Duration
Number of credits
| Master in management engineering, professional focus in management and technologies (Industrial Business Engineering) | 10 crédits |
Lecturer
Anne-Christine Cadiat, Anne Chanteux, Magali Herman, Thierry Pironet
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
All year long, with partial in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The "Multidisciplinary Project" course, which forms part of the Masters in Industrial and Business Engineering (IBE) jointly organised by the HEC-Liège Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and the HELMO-Gramme Institute of Industrial Engineering, takes place during the third year (M3). This course is therefore designed for students who already hold either a management engineering degree or an IBE industrial engineering degree.
The aim of this course is to practically implement technical and managements skills acquired in situations which are close to industrial reality. The economic world needs managers who are capable of working in multidisciplinary teams to develop innovative projects which are validated in commercial, economic and technical terms. This is why the course will cover five main themes:
1) project management, dynamics, building groups and collaborative working; communication among the various involved parties
2) designing and technically creating a prototype or a proof of concept;
3) technical and economic feasibility;
4) where appropriate, logistical analysis of the suppliers, the production, delivery, after-sales service;
5) validation of a marketing and sales communication plan;
In practical terms, this will involve teams of students (e.g. four: management engineers (2) and industrial engineers (2 or 3)), designing and creating industrial prototypes of machines and related services (software) or a proof of concept in a report. Within this document, they will assess their commercial potential, identify their technical-commercial feasibility, and validate the associated business plan. They will need to demonstrate the technological proof-of-concept and the related business plan.
Moreover, students will need to be aware of and attentive to analysing the management of their work throughout the course and to raising critical questions on the pitfalls and success factors encountered as the innovative and shared project progresses.
Each group will propose an innovation project or will select a project proposed by industrial partners.
Each student from each group is assigned the responsibility for one theme. If possible, once per month, each student-manager have to meet the "coaching" teacher responsible for this theme. According to the group size (4 or 5), there is one student-manager responsible for marketing (MKTG), finance (FIN), technique (TECH), project management (PROJ), Supply ... depending on the needs of the project.
Students with a business engineering degree will have technical responsibility, while students with an industrial engineering degree will have finance and marketing responsibility.
Teams of teaching staff provide support in their various areas of expertise: electricity, electronics, mechanisms, IT, chemistry, biochemistry, automation, material resistance, construction, marketing, finance, law, logistics, communication, etc.
The teaching staff are divided into three: a representative of each school, Vincent Lenaerts (HELMO-Gramme) and Magali Herman (HEC-ULiège), a hands-on support team of five teaching staff: Bernard Rausin, Sophie Pirard, Alban Van Laethem, Anne Chanteux, Anne-Christine Cadiat and Thierry Pironet, as well as two members of the IBE programme (P. Deneye and V. Lenaerts) and specialist experts who can be called upon from both institutions as needed.
Vincent Lenaerts and Magali Herman are the academic and operational leaders of the course; the remainder are teaching staff and are all jury members.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
- To be able to explore need and situate an innovative product and associated services in a competitive context: define characteristics, legal aspects, target clients, competition, market objectives, sales potential, sources of financing and pricing policy.
- To be able to understand the objectives and technical limitations of the product and associated services and be able to select technologies likely to be able to respond to these expectations.
- To understand management difficulties in the logistics and production chain of this innovation.
- To be able to calculate a provisional cost price and margins to generate a financial and strategic business plan and/or to compute the profitability of the investments to be made and/or to find sources of financing.
- To be able to establish a provisional project schedule, to assess and readjust it over time and be able to critically assess the important factors in managing a team in order to be able to identify the conclusions that can be drawn from it.
- To design and product a functional prototype of the product by integrating the TRIIP methodology, the machine directive and a risk analysis.
- Be able to present the work orally and in writing as well as through a sales support (e.g. website, folder, videos, etc.).
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course is essentially based on implementing skills which have students have already acquired, with a view to producing a functional prototype or a proof of concept as well as its potential commercialisation on a market.
For project finance, marketing and management, documents (articles, videos, files) will be available on the class platform and may be used by each group according to their grasp of the issues ...
In addition, teams must plan their work and manage their time. However, several compulsory sessions are planned.
During the first semester:
- An introductive session to the lecture "Projet transdiciplinaire" and presentation of potential projects from industrial partners;
- In the beginning of October, during a session, projects are validated by the teachers with some advices.
- Following sessions according to the schedule are devoted to an introduction to marketing and the notions of "customers' requirements" and "client", to the financial methodologies as well as project management and 2 sessions for the TRIIP method;
- During November sessions, each group presents to the teachers a summary of its project, the task to be performed and the methodologies to be followed in each theme and a plan of the project. The provided canvas has to be followed.
- In December, this summary is submitted again taking into account the comments and remarks from the presentation.
- Each month from October to November, each student-manager (MKTG, FIN, TECH, PROJ) has to meet if possible once the coaching teacher of his theme. Appointments are scheduled at best convenience either at HEC-Liège, or at Gramme on the Ourthe Campus (TECH).
- If the work involves a company, remaining sessions and blank hours are devoted to meeting with this company and particularly, a meeting is organized in December with a teacher to validate the objectives of the project;
During the second semester:
- In addition to periods without sessions, from February to May, one working day per week is planned.
- The third Monday of February, a pre-report including a 10 page summary as well as a chapter developed per theme has to be posted with the non-significant appendixes. In the beginning of March, a 10 to 15 minute presentation of this report is taking place in front of the other groups (except confidentiality issues) and the company under invitation. This presentation is followed by a question and answer session, recommendations, project adjustment.
- Meetings per theme with student manager and the coaching teachers are also taking place in March and April.
- A 50 page final written report including each theme + appendix has to be submitted at the end of the semester (early May).
- An oral exam in front of a jury by group and consisting of a presentation, demonstration of the basic concept of a prototype and an individual question and answer session in the presence of the teaching staff from the support team, any experts used and partner companies.
Teaching methods:
Self-social construction of knowledge
Learning through practice
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Additional information:
- Refresher courses for theoretical concepts.
- Access by appointment to the labs
- Formal meetings during the appointments with the coaching teachers and informal with experts.
- Professional-level presentations during monthly interviews and free-form discussions during question and answer sessions.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Prerequisites in finance, marketing and project management on the online platform.
Business canvas.
Basic technological concepts in the various fields of the Masters in Engineering Sciences.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam AND oral exam
Written work / report
Continuous assessment
Out-of-session test(s)
Further information:
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam AND oral exam
The oral defence may be organised on the basis of a draw for speakers from among the students in each group.
Written work / reports
Compulsory attendance at the 3 key dates of the project
A student's unexcused absence during the presentation of the specifications (November), the question and answer session (March) or the defence (May) will automatically result in an attendance mark for that course. These 3 dates are announced during the first course and are posted on the platform.
Continuous assessment
Additional information:
Continuous assessment (summary and pre-report, presentations, questions and answers, meetings) : 30% (2nd session 0%)
Final report, presentation and questions and answers: 70% (2nd session 100%)
Any weakness (grade <10) in one the theme reduces the global mark to the lower one.
Grades are individuals.
The assessment criteria will focus on the evaluation of the following skills:
- Marketing analysis capabilities and the ability to analyse an innovative concept;
- Technical-economic analysis capacities and the ability to validate a business plan;
- Technical analysis capacities and the ability to implement technologies and understand related theoretical concepts;
- Ability to critically analyse upon the management of the project and work in a team;
- Team work and individual contribution.
Work placement(s)
/
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
See timetable on the platform
Contacts
Course leader HEC-Liège Magali Herman
Finance - Management
e-mail: magali.herman@uliege.be
HEC-Liège Bâtiment N1 Rue Louvrex, 14,
Office 309 B-4000 LIEGE
Course leader HELMO-Gramme Professor Vincent Lenaerts
e-mail: v.lenaerts@helmo.be
HELMO-Gramme Campus de l'Ourthe,
Quai du Condroz 29, B-4031 Liège
Lead professors by theme:
Anne Christine Cadiat (HEC-Liège) Marketing accadiat@uliege.be
Anne Chanteux (HEC-Liège) Finance anne.chanteux@uliege.be
Sophie Pirard ((HELMO-Gramme) s.pirard@helmo.be
Bernard Rausin (HELMO-Gramme) Electro-mechanics b.rausin@helmo.be
Alban Van Laethem (HELMO-Gramme) a.vanlaethem@hemo.be
Thierry Pironet (HEC-Liège) Logistique thierry.pironet@uliege.be
IBE programme coordinators:
Magali Herman (HEC-Liège) e-mail : magali.herman@uliege.be
Vincent Lenaerts (HELMO-Gramme) e-mail: v.lenaerts@helmo.be
IBE programme manager
Christine Puit e-mail: christine.puit@uliege.be