Industrial technology senior Audrey Egan is getting a taste of business as an operations manager for a lab class offered at Cal Poly.
Students in Applied Business Operations (IT 407) must think of an idea, invest in materials, manufacture and then sell the product at the end of November.
“The class feels like something you would do at a job or something you would actually need to know to create a small business off a product,” Egan said. “It incorporates a lot of team dynamics and a lot of decision making.”
The class of approximately 40 students is divided into five groups which will each aim to understand what it takes to create a product in a large-scale industrial setting.
Tyler Blumer, a Cal Poly graduate student, teaches and grades these students.
“Students are learning the whole process of starting a business,” Blumer said.
The applied business lab gives each student multiple roles to fill. Students divvy up the 12 different roles per group such as accounting, design, quality assurance, marketing, manufacturing, testing, packaging and sales. There are about eight students per group, so many students must carry out more than one role at a time, Blumer said.
Egan oversees a team of seven students who are designing, and soon producing, a cutting board that has a touch of science worked into its design. The cutting board features metal handles, magnets to store knives and a groove to catch meat juices.
Other applied business operations groups are working on the prototypes for a credit card multi-tool, universal knife block, passive smartphone amplifier and a pressurized cork remover for wine. The students include science and technology, which adds value to their products, Blumer said.
The students must also put up around $300 each for the materials for their group’s product. This is a risk because if the students do not at least break even with the sales of the product, they will fail the class and lose their money, Blumer said.
Having the students pay for their own materials is important, industrial technology department head Manocher Djassemi said.
“The purpose of this is for the students to understand target pricing and experience how pricing is done by knowing the different cost elements, such as machine time and material and labor costs,” Djassemi said.
Knowing this information helps students understand how much to sell products for in order to cover all their costs, Djassemi said.
After the costs are worked out, students begin seeking prototype approval. After they get it, the students begin to produce their products, Blumer said.
Blumer vetoed one idea for a project this quarter — a candleholder. It was too simple and very common, he said. He said he also initially wanted to deny the idea for the cutting board for similar reasons.
“It was going to be a tough sell and I wanted to see a little bit of science and technology going into each of the products,” Blumer said.
Egan’s group wanted to stick with the cutting board and pitched the idea of machining its own handles and embedding magnets. Blumer then gave them the go-ahead.
Students’ experiences in this lab have ranged from success to failure as a result of products that have not always been great, Blumer said.
Past products have been mostly successful, such as the Rage Cage: an adjustable beverage holder that could fit anything from a Red Bull can to a 40 ounce bottle. The Rage Cage featured a plastic belt that could be tightened to accommodate most drinks, Blumer said.
The Rage Cage sold out quickly because students found they could transport almost any drink imaginable on their bikes, Blumer said.
On the other end of the scale was the Xbox container: a twisted metal rack designed to hold an Xbox that was bigger than an Xbox and awkward in general, Blumer said.
“The Xbox container was horrible, lopsided and super janky,” Blumer said.
One group from the past produced what was supposed to be an avant-garde shoe rack that ended up looking like a metal tree — a pole with pieces of metal sticking out all over the place, Blumer said.
After they get Blumer’s permission, students must produce 100 units per group. Egan’s group will be using stainless steel and cherry and maple woods to create its cutting boards.
The groups also have to make a rotation schedule to agree upon for the welding and casting machines so there is no bickering over who is first.
In the final stage, students market and sell their products at Dexter Lawn, the San Luis Obispo Farmers’ Market and online at the end of November. Egan’s group plans to sell its board for about $60.
The lab students will learn many valuable lessons by the end of the quarter, Egan said.
“This class helps you work with people and also learn what it takes to make something that somebody would want to spend money on,” Egan said. “There is a lot more thought and fine details that go into creating a product that people will buy (rather) than what you would initially think about.”
Katharine Gore contributed to this article.