The School of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern Polytechnical University was established in 2000. It offers two undergraduate majors, Mechanical and Electronic Engineering and Industrial Engineering, as well as five master's programs in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Management Science and Engineering, Intelligent Manufacturing Technology, and Robotics Engineering, and three doctoral programs in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, and Management Science and Engineering. Currently, the department has a total of 42 faculty members, including 11 professors and 22 associate professors, with over 50 doctoral students and over 180 master's students.

The School of Mechanical Engineering has a strong teaching capacity. At present, there are two national first-class undergraduate programs in Industrial Engineering and Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, one national famous teacher, one famous teacher in Shaanxi Province, and three members of the Ministry of Education's Teaching Steering Committee. The department offers two national excellent courses in Electrical Engineering and Machine Tool CNC Principles and Applications, one national first-class offline course in Electrical and Electronic Technology, one national excellent online open course in 3D Printing Technology and Applications, and one provincial excellent course in Advanced Manufacturing Systems, as well as a provincial first-class online course in Electrical Engineering. The teaching team of Electrical Engineering has won the national teaching team title, while the teaching teams of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering and Industrial Engineering have won the teaching team title of ordinary universities in Shaanxi Province. The course and teaching team of System Reliability Analysis Theory and Methods have been selected as the ideological and political demonstration course and teaching team for graduate education in Shaanxi Province. The department is responsible for teaching courses in Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Electrical Engineering for non-electrical majors across the university. In recent years, it has edited and published more than 30 textbooks and monographs, including four national planning textbooks for ordinary higher education in the 12th Five-Year Plan period. It has won two second prizes for national teaching achievements, one special prize, one first prize, and two second prizes for provincial teaching achievements, one first prize and two second prizes for excellent teaching materials in Shaanxi Province, and one excellent teaching material award from the Ministry of Education for ordinary universities.

The Industrial Engineering Department relies on the national double-first-class construction discipline in Mechanical Engineering and the national key discipline of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, with the support of the Industrial Engineering and Intelligent Manufacturing Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Shaanxi Digital Specialized Manufacturing Equipment Engineering Technology Research Center. It has formed four research directions in production operation and management, special manufacturing equipment, bionic electromechanics and intelligent robots, and quality and reliability. It has distinctive disciplinary and industrial characteristics in workshop intelligent optimization scheduling methods, importance theory and its application, manufacturing execution systems (MES), special electromechanical equipment research and development, bionic robots, and other areas, with a focus on national defense intelligent manufacturing equipment and systems. In recent years, the department has undertaken more than 100 projects, including key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation, national key research and development projects, national 863 projects, domestic civil aircraft projects, national defense basic research, general assembly pre-research projects, doctoral programs funded by the Ministry of Education, aviation funds, Shaanxi provincial key research and development projects, and enterprise cooperation projects. Its annual average scientific research funding exceeds 10 million yuan, and it publishes more than 80 academic papers annually, including more than 50 SCI papers. It has won one second prize for national defense science and technology, one second prize for Shaanxi science and technology, one third prize for national defense science and technology, and one third prize for Shaanxi science and technology.

(1) Production Operations and Management

This research direction focuses on the global optimization theory and algorithms for complex production processes, stochastic modeling of discrete systems, real-time information-driven dynamic optimization of production processes, IoT-enabled manufacturing execution systems, proactive optimization theory, etc. In terms of application, the research team applies modern production operation and management concepts, methods, and key technologies to promote the application of aerospace, large aircraft, manned spaceflight engineering, and other fields based on the theoretical and applied achievements in advanced production operations and management.

(2) Special Manufacturing Equipment

This research direction mainly focuses on the intelligent configuration design and electromechanical coupling of equipment, open CNC technology, key component technology and systems for defense-specific manufacturing equipment, comprehensive electronic control technology for transport equipment, etc. The research team has developed a distinctive industry feature in intelligent configuration digital manufacturing equipment rapid development and complete set technology based on modular design, combined machine tools, group technology, and open structure. The team is also dedicated to the electromechanical integration design of manufacturing equipment, key component research of manufacturing equipment, digital manufacturing equipment development, and comprehensive electronic control research of transport equipment.

(3) Bionic Mechatronics and Intelligent Robots

The research direction of bionic systems and measurement and control technology is centered around the research of bionic systems and control technology for walking, running, jumping, climbing, and flying, which meets the demands of special weapons and equipment in the aerospace and defense fields. The research team has a strong foundation and research strength in bionic mechatronic systems and key technologies.

（4）Quality and Reliability Research

Driven by industrial big data, this research direction focuses on the optimization design methods for equipment reliability, quality state monitoring of equipment manufacturing processes, and high reliability equipment health management theories and methods throughout the entire lifecycle of complex equipment products. The team provides technical support to improve the reliability and safety of major national equipment and projects. The equipment maintenance analysis tools and systems developed by the team have been successfully applied in enterprises such as Avic Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Co.,LTD, Avic Shenyang Aircraft Company Limited, the 613th Research Institute of Avic,Luoyang and other enterprises.

In addition, the School of Mechanical Engineering has undertaken two "Asia-Link Programme" international cooperation projects funded by the European Union. Currently, the department has established long-term and stable cooperative relationships with world-renowned universities such as University of California (Berkeley), Northwestern University, National University of Singapore, Centrale Supélec, Pennsylvania State University, University of Arkansas, University of Fribourg, University of Alberta, Technical University of Denmark, University of Strathclyde, Université de Technologie de Troyes, University of Vaasa, and the University of Hong Kong, and jointly cultivates doctoral students.

Contact: Prof. Zhiqiang Cai

Contact cellphone: 137 0924 7090

E-mail: caizhiqiang@nwpu.edu.cn

Updated March 2023