Manufacturing Engineering
Making things, and making things better
About The Program
Manufacturing engineers are innovators who transform ideas into high-quality, cost-effective products. Manufacturing engineers plan, design, develop and optimize how products are produced. They design and improve the processes, tools, and systems that make modern manufacturing efficient and sustainable. From automation and advanced materials to precision design and production systems, manufacturing engineers ensure that products are made higher quality, lower cost, and faster.
Degree Requirements
The Manufacturing Engineering curriculum is built on four key pillars that prepare students to lead in today’s advanced manufacturing and industry 4.0 environments.
- Materials and Manufacturing Processes – Students study engineering sciences, materials behavior, and modern manufacturing processes including machining, welding, casting, electronic manufacturing, and additive manufacturing.
- Product, Tooling, and Assembly Engineering – Students learn to design products, manufacturing processes, and tooling using CAD/CAM technology. They also gain hands-on experience programming computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools.
- Manufacturing Systems and Operations – Students develop advanced skills in designing industrial automation solutions that integrate PLCs and robotic programming to create Industry 4.0–enabled systems and controls for smart manufacturing.
- Manufacturing Competitiveness – Students focus on continuous improvement, learn manufacturing, and process capability analysis to enhance productivity and quality.
Learn By Doing
Manufacturing engineering teaches you how to create the stages of a manufacturing system and produce products in the most time-efficient and cost-effective way possible – all while maintaining safety and product quality. You will learn how to mold and cast materials, create prototypes, use computer-aided drafting and modeling, analyze and simplify work processes and more.
Cut Metal With Water
Use flexible hybrid electronics to print electronic circuits on fabric.
Our Graduates
A Cal Poly’s manufacturing engineering degree opens the door to many rewarding career options in high-tech, aerospace, biomedical, and manufacturing. Entry-level positions they land includes manufacturing engineer, industrial engineer, automation engineer, and quality engineer.
Major employers that hire Cal Poly IE graduates
| High-Tech | Aerospace | Biomedical | Manufacturing |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Apple |
Boeing |
Abbott Laboratories |
Schneider Electric |
|
Intel |
Lockheed Martin |
Intuitive Surgical |
Solar Turbines |
|
Lam Research |
RTX |
Amgen |
|
|
Tesla |
Northrop Grumman |
Boston Scientific |
|
|
|
Viasat |
|
|
|
|
General Atomics |
|
|