Fwd: Letter to Department Help

[Mihika Kashyap]

Hi Ladies,

Here is what I have edited this letter to:

**********************************************

Dear Dr. Fieguth and Dr. Gorbet, 

This email is regarding our fourth year design project. We are the “Mrs Furniture” team. We recently had interactions with the machine shop in E3 to help build our final prototype as they had the tools and machines needed to accurately create our design, where the student shop in E5 could not teach us how to accurately build our project. Specifically, we needed help with cutting leg pieces and drilling holes into the body and leg pieces. We had approval to do this from Dr. Gorbet, but when it came to completion we had some troubles. 

A summary of our complaints regarding our E3 machine shop experience include:

1.       Work contracted was not completed on time or at the level/quality expected. We needed the work done by Friday, March 8, 2013 so that we could complete the rest of the prototype over the weekend and have it ready for the March Break Open House on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. We had an understanding that all of the leg pieces would be cut and the holes would be drilled but it was not completed in time or at the level/quality as agreed (see below for more details); and

2.       Rates charged for poorly completed job was not discounted. We understand that students who are members of Faculty sponsored teams (e.g. solar car) get a discount on the cost per hour of work at $15 per hour, whereas students who are not part of a Faculty sponsored team have to pay $25. 

In terms of the cost our understanding from the people in the shop, specifically Rick Forgett, is that the cost for Faculty sponsored teams is supplemented by the dean. It seems rather unfair students working on 4^th year projects that are related to Faculty sponsored teams (that also have industry sponsors) may receive the supplemented machine shop rate while students working on projects without any sponsorship are not given the same financial break. We understand that teams may opt to take their projects off campus and are in a way are promoting the university, but 4^th year design projects also get promoted to the general public through outreach and symposium days. For example, not only did our design project (Mrs. Furniture) win the “People's Choice Award” at the all-day SYDE Design Symposium, but we also participated in the March Break Open House as one of SYDE’s project displays in E5. We understand that other departments do have some funds to help offset student project costs. While we were fortunate to win the “People's Choice Award” and its unexpected cash prize, future SYDE design project teams may not be so fortunate – and it is not a wise project budgeting strategy to hope for cash prizes to offset overcharges by the E3 Machine Shop.

When it came to paying for our project there was some challenges, the shop likes having an account to put the charges through rather than on a WatCard but the SYDE department's Administrative Assistant, Colleen Richardson, was not willing to help us with this because they cannot accept cash to deposit into the department account. This became part of the challenge when attempting to pay for the work that was done.  In future it would be appreciated if there was some support from the department on tasks such as this so that we could put it through an account. 

While we realize that there may be little that can be done by SYDE to help our E3 Machine Shop cost situation, we would appreciate it if steps were taken to help prevent future SYDE students from having similar negative experiences.

Our questions to you, Dr. Fieguth:

If the dean isn't willing to supplement all student projects would the SYDE Department be willing to provide some supplemental fees to help bring UW machine shop rates down to a comparable level?

Is there a way that the SYDE Department can help improve the student design project experience(s) by providing a more convenient way for students to work with the E3 Machine Shop, and to help with rectifying project cost disagreements?

Respectfully,

Suhaila Baheyeldin (203072333)

Mihika Kashyap (20307107)

Rachel Northey (20289325)

Begin forwarded message:

From: Carolyn MacGregor <carolyn....@uwaterloo.ca>

Subject: RE: Letter to Department Help

Date: 25 March, 2013 10:15:18 AM EDT

To: Rachel Northey <rlno...@uwaterloo.ca>

Cc: "Suhaila B (skba...@uwaterloo.ca)" <skba...@uwaterloo.ca>, "mkas...@uwaterloo.ca" <mkas...@uwaterloo.ca>

Hello Ladies

 

Here are my comments and suggested edits in red.

When writing a letter of complaint, be sure to include detail so that the other person has a chance to verify facts (so check your facts before sending).  It is also wise to be clear on what you want and frame in a question so that the person receiving the complaint is compelled to answer.

Please cc me on the email.

- CGM

 

________________________________

Carolyn G. MacGregor, Ph.D., CCPE

Associate Professor,

Systems Design Engineering,

University of Waterloo,

Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1

 

Email: carolyn....@uwaterloo.ca

Voice: 519-888-4567 ext 32897

Office: DWE 2510

Research Lab: Usability & Interactive Technology (Use-IT, E2 1303B)

 

From: denom...@gmail.com [mailto:denominated@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Rachel Northey
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 9:11 AM
To: Carolyn MacGregor
Cc: FYDP
Subject: Letter to Department Help

 

Good morning professor, 

 

Below is the letter that we have been working on to give to the department after our expereinces with the E3 Machine Shop. Can you read through it and give us some feedback before we send it? 

 

Thank you, 

Rachel 

 

 

Dear Dr. Fieguth and Dr. Gorbet, 

This email is regarding our fourth year design project. We are the “Mrs Furniture” team. We recently had interactions with themachine shop in E3 to help build our final prototype as they had the tools and machines needed to accurately create our design, where the student shop in E5 could not teach us how to accurately build our project. Specifically, we needed help with [EXPLAIN WHAT WAS CONTRACTED OTHERWISE IT GIVES IMPRESSION THAT MACHINE SHOP WAS GOING TO DO ALL OF THE WORK.] We had approval to do this FROM WHOM, but when it came to completion we had some troubles. 

A summary of our complaints regarding our E3 machine shop experience include:

1.       Work contracted was not completed on time or at the level/quality expected. We needed the work done by DATE so that we could MEET WHAT SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE (CAMPUS DAY DEMONSTRATION?). We had an understandingBASED ON WHAT of what work would be created by a specific time and it wasn't completed in time or at the level/quality as agreed (see below for more details); and

2.       Rates charged for poorly completed job was not discounted. We understand that students who are members of Faculty sponsored teams (e.g. solar car) get a discount on the cost per hour of work at $15 per hour, whereas students who are not part of a Faculty sponsored team have to pay $25. 

In terms of the cost our understanding from the people in the shop, specifically Rick Forgett, is that the cost for Faculty sponsored teams is supplemented by the dean. It seems rather unfair students working on 4^th year projects that are related to Faculty sponsored teams (that also have industry sponsors) may receive the supplemented machine shop rate while students working on projects without any sponsorship are not given the same financial break. We understand that teams may opt to take their projects off campus and are in a way are promoting the university, but 4^th year design projects also get promoted to the general public through outreach and symposium days. For example, not only did our design project (Mrs. Furniture) win the “Popular Choice Award” at the all-day SYDE Design Symposium, we also participated in Campus Day as one of SYDE’s project displays in E5. We understand that other departments do have some funds to help offset student project costs. While we were fortunate to win the “Popular Choice Award” and its unexpected cash prize, future SYDE design project teams may not be so fortunate – and it is not a wise project budgeting strategy to hope for cash prizes to offset overcharges by E3 Machine Shop.

When it came to paying for our project there was some challenge, the shop likes having an account to put the charges through rather than on a WatCard but the [WHO IN THE DEPARTMENT, COLLEEN RICHARDSON, ADMINISTRATIOR? ERIC KUBICA, LAB DIRECTOR?\] department was not willing to help us with this because they cannot accept cash to deposit into the department account. This became part of the challenge when attempting to pay for the work that was done.  In future it would be appreciated if there was some support from the department on tasks such as this so that we could put it through an account. 

While we realize that there may be little that can be done by SYDE to help our E3 Machine Shop cost situation, we would appreciate it if steps were taken to help prevent future SYDE students from having similar negative experiences.

Our questions to you, Dr. Fieguth:

If the dean isn't willing to supplement all student projects would the SYDE Department be willing to provide some supplemental fees to help bring UW machine shop rates down to a comparable level?

Is there a way that the SYDE Department can help improve the student design project experience(s) by providing a more convenient way for students to work with the E3 Machine Shop, and to help with rectifying project cost disagreements?

Respectfully,

[NAMES AND ID NUMBERS OF TEAM MEMBERS]

 

 

 

---

 

Below is a summary of our interactions with the E3 Shop. There was an agreement with the shop that all of the work we had requested would be finished by March 8th. The following are the series of events that took place:

Friday, March 1st - Met with the E3 shop to determine if they would be able to complete our project in the timeline projected. It was deemed that the project would be completed by Friday, March 8th as Fred Bakker who would be working on it would be on vacation the next week. We were further told that it would take about 20-30 hours to complete the work, and we would be responsible for the full cost. We decided to supply them with the materials to lower our costs.

 Monday, March 4th - We dropped off all of the materials for the project in the morning.

 Wednesday, March 6th - We went back to the E3 shop to ensure that the project was on track. It was mentioned on this day that the measurements on the wood for our project were not accurate and was therefore causing problems. We were reassured that the project would still be completed by Friday, March 8th.

 Thursday, March 7th - We decided to call the shop in the afternoon to determine what time we would need to pick up our project the next day. While on the phone with Rick Forgett, we were informed that there were problems with the project.

 

 

 

-- 
Rachel Northey

20298325
4A Systems Design Engineering
University of Waterloo

[Rachel Northey]

Cool stuff :) 

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[Mihika Kashyap]

Did you girls want me to send this letter?

Mihika

[Rachel Northey]

Yes

[Suhaila B]

Yup and I see you sent it already :)

Suhaila