Spring 2026 Senior Capstone Projects in Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering

Spring 2026 - Industrial Engineering Capstone Design

DFW Airport ACES Optimization

DFW moves about 86 million passengers a year across five terminals, sixteen checkpoints, and 165 gates, creating highly variable passenger flow throughout the day. ACES support this operation through passenger assistance, terminal monitoring, and general operational support. The goal is to develop a data-driven decision-making model that determines the minimum and optimal number of ACES per hour across all 5 terminals.

Analyzing and Reducing Dock-to-Stock Time at Voltava

Voltava, a subassembly vendor for General Motors, is experiencing excessive detention fees in its receiving department due to prolonged truck unloading times that exceed contractual thresholds. The objective of this project is to identify the root causes of unloading delays and evaluate whether additional drivers or revised truck scheduling policies are required. Using the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) methodology, the study will incorporate process mapping, time studies, observational analysis, and statistical evaluation to quantify sources of variability and inefficiency. The results will provide data-driven recommendations aimed at reducing detention costs, improving unloading throughput, and optimizing labor and scheduling decisions.

Optimized Spare Part Inventory

SLB is a global energy technology company focused on improving operational efficiency and reliability. Analysis of CodeRed dispatch data (Aug–Dec 2025) at their facility showed total downtime of 3.85 million minutes, with 1.26 million minutes caused by “Waiting for Parts.” This highlights a lack of a structured inventory system, leading to delays in locating and restocking critical components.
Objective & Scope The goal is to design an optimized spare parts inventory system to reduce downtime by at least 7% within three months. The project focuses on five high-impact part categories and integrates with the existing CMMS system.
Key Design Decision A barcode-based tracking system was selected as the best balance of cost, accuracy, and implementation feasibility compared to manual and RFID options.

Mav Motor Lean Lab

This project focuses on the development of a mobile Lean lab to support experiential learning in Industrial Engineering. A LEGO-based assembly simulation was used to replicate a real manufacturing system, allowing students to apply Lean principles