Automotive Production Engineering

The Production Engineering Certificate (PEC) in the College of Engineering, provides students with unique hands-on experience, development of problem-solving skills, and knowledge integration using Lean thinking principles. PEC aims to enhance students' learning in capstone senior design projects, basics of automotive productions processes, teamwork, principles of Lean manufacturing and applications to automotive production engineering. 

• Freshman Admission: Applicants who have not attended a college or university upon completion of secondary school AND who have met all requirements including English proficiency as noted below.
• Transfer Admission : Applicants who have attended a college or university upon completion of secondary school AND met all requirements including English proficiency as noted below.
• Non-degree Admission: Applicants who are exchange or visiting students.

• Conditional Admission: Applicants who meet UK’s academic requirements for admission but do not meet the minimum language proficiency requirement or the departmental specific requirements (such as certain SAT/ACT math scores for Engineering and Nursing).
  • Students who are offered conditional admission because of English may either resubmit a higher TOEFL/IELTS score or enroll in UK's Center for English as a Second Language program. The duration of these courses will depend on placement test results and individual student progress. Upon successful completion of the English language course(s), the student will move seamlessly into a degree program at UK. This means no TOEFL/IELTS scores will be required if students complete CESL.
  • Students who require a higher math score for Engineering may submit a higher score or switch their intended major to a program that does not have specific requirements.
  • No additional application is required for Conditional Admission.

Design projects within the core courses will be developed through proposals from industry and engineering organizations. Through collaboration with automotive manufacturing companies (OEM), the PEC course instructor team consisting of UK faculty and experienced industry engineers will select projects based on the current engineering problems or future engineering advancement.  Students will learn how to integrate their knowledge by Lean thinking and achieve their team goal by effectively working together.

The elective courses include operation-based aspects vitally important in automotive manufacturing, including automotive painting, body welding, and automotive powertrain. Each of these is to be updated as new technologies emerge, and new electives will be assessed for future implementation by collaborating with the industrial OEM's. 

Four different academic departments, Mechanical Engineering (ME), Chemical & Materials Engineering (CME), Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), and Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering (BAE) participate in PEC.  Automotive industries have the largest, most demanding and most advanced mass production systems in the world covering very diversified technical areas consisting of these four academic disciplines plus more. Hence, after initial success, the PEC Director and the PEC advisory board will assess ongoing automobile production needs and opportunities to determine whether the inclusion of other academic disciplines would further strengthen the value of the PEC and the success of students awarded the Certificate.  

Apply here.