From Concept to Craft: ITP Capstone Students Turn Classroom Learning into Real-World Manufacturing
Students in the Applied Business and Production Management class work on a capstone project. Pictured here are Grant Lindblom, left front, and Josh Melone, front, right. In the background are, left to right, Owen Kato, Miles Mcgrath and Dane Dodge (Photo: Jahan Ramezani)
Inside a lab in Cal Poly’s Engineering West building, filled with the hum of machines and the scent of freshly cut metal, students are transforming design prompts into real products.
The students are part of ITP 467: Applied Business and Production Management, a capstone course in Cal Poly’s Industrial Technology and Packaging program. Designed to simulate a full product development cycle, the class challenges students to identify user needs, prototype solutions and manufacture 30 units of a finished product. This year’s projects are being purchased by the President’s Office and the Orfalea College of Business to be given as gifts to donors.
“It’s an accumulation of skills from several classes,” said Tim Clark, a lecturer who is teaching the course for the first time this year. “You go from user research to prototyping, and then hit the crux point, when you actually have to manufacture what you designed.”
The four project teams are creating a bolt-action pen and holder, a topography-themed puzzle inspired by Cal Poly’s Three Peaks, a compact shovel and a burger smasher. Each team has navigated its own manufacturing challenges, from sourcing materials to learning new machines, all while working under real production timelines.
The team created a bolt-action pen machined the body from aluminum and shaped its walnut base using computer-guided tools. Before working with metal, they prototyped their designs using SolidWorks and 3D-printed models.
“We used low-fidelity prints to get a sense of form and feel,” said student William Won.
These early versions are simple and inexpensive, he explained, used to test size, shape and usability before committing to more expensive materials.
Students in the ITP capstone used machines and software to design and create their products. Pictured at the lathe are, left to right, Tyler Matlosz, Chris Escano and Willian Woon (Photo: Jahan Ramezani)
“It helped us figure out what design elements were actually manufacturable,” he said.
Jacob Nava, another member of the team, focused on developing the product’s packaging using computer-aided design (CAD) software. He said much of the pen’s design was shaped by user research.
“Little details like the length, grooves and thickness all came from what people told us they liked in other pens,” he said.
Michael Gallo worked on machining the pen tips using Cal Poly’s newly operational computer numerical control (CNC) lathe. He said the process required extensive trial and error, including tutorials and hands-on learning.
“We’re here all day, every day,” he said.
PHOTO GALLERY: See students in ITP 467 presenting their ideas and creating them in the lab. (Photos: Jahan Ramezani)
After machining, the team drills and taps each pen manually and uses an aluminum carrier inside to house the ink cartridge and enable the bolt mechanism. To create more complex curved features, they used a fourth-axis tool borrowed from the College of Engineering. Unlike a standard mill, which moves in three directions — left to right, front to back and up and down — a fourth axis allows the part to rotate during cutting. This makes it possible to machine rounded profiles with greater precision.
Not every part of the process went as planned. While the pen design came together smoothly, the walnut base posed unexpected challenges.
“We kind of really knew what we wanted with the pen,” Nava said. “But with the base, we were all over the place for weeks. Eventually we settled on a sleek shape that mirrors the pen’s look.”
Clark said that kind of problem-solving is a core part of the course. Students are expected to carry what they’ve learned in earlier design and manufacturing classes into a real production environment. The challenges they face, from user feedback to design pivots, reflect the realities of working in product development.
“That’s the hard part,” Clark said. “Can we make it? Can we make it in the time frame we have? Can we afford the materials?”
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