Item 3

The grand finale of our CAD course, a third year mech eng course, was the development on a crash test dummy and car. To make things harder, the crash test dummy needed to be assembled sequentially (without hand assistance) and placed into a remote-controlled car which to battle another dummy/car. We were placed in groups of 24 and assigned into one of eight groups; each group had its own duties like the development of the a certain body part or a certain function of the car. My role was in the management team.

Many skills were demonstrated throughout this project. Being part of management, I needed to make sure that there was constant communication between the different groups. The reason why this communication was so important was because these groups needed to design parts which intermix with each other. For example, the arms team needed to make sure their design is compatible with the torso team and does not interfere with the head team. This required me to heavily multi-task. Further, in order to perform my duties efficiently, I needed to make sure that I had had a handle on all the designs which are happening congruently.

Another major role for me throughout this project was the need for me to resolve conflict. On a few occasions, one team would decide to modify their parts such that it affected another teams design; of course this did not settle well with the conflicting team. I had to be mediator and make sure tensions did not get to high. This is good experience for when I become a business owner. Most business owners will encounter a time when two of their employees do not agree, I believe it was good of me to get this type of experience.