The WVU Industrial Engineering Capstone Program aims to develop mutually-beneficial relationships with businesses in the community and senior-level Industrial Engineering students, by providing free-of-cost industrial engineering support. The WVU IECP supports and coordinates the senior design projects for graduating seniors from the ABET-accredited Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering program.
We are continuously looking for senior design projects to i) provide student learning experiences and ii) uphold the land-grant mission of the University by supporting our local community.
With the WVU IECP, at no monetary cost to you, we provide a team of 3-6 senior industrial engineering students, with the majority having at least one prior full-time internship or co-op experience, who will partner with you to resolve a complex problem using industrial engineering skills and tools. In exchange, our students will gain valuable “real-world” experience.
In a general sense, the WVU IECP supports any type of IE projects that are centered
around process improvements for businesses with pre-existing processes and business
practices. This can take on many forms, and the WVU IECP is happy to assist in
identifying and defining the most meaningful/useful projects for your business.
If you have been struggling with project/process/operational efficiencies and just
can’t seem to narrow down the problem and/or right solution, we are here to help!
Benefits to you:
- Free of cost service to your facility
- Attention allotted to a project that may not have otherwise received attention
- A fresh perspective and a new take on a problem, often resulting in creative solutions not yet considered
- Development of a mutually beneficial relationship with the WVU IMSE Department
- Opportunity to learn about our students and potentially find your next hire!
Types of Projects:
- Production planning and control
- Productivity performance improvements
- Inventory improvements/optimization
- Industrial quality control
- Project scheduling
- Human factors: safety and ergonomics
- Plant layout and material handling
- Elimination of wastes
- Customer service improvements
- Optimization (with linear programming)
- SO MUCH MORE!
Deliverables:
- Implementable recommendation(s) with detailed engineering analysis
- Formal written report including all analyses, findings, and recommendations
- Presentation of project from start to finish, including recommendations by WVU student teams to your company
What we provide:
- A team of 3-6 eager and knowledgeable senior-level students
- Guidance and support for students in the classroom
- Options for Fall, Spring, or Full-Academic-Year projects
- Travel for site visit(s), if applicable
What we need from you:
- A complex engineering problem (we can help you identify/assess this!)
- A site visit, either in person (preferred) or virtual with student team members
- Commitment to our students (time and energy)
- Willingness and ability to support their data and information needs to fully assess the problem(s)
WVU Industrial Engineering Capstone Project Interest Form
Senior Capstone Perspective
Tommy Azinger
BSIE December 2023
The WVU IECP gave me great insight into the kinds of skills I need to be a successful industrial engineer. Being directly involved in a project like that, allowed me to utilize the tools that I have picked up along my academic path and gave me experience with professionally engaging with clients. The IMSE Department does a wonderful job of ensuring that the students learn the appropriate content and that they are actively applying what they are learning. I have grown a tremendous amount because of the WVU IECP and from the internship experiences I have had over my college career!
Piper Gaines
BSIE Graduating Class May 2024
My capstone project experience has given me many useful tools and the knowledge to have confidence as I go into my future career. My project is improving a production planning process, and this will impact my future greatly as it will give me experience in a field I have not really worked much with yet.
Kasmir Lauber
The capstone project during my final semester at WVU was a valuable experience that prepared me to hit the ground running in my first job after college. While there are numerous positive aspects I could highlight about collaborating with industry partners, one particular aspect stood out to me – the impact of working on real-world projects with authentic data on one's approach. It enhances communication skills and fosters a sense of ambition to deliver tangible results. Overall, I believe the capstone project experience is an excellent opportunity to facilitate a seamless transition from school to the industry.
Juan Marino
IMSE Class of December 2023, first ever class of the WVU IECP
My capstone project posed a significant challenge, requiring me to learn a completely unfamiliar software and tackle the tasks without a partner. Despite these hurdles, the project proved to be a valuable experience, fostering my skills in self-directed learning, effective communication, and project management.
Isabelle Nesbit
ABM IMSE grad 2025
My classmates and I have been working on a project for the new Clorox facility in Inwood, WV having a real industry project for my senior capstone course is so beneficial to me. It's really given me the opportunity to take the skills that I have been learning for the past four years in the classroom and apply them to real engineering problem in industry. I think my favorite part of working on this project so far is that it's helped me identify places in my engineering skillset that I really need to work on strengthening. I'm lucky to have professors and resources at WVU that can really help me improve these skills before I am in the workforce. Not many students get the opportunity to transfer their skills to the workforce before they even graduate I'm grateful that my industrial engineering Capstone program experience has helped prepare me to be a successful engineer after I graduate from WVU.
Hear Isabelle's Testimonial in her own wordsJerry Finnegan
Manufacturing Engineering Manager - Industry Partner - Sensus
It was a pleasure to work with our WVU IECP partner this past Fall semester. This was a good first experience. Juan was eager to learn and get involved. We are currently partnered with a team for the Spring and look forward to continuing our relationship in the future.
Dave Pancake
Industry Partner - SJ Morse
Our Fall 2023 project team was immediately engaged in the goal definition, early investigations and analysis, applying their initial assumptions to new ideas and solutions. Their effort resulted in a comprehensive report with immediate actionable next steps toward improving production time efficiencies and methods to measure continuous improvement. Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to work with WVU IECP!