Factorial Design," Technometrics, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 469-479.

Statistical Tables, (1943). U. S. Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C.

Wearle, S. R., personal communication, February 28, 1995.

Appendices
Include data tables, background calculations, specification lists for equipment used, details of experimental configuration, and other information needed for completeness, but which would bog down the discussion in the body of the report.

Your Appendices must each have a footer with numbered pages for that appendix. Appendix footers may be easily inserted with use of a section break in MS Word. Use a different section for each appendix (A, B, C, etc.), and restart the appendix page numbering in each new lettered appendix section. Numbering format must be A-1, A-2, A-3,… B-1, B-2, etc. See the Table of Contents section earlier in this chapter for details.

Mechanical drawings
Mechanical drawings must accompany many types of projects and are typically placed into an appendix. Drawings may range in size from A through E for typical report purposes. See Section 8.6 for specific guidelines for inclusion of drawings.

Equations
Number equations near right hand margin.

MS = MS(A) + MS(B)	(9)
F = ma	(10)

Units
By now, the eventual conversion of the United States to the SI system of units is no longer hypothetical. In the SI system, as you know, the fundamental units are:

force:	Newton	distance:	meter
mass:	kilogram	time:	second

 

Your Final Written Report must contain SI units. If you work on a project in an industry where SI units are already commonly used, then you should add the appropriate English units in parenthesis, e.g.:

... "for a distance of 1.00 m (3.28') the system ..."

If the industry typically uses English units, then put the SI equivalent in parenthesis immediately after it is needed so that both SI and English units are present in your report. If you are not sure of the correct SI units for a particular quantity, find out what they are. The above discussion of units applies to drawings as well as text.

Figures and Tables
Figures and tables are invaluable to the clarity and completeness of your report. Many times the quality of a report is judged by the quality of the figures and tables it contains because these items stand out more readily than the text. The figures and tables visually show the effort and attention to detail by the authors of the report.

Note that you MUST reference each figure and table in the text of the report, and do so at the place in the text where the figure or table is essential to the discussion. Figures and tables must be well labeled and should answer questions for the reader and create no ambiguities. Make sure your figures and tables are very clear and understandable.

Figures should be numbered and given a descriptive title or caption that is placed under the figure and should be explanatory of what the figure shows.

Tables should be numbered and given a descriptive title or caption that is placed above the table and should be explanatory of what the table shows.

Keep in mind that some readers may simply want to scan your report. Well labeled and captioned figures and tables allow them to do this efficiently without significant loss of understanding.

Figures should answer questions but create no new questions or ambiguities. Makes sure your figures are clear and readily understandable. Use labels to identify pertinent features.

Pages bound "sideways" (landscape format) should have the "bottom" along the unbound, right-hand margins.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

The majority of Senior Engineering projects are specified such that the economic analysis is a crucial part, if not the most important part of the report for determining the final recommendations to the sponsor, and the plan for their implementation. This is because the sponsoring companies, in the broadest sense, are investment firms whose goal is to maximize profits for the company owners and shareholders. The sponsor chooses to invest in its own processes, product development, and production capability, because it can reliably achieve a far greater return on investment than any other outside investment such as stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. Because of this, economics will determine the ultimate decisions the sponsor will make with respect to the project. The engineering component of the project provides the possible technical solutions to the problem. The economic analysis (generally) will be used to choose the best solution(s) and the order and timing of their implementation.

Economic Analysis Basics (pdf format)

Include an analysis of the economic impact of your work and its significance to the sponsor. Most sponsors will specify their investment requirements in terms of payback period which must be met by all project recommendations. Your Economic Analysis must include the following four items:

1. Cash Flow Bar Graph
   
2. Payback Period
   
3. Net Present Value
   
4. Return On Investment (ROI or IRR)

Typically the economic analysis is the most crucial section in the report for the sponsor, as it will dictate the most logical and profitable way to implement your recommendations. Make sure your economic analysis is clear and your sponsor is in agreement with your calculations and predicted savings. This is NOT a place where you want last minute surprises from your sponsor or vice versa. Make sure you have discussions with your sponsor's cost accounting, marketing, and/or other personnel who can give you accurate costing information and help you understand how your sponsor tracks costs, profits, overhead, burden, materials, inventory, marketing, warranties, etc. See Chapter 9 in your handbook for more discussion of economic analysis.

The economic analysis section must be included in the midterm and the rough draft even if the final results of the economic analysis are not completed.You should be able to show the methods that will be used for the analysis, including the total cost of the problem and the potential savings of the proposed solution, even if rough estimates are used at this point.

In some cases it is impossible or impractical to directly measure or calculate the savings from your recommendations. You may have to indirectly estimate savings as a function of a parameter yet to be determined from the project result. In this case, the economic analysis can be done as a function of that parameter, through a range of its possible values. An example of this is found in the Solo Cup thermoforming project. The technical result that improved airflow in the thermoforming die could not be directly translated into cycle time reduction in the thermoforming process. Test implementation in the actual production process was prohibitively expensive during the course of the project. The students expressed the potential savings as a function of cycle time reduction in hundredths of a second. Since the cycle time costs were well known, the potential savings could then be easily expressed. See your Advisor or the Senior Engineering Project Chairman for clarification, if necessary.

Note that ALL calculations for costs, savings, etc. must be endorsed by your company sponsor for use in your economic analysis.

Cost Data, Savings, and Verification with Sponsor
Your economic analysis will typically rely on costing and financial data provided by the sponsor for scrap rates, material costs, labor rates, overhead or burden, warranty claims, increased sales, and other types of appropriate costs and revenues. Start early in your project to make the proper contacts with your sponsor to get the types of information you will need for your economic analysis. Often, this data must be estimated by the sponsor or retrieved from sources that may take many weeks to access and compile.

As mentioned earlier in this handbook, a valid path to find the best solution in many projects is to "follow the money." Gain a full and accurate understanding of how costs, savings and revenues are recognized by your sponsor. Do this as early as possible. This will give valuable insights to your economic analysis and help guide your project. Establish guidelines for the upper bound to the amount of savings and/or additional profits possible if the full goal of your project is achieved. This will give you early direction about feasibility of possible solutions. Some projects may generate savings of several hundred thousand dollars per year, which support very ambitious and costly solutions. Other projects may result in savings of only a few tens of thousands of dollars per year. This may immediately eliminate many costly solutions from consideration by the project team and save precious time.

Typically your results will show a savings to the sponsor after your recommended capital expenses are made by the sponsor. Make sure your costing data is accurate and takes into account labor, overhead, maintenance, materials, scrap, training, testing, calibrations, and any other costs that may affect the analysis. In some cases, savings can be directly calculated by the project team for verification by the sponsor. In other cases, reasonable estimates for savings are made by the project team and must receive the sponsor's endorsement before being used in the final reports.

In ALL cases, ALL calculations for costs, savings, etc. must be endorsed by your company sponsor for use in your economic analysis.

Projects often result in several alternative solutions, as well as many different optional solutions. In these cases, present your solutions in a table listing capital cost along with payback period, ROI, and NPV as shown later in this chapter. It is often best to present a stepwise implementation of recommendations that begin with the lowest cost or greatest ROI investments first. The sponsor will use the early savings to fund the later implementations. Recommendations should also be made in a manner that is minimally disruptive to current production processes and cash flows.

See previous Senior Engineering Project reports available in 104 TB for examples of economic analyses.

For more detail, reference your materials from GE 330/IE 310 as well as the help information provided with MS Excel.

DRAWINGS

All figures, graphs and other graphical materials should be approved by your advisor and eventually by the Project Grading Committee. All mechanical drawings prepared for inclusion in your report must be of high quality and meet accepted standards. Any inadequately prepared graphical material noted by your graders is sufficient cause for an "F" grade to be assigned to the project team. See the following examples for required formats.

Since the use of computer software to produce these is faster, easier and neater than hand drawing, it is highly recommended and encouraged. AutoCAD is available in the GE 494 Lab, TB 307 Suite.

NOTICE TO AUTOCAD USERS

The standard AutoCAD text font "TXT" (sample below) may be the designated default font, but is NOT desirable for GE 494 reports. The "SIMPLEX" font is preferred, closely matching the lettering style generally accepted by the engineering profession.

NOTE: Changing the font affects previous as well as future text (whether in DTEXT or DIMENSIONS); an automatic regeneration takes place at the end of the style command. It is better, however, to change the text font at the outset, because 'SIMPLEX' is proportionally spaced and slight misalignments may become apparent when 'TXT' is changed.

TITLE BLOCKS

Links to Title Blocks for sheet size A and C are listed below

GE 494 Title Block A

GE 494 Title Block C

Format for Drawings

FORMAT TO BE USED FOR ALL MECHANICAL DRAWINGS USED IN GE 494 FINAL REPORTS

All mechanical drawings that are part of a GE 494 Final Written Report (not figures, graphs, etc., which are included in the main body of the report) must conform to the format of this sheet and contain a title block logo as shown. The 8 ½ x 11" format is greatly preferred. If you absolutely must use a larger format, see instructions on how to fold, etc.

For drawings produced by computer, a facsimile of the title block logo must be Included in the computer file and plotted drawing. See above.

PDF Format

FINAL WRITTEN REPORT COPIES FOR GRADING

You will need: 3 Color Originals- STAPLED

On the due date specified, and for purposes of grading, three (3) color originals (securely stapled, but NOT BOUND) of the report are to be submitted to 117 TB by the time specified.

Your final report and copies should be absolutely complete when submitted for grading. You will not make the ten required copies (see Exit Procedure) of the report until AFTER it has been graded and required changes have been made.

Final Report Edits Required by PGC
Your GE 494 grade is based primarily on the PGC's evaluation of the final written report as submitted on the due date, and secondarily by the quality of the Final Oral Presentation (at the PGC's discretion). PGC members typically will require edits to the final report, due to previously undetected errors, inclusion of new material since the rough draft report, or edits which inadequately address feedback from the rough draft. All editing changes required by the PGC will be made by the project team before a grade may be assigned and the final copies sent to the sponsor. In the event that the PGC finds the written report deficient to the point where it cannot be rectified through editing, all the members of the project team may receive a grade of "F". Additional work may be required after the end of the semester to complete the project and resubmit a final report to the PGC for re-grading. The last alternative is to retake GE 494 the following semester.

Each group is responsible for contacting its grading committee to determine if corrections are required. On the date specified on the semester schedule, your final manuscript, with PGC changes incorporated should be brought to Room 117 TB along with your Final Report Check List (Form FRC). The checklist will have the signature of the PGC Chairman indicating that the report has been graded, and that required changes have been made. It will also contain your Advisor's signature indicating you have submitted your notebooks and colleague evaluation forms. There will also be an opportunity to check for keys, copy cards, software, equipment, etc. not previously turned in.

If there are prototypes to be mailed/shipped to the company, package them and bring to 117 TB. Check with 117 TB concerning large items that must be sent through the Mailing Center.

Get your checklist (See form FRC) completed early!
This is a busy time for professors also.

FINAL REPORT CHECKLIST (Form FRC) (PDF)

COPIES OF APPROVED FINAL REPORT

PICK UP COPY FORM FROM 117 TB
AFTER OBTAINING REQUIRED SIGNATURES ON FRC

Upon completion, you are to return all paperwork, 10 bound copies, the Lincoln Arc Welding copy (unbound), and your original manuscript to 117 TB. Check copies to assure they are correctly printed and bound.