Principles of Manufacturing

This program is for people who want to understand and improve how things get made, with a focus on volume manufacturing, where rate, quality, cost, and flexibility are the key metrics. It's aimed at engineers, product designers, and technology developers interested in a career in advanced manufacturing, and it's designed and delivered by MIT's Mechanical Engineering department. The principles taught grew out of close work with manufacturing industries at both the research and operational levels, and the MicroMasters credential gives you a way to demonstrate your ability and proficiency to employers.

Roles that may benefit the most from this program include:

• Manufacturing engineers who want a rigorous grounding in process control, statistical methods, and factory operations.
• Supply chain engineers and analysts working on manufacturing-centered supply chains, inventory and capacity.
• Design and product engineers, including product development engineers, who want to design products and processes with manufacturing in mind.
• Technology developers and product designers moving into advanced manufacturing.
• Operations and plant managers who need to design and run production systems with the right capacity, resilience and inventory.
• Founders and managers starting or scaling manufacturing ventures, since this program does cover the financial and business-information underpinnings of a manufacturing enterprise.

Each individual course has its own prerequisites, as listed below:

• Manufacturing Process Control I: Engineering Undergraduate preparation, some knowledge of basic manufacturing processes, and knowledge or probability theory is helpful but not necessary
• Manufacturing Systems I: Knowledge and comfortability with undergraduate-level calculus as well as probability and statistics
• Management in Engineering: Accounting and Planning: Basic understanding of business organizations. A technical background (e.g. Bachelor's in engineering) is also beneficial.
• Supply Chains for Manufacturing: Inventory Analytics: Graduate-level Introduction to Logistics Systems or Operations Management
• Manufacturing Process Control II: For this course, you must first complete Manufacturing Process Control I. Engineering Undergraduate preparation; some knowledge of basic manufacturing processes. Knowledge or probability theory is helpful but not necessary.
• Manufacturing Systems II: For this course, you must first complete Manufacturing Systems I. Additionally, knowledge and comfortability with undergraduate-level calculus, probability and statistics is required.
• Management in Engineering: Strategy and Leadership: Basic understanding of business organizations. Technical background (e.g. Bachelor's in engineering) is also beneficial.
• Supply Chains for Manufacturing: Capacity Analytics: This course should be taken in sequence following Manufacturing and Supply Chain Planning. Graduate-level Introduction to Logistics Systems or Operations Management

This program helps you build the fundamental skills needed for global excellence in manufacturing, from controlling processes for maximum quality to designing production systems and supply chains with the right capacity, resilience, and inventory. You'll also learn the financial and business foundations of running a manufacturing enterprise, so you can make better design and operational decisions at every level. Designed and delivered by MIT's #1-ranked Mechanical Engineering department, the MicroMasters credential helps you demonstrate your proficiency to employers and can count toward MIT's Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing and Design.

Upon completing this program, you will:

• Gain access to an official Infinite Connection account on the MIT Alumni Association website
• Gain access to a private LinkedIn group, ideal for discovering job postings and professional opportunities
• Participate in MIT Alumni Association events and exclusive MITx MicroMasters in SCM credential holder events
• Receive discounted registration for select MIT CTL conferences, bootcamps, and workshops
• Enjoy access to library journals through JSTOR and EBSCO
• Be eligible for a 10% discount on all MIT Press publications (print books and e-books) for continued career development

In your day-to-day, this program will help you:

• Make better decisions at every level by gaining a perspective for design and operational decision-making across manufacturing, from individual processes to the whole enterprise.
• Control quality by learning to operate and control unit processes for maximum quality using basic and advanced statistical and feedback control methods.
• Design and run product systems by designing and operating systems of processes with optimal capacity, resilience and inventory.
• Optimize supply chains by designing and operating supply chain systems built around manufacturing.
• Understand the business side of manufacturing by learning the financial and business-information foundations of a manufacturing enterprise, including new ventures.
• Open a path to graduate study by using the credential toward MIT’s Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing and Design or toward other eligible programs (details below), or strengthen your resume.

This program contains eight courses. Each course runs for either eight or nine weeks each, with an estimated effort of 10-12 hours per week. See here for the annual course run schedule.

Courses are pre-recorded, and lessons are released according to a calendar specific to each course. The calendar will be posted at the beginning of each course. Students can work through the course content on their own schedule after it has been released. Please note some assignments have strict deadlines and work will not be accepted after that deadline.

Additionally, each course has in-course discussion forums where you can engage in discussions with peers and ask questions to the teaching assistant (TA) team.

Learners who successfully complete a course when enrolled on the upgraded certificate track will receive a verified certificate issued by MIT Open Learning.

Learners who successfully pass the Comprehensive Final Exam will also receive a program credential certificate.

This program is equivalent to one semester of coursework at MIT. Completing this MicroMasters program makes you eligible to apply to master's programs at MIT and at more than 20 graduate-level programs at universities around the world.

MIT is actively working to expand the list of credit pathway institutions for MicroMasters Program Credentials.

Learners on the audit track can access lessons and practice problems, but not exams. Audit learners are not eligible to earn a certificate nor pursue a full master’s track. There is no cost to participate in the audit track of a course.

Learners on the certificate track have access to exams and are eligible to receive a certificate upon passing the course. There is a fee to participate in the certificate track of a course. Learners who successfully pass all courses in a program on the verified track are eligible to pursue a full master’s program.

Learners wishing to earn a certificate in a course may start on the audit track, but must join the certificate track and pay the course fee prior to the payment deadline in order to be eligible.

You can take one or several courses on a standalone basis, or strive to complete all eight courses in the series to achieve the MITx MicroMasters program credential in Principles of Manufacturing.

The most up-to-date course fees can be viewed on the individual course pages within MIT Learn. The bundled program purchase is the best value, as it includes all eight courses for $1260 $140 in savings compared to purchasing courses individually). Bundled credits must be redeemed within 24-months of purchase.