About the CareerCERTIFICATE
IN BUILDING SYSTEMS
CERTIFICATE IN MANUFACTURING
CERTIFICATE IN MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
CERTIFICATE IN COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN
CERTIFICATE IN RAPID PROTOTYPING
About the CareerMechanical Design and Manufacturing span a wide range of careers. The main purpose of the design process is to create sets of drawings and specifications that provide all the information required to manufacture, build and assemble mechanical parts and building systems. The design process also often requires that computer simulations and functional models called prototypes be developed to assure that the mechanical parts and assemblies function correctly. Building designs often require renderings and computer animations that show the clients how the buildings will look after they are built. Manufacturing then creates, builds and assembles the actual components.
These design, prototyping and manufacturing technologies are used in mechanical, architectural, civil and industrial design applications as well as medical, biomechanical and other fields that are not typically associated with engineering design.
Midlands Technical College offers five certificate programs in the mechanical design and manufacturing fields. Each of these curricula may be taken as an independent certificate program, or combined with general education courses to obtain an Associate in Occupational Technology Degree.
The Computer Aided Design Certificate focuses on basic design and prototyping using both two- and three-dimensional Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems, and the latest Rapid Prototyping technologies to create designs prototypes of mechanical and architectural components. To support the design process the program also provides a basic understanding of fluid flow, hydraulics and pneumatics, heat transfer, geometric tolerancing, stress analysis and analysis of mechanisms.
The Building Systems Certificate focuses on design of architectural and land development projects. Both two- and three-dimensional CAD systems are used to generate working drawings. The 3D models are used to generate realistic computer renderings and animations. The latest Rapid Prototyping technologies are used to create physical models of the structures and terrain. To support the design process the program also provides a basic understanding of mechanical and building systems.
The Mechanical Systems Certificate focuses on the design of mechanical devices and machines and mechanical systems for buildings. To support the design process the program also provides a basic understanding of hydraulics and pneumatics, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, strength of materials, mechanism design, rapid prototyping and simulation.
The Certificate in Rapid Prototyping involves creating physical models of the parts and buildings to make certain they meet the client’s requirements. Although many models are still manufactured using conventional machine tools, advances in computer aided design software and rapid prototyping allow the production of 3-dimensional physical models to be built directly from the computer models. The Manufacturing Certificate focuses on becoming proficient at the operation of conventional and computer controlled (CNC) machine tools, using precision measuring tools, and maintaining process control using statistical methods. Additionally, basic CAD, three-dimensional modeling, rapid prototyping and production and facility planning are introduced.
