A NEW MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY DEGREE WITH INDUSTRY COLLABORATION

Despite the global economical slow down, themarket for packaged goods material is increasinglygrowing. The packaged goods constitute a trillion dollarbusiness with a packaging industry worth several hundredbillion dollars. Packaged material requires fast, accurateand reliable machinery. As more and more goods arepackaged, new equipment must be purchased to package thegoods. The packaging industry has transformed into a highintense technology, information critical, and high speedindustry. The packaging machines employ electrical,mechanical, computer and telecommunication equipment intheir design. An engineer, who designs and maintainspackaging machinery, must be knowledgeable in bothmechanical and electrical fields. In the past packagingmachinery manufacturers trained their own engineers inhouse which took several years and many trial and errorprocesses. The fast growth in the packaging industryrequires a more systematic and scientific approach intraining the engineers.