Trouble shooting is a bread-and-butter skill for all engineers. Since the 1970’s, we at McMaster have been teaching process trouble shooting as part of our design sequence in the fourth year of the chemical engineering curriculum. This work was pioneered by Dr. Don Woods and has been continued by Tom Marlin and Carlos Filipe. The workshop will consist of two activities. First, Dr. Marlin will introduce the fundamentals of the trouble shooting method through an interactive lecture-discussion. Attendees will learn the six steps and apply them sequentially to a problem introduced during the lecture. Second, the attendees will breakout into three-person “triads” and perform three exercises. During the exercises, each person will view the process through three perspectives; the trouble shooter, the observer and the supplier of feedback. What will you gain from this workshop? • Practitioners will sharpen their procedures for solving those time-critical problems involving diagnostic and quick solution • Professors will see how to teach trouble shooting within the design sequence and learn about available resources • Students will experience the workshops that students at McMaster consistently rate as one of the best experiences of their university education Lecture notes will be provided for the first 36 participants. The material for the group exercises will be provided during the workshop.

Education