University of Wisconsin–Madison

Master of Science: Manufacturing Systems Engineering (Online)

manufacturing floor
Develop stronger skills in modern manufacturing processes, systems optimization, and data-driven decision-making.UW–Madison’s online Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems Engineering is designed for engineers who want deeper expertise in automation, quality, operations, and continuous improvement. Courses are flexible and fully online, allowing you to build advanced technical and systems-level capabilities while maintaining full-time professional work.

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Degree awardedMaster of Science in Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Credits30 graduate credits
Format100% Online, part-time
Duration2-4 Years (part-time)
Tuition$1,100/credit Wisconsin residents receive an automatic $100 per-credit scholarship. Learn more.
StartFall / Spring / Summer
Application DeadlinesSpring: November 1 Summer: May 1 Fall: July 1

Is This Program Right for You?

Build technical depth in manufacturing systems engineering through a flexible online program. Learn to lead smart, efficient operations through applied learning in process optimization, quality, data-driven decision-making, and automation—all while balancing your job and personal life.
  • Join an interactive online learning experience for technical professionals in manufacturing
  • Connect with peers, faculty, and industry experts to deepen learning and expand your professional network
  • Apply concepts in automation, data analysis, continuous improvement, and smart manufacturing systems
  • Prepare for advanced technical roles such as process transformation leader, advanced engineering manager, or operations director

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Online by Design

Our courses blend applied activities, structured opportunities for interaction, and recorded instructor materials. This intentional design supports strong engagement, clear guidance, and meaningful results.

Why This Program?

27 years

of delivering interactive online education, reflecting deep experience designing high-quality online programs for working professionals.

#9 ranking

Online Graduate Engineering Programs (Industrial) U.S. News & World Report, 2026

Enhance your AI skills

with an optional 9-credit graduate certificate in Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Data Analytics, available as part of your 30-credit program (no extra coursework needed).

Student Experience

Build expertise in smart manufacturing, process optimization, and large-scale transformations. Learn to evaluate technologies, manage complex systems, and drive improvements across operations—from production lines to enterprise-level initiatives:
  • Designing and managing smart manufacturing systems
  • Applying methods for process optimization and operational efficiency
  • Implementing quality engineering and reliability improvements
  • Using data and analytics to inform decisions in complex technical environments
  • Managing technical projects and driving engineering change initiatives
https://youtu.be/dojpEWuNaUg?si=cNssU3wlsIzbAcQD
“I’ve definitely loved the variety of how information was given to us throughout the class between projects, exams, groups, and… lectures.” Mary Bains
 

Curriculum and Requirements

Complete 30 graduate credits, including  21 credits of required courses that will provide you with knowledge of the latest and best practices and innovations, along with training in quality techniques, lean manufacturing, data analytics, how to approach complex systems, quality control, accounting, and much more. Students will also complete 9 credits of elective coursework in consultation with their advisor, tailored to your goals. You will typically take two courses each semester.Live course web sessions are scheduled in the evening to accommodate working professionals. All other weekly assignments can be completed on days and times of your choice. Plan for roughly 3 to 4 hours of work per credit each week. For a 3-credit course, this usually means 9 to 12 hours, depending on the course and your professional background.
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EPD 612 – Technical Project Management
EPD 612 – TECHNICAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT3 credits.Learn key principles and tools of project management applicable to a broad range of engineering projects. Covers techniques for project planning, scheduling, resource allocation, and project tracking, as well as the interface between projects and the organizations within which they are executed.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing
EPD 678 – Supply Chain Management for Engineers
EPD 678 – SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT FOR ENGINEERS3 credits.Examines concepts, management techniques, and current trends in the field of supply chain management with emphasis on topics relevant to engineers. Topics include global logistics, logistics engineering techniques, new product introduction process, purchasing strategy, managing transportation providers, distribution center technology and operations, outsourcing supply chain functions, and an introduction to supply chain information systems.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing
ISYE 412 – Fundamentals of Industrial Data Analytics
ISYE 412 – FUNDAMENTALS OF INDUSTRIAL DATA ANALYTICS3 credits.Provides an understanding of the fundamentals of using data analytics to make data-driven decisions. Emphasizes applying techniques to industrial engineering problems. Focuses on formulating and solving real industrial problems with the appropriate modeling strategies and analytics principles for better decision making.Requisites: (I SY E 210, E C E 331, STAT 311, 324, MATH/​STAT 309, 431, or MATH 531), graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students
ISYE 615 – Production Systems Control
ISYE 615 – PRODUCTION SYSTEMS CONTROL3 credits.An intermediate to advanced course stressing the application of recent operations research techniques to production planning, scheduling and inventory control.Requisites: I SY E 315, 320, and 323 and (STAT/​MATH 310, STAT 312 or STAT/​MATH 431), graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students
ISYE 618 – Quality Engineering and Quality Management
ISYE 618 – QUALITY ENGINEERING AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT3 credits.Strategic quality planning, change management, problem identification and solving, process improvement, and performance evaluation. Business and decision-making skills related to quality systems and process improvement.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing
ISYE/ME 641 – Design and Analysis of Manufacturing Systems
ISYE/ME 641 – DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS3 credits.Covers a broad range of techniques and tools relevant to the design, analysis, development, implementation, operation and control of modern manufacturing systems. Case studies assignments using industry data will be used to elaborate the practical applications of the theoretical concepts.Requisites: I SY E 315, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students
ME 529 – Design and Applications of Smart Manufacturing Processes
ME 529 – DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS OF SMART MANUFACTURING PROCESSES3 credits.Introduction to smart manufacturing. Understand how a company can connect its operational technology systems (e.g., machine tools) to its information technology systems to improve operational efficiency. Covers terminology, sensors and data, industrial computing platforms, data workflow and analysis, cyber-security, human factors, sequential logic control, and case studies of their application in smart manufacturing. Provides the basis for making informed decisions about how manufacturing processes and systems can be designed to be more adaptive (flexible) by automating, collecting the right data, sharing that data, implementing control systems and understanding the impact on humans and organizational systems.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing

EPD 416 – Engineering Application of Statistics
EPD 416 – ENGINEERING APPLICATION OF STATISTICS3 credits.Provides knowledge and skills to apply statistics to many types of engineering problems. Focuses on developing statistically-based experimental techniques and tests for measures of validity, application of computer-based statistical tools, and approaches to distillation of data.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing or declared in Capstone Certificate in Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Data Analytics
EPD 611 – Engineering Economics and Management
EPD 611 – ENGINEERING ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT3 credits.Addresses principles and practices of interpreting financial information and performing engineering-related economic analyses. Focuses on the practical use of economic information for decision-making.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing or declared in Capstone Certificate in Applied Engineering Management
EPD 613 – International Engineering Strategies and Practices
EPD 613 – INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING STRATEGIES AND PRACTICES3 credits.Provides a deeper understanding of various elements of culture related to business, avoiding the pitfalls, and finding the complementary strengths that will benefit the business. International strategy and the managerial implications such as product, country, location, and organization choices for a multinational engineering operation will be assessed, analyzed and applied. Further discussion will be focused on multi-cultural organization issues and exploring best practices.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing
EPD 614 – Marketing for Technical Professionals
EPD 614 – MARKETING FOR TECHNICAL PROFESSIONALS3 credits.Role and contribution of marketing and product management to overall operations; target marketing and market segmentation; product lifecycle positioning; develop product and marketing plan as part of balanced marketing effort; technical perspective on social, ethical, environmental, and sustainability of marketing and product management decisions.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing. Not open to students declared in Business: Marketing, MBA.
EPD 617 – Communicating Technical Information
EPD 617 – COMMUNICATING TECHNICAL INFORMATION3 credits.Develops skills necessary for engineering professionals to communicate technical and managerial information. Covers approaches for communicating to diverse audiences and for action-oriented purposes. Emphasizes communication problem solving and communication efficiency. Includes individual and collaborative projects using oral, written, and electronic media.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing
EPD 619 – Fostering and Leading Innovation
EPD 619 – FOSTERING AND LEADING INNOVATION3 credits.Learn to develop vision, culture, and practices that value and drive innovation within engineering and technical organizations. Grow your ability to build an enterprise that values, pursues, and delivers innovative technical services and products.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing. Not open to students with credit for E P D 708.
EPD 637 – Polymer Characterization
EPD 637 – POLYMER CHARACTERIZATION3 credits.Basic principles used for both quantitative and qualitative characterization of polymeric materials, including both assessment of their synthesis and of their structural features at different length scales. Discussion of techniques such as NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and GPC (Gel Permeation Chromatography), thermal characterization, rheological characterization, as well as scattering of various types of electromagnetic radiation. Introduction to characterization methods used in industry and polymer crystallography.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing or declared in Capstone Certificate in Polymer Processing & Manufacturing
EPD 638 – Polymer Coatings and Adhesives
EPD 638 – POLYMER COATINGS AND ADHESIVES3 credits.Introduction to coatings and adhesives, with a focus on the polymer science and chemistry underlying these materials. Topics include film formation, adhesion mechanisms, material characterization, application techniques, and the role of additives in common formulations.Requisites: Graduate/professional standing or declared in Capstone Certificate in Polymer Processing & Manufacturing
ISYE/ME 512 – Inspection, Quality Control, and Reliability
ISYE/ME 512 – INSPECTION, QUALITY CONTROL, AND RELIABILITY3 credits.Inspection data for quality control; sampling plans for acceptance inspection; charts for process control. Introduction to reliability models and acceptance testing.Requisites: (STAT/​MATH 309, STAT 311, 224, 324, or STAT/​MATH 431), graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students
ISYE 516 – Introduction to Decision Analysis
ISYE 516 – INTRODUCTION TO DECISION ANALYSIS3 credits.Overview of modeling techniques and methods used in decision analysis, including multiattribute utility models, decision trees, and Bayesian models. Psychological components of decision making are discussed. Elicitation techniques for model building are emphasized. Practical applications through real world model building are described and conducted.Requisites: (STAT/​MATH 309, STAT 311, or STAT/​MATH 431), graduate/professional standing, member of Engineering Guest Students, or declared in Capstone Certificate in Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Data Analytics
ME 446 – Introduction to Feedback Control
ME 446 – INTRODUCTION TO FEEDBACK CONTROL3 credits.Overview of linear feedback control analysis and design techniques for mechanical systems. Modeling of linear dynamic mechanical systems (review), derivation of their defining differential equations, and analysis of their response using both transient and frequency response techniques; Analysis and design of feedback control of mechanical systems using classical control transform techniques such as root locus and frequency response; Analysis of system robustness through evaluation of phase and gain margins and the Nyquist stability criterion. Design of feedback controllers for mechanical systems using frequency domain loop-shaping methods. Design domains, including mechanical, thermal, and fluid feedback control systems. Effects of non-ideal system characteristics commonly encountered in mechanical systems, such as compliance, delay, and actuator and sensor saturation. Builds on knowledge of high-level computational programming language such as Matlab or Simulink.Requisites: (M E 340 or E M A 545) and (MATH 319 or 320), graduate/professional standing, member of Engineering Guest Students, or declared in Capstone Certificate in Power Conversion and Control. Not open to students with credit for M E 346.
ME 447 – Computer Control of Machines and Processes
ME 447 – COMPUTER CONTROL OF MACHINES AND PROCESSES3 credits.Discrete control theory reduced to engineering practice through a comprehensive study of discrete system modeling, system identification and digital controller design. Selected industrial processes and machines utilized as subjects on which computer control is to be implemented. Focus: computer control economics and planning as well as the control theory and programming.Requisites: ME 340, 346, or 446, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students
ME 514 – Polymer Additive Manufacturing
ME 514 – POLYMER ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING3 credits.A quantitative and qualitative study of additive manufacturing processes. Emphasis on proper additive manufacturing technique selection for optimized final product design and properties, as well as presentation of emerging additive manufacturing techniques.Requisites: Senior standing and (M E 310 or 313), graduate/professional standing, member of Engineering Guest Students, or declared in Capstone Certificate in Polymer Processing and Manufacturing
The courses listed here are the most common elective options. Other courses may be approved as electives, and your program advisor can help you explore what will fit best with your goals.

View full course descriptions

Tuition and Financial Aid

$1,100 per credit, payable at the beginning of each semester. Wisconsin residents receive an automatic $100 per-credit scholarship.* Students are responsible for paying their tuition bill in full by the due date. The scholarship is credited to their student account after the semester’s drop deadline and before the start of the next semester. There is no lump-sum payment plan.*Wisconsin resident tuition scholarship does not apply to students with tuition waivers..See Tuition & Fees for more information.

Paying for Your Degree

Many students use a combination of employer tuition assistance, scholarships, financial aid, and payment plans to reduce out-of-pocket costs.

Click on the link/title above to explore employer reimbursement strategies, scholarship opportunities, federal aid options, and flexible payment resources for online students.

Employer Support Many students receive some financial support from their employers. Often, students find it beneficial to sit down with their employer and discuss how this program applies to their current and future responsibilities. Other key points to discuss include how participation will not interrupt your work schedule.Federal Loans Students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to receive some level of funding through the Federal Direct loan program. These loans are available to qualified graduate students who are taking at least four credits during the fall and spring semesters, and two credits during Summer. Private loans are also available. Learn more about financial aid.

Admissions and Events

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All applicants must:
  • Have a Bachelor of Science in engineering or a related STEM field from an accredited institution.
  • Have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 on the last 60 semester hours of coursework.
  • Submit evidence of English language proficiency, if applicable. See the Graduate School Requirements for more information.
  • GRE is not required. Applicants who have taken the test are encouraged to submit their scores.
The admissions committee considers exceptions to standard requirements on an individual basis.

  • Online application
  • Resume/CV
  • Personal statement
  • Transcripts
  • Two letters of recommendation
For complete application details visit UW–Madison’s Guide 

Application Deadlines by Term:

Summer 2026May 1, 2026
Fall 2026July 1, 2026
Spring 2027November 1, 2026
Online Graduate Programs Overview Tuesday, September 8, 2026 5-5:30 PM CTJoin program staff for a conversation about our online graduate programs, including curriculum, application process and career impact.Register Now
Program Overview: Manufacturing Systems Engineering MS Tuesday, September 22, 2026 12-12:30 PM CTGet more information about the Manufacturing Systems Engineering Master’s Program including curriculum, application process and potential career paths.Register Now
Online Graduate Programs Overview Tuesday, October 13, 2026 12-12:30 PM CTJoin program staff for a conversation about our online graduate programs, including curriculum, application process and career impact.Register Now
Watch anytime on YouTube:Program Overview: Manufacturing Systems Engineering Meet Program Director Jim Rink and learn more about the online Manufacturing Systems Engineering (MSE) master’s program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison including curriculum, the engaging nature of the program, and the flexibility of doing an online degree.

Faculty and Staff

James Rink, EdD Program Director

James Rink, Program Director Email Jim

Libby Miller Graduate Student Advisor

Email Libby

David Ding, PhD
Frank E. Pfefferkorn, PhD
Raj Kamal, MS, MBA
Kaibo Liu, PhD
Peter B. Lukszys, MBA
Terry Mann, MS
Brian Price, PhD
Jeffrey S. Russell, PhD, PE, Dist.M.ASCE, NAC, F.NSPE
Jiao (Tina) Xu, PhD

FAQ

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A: Yes. The MS in Manufacturing Systems Engineering is 100% online and designed for working professionals.

A: Most students finish in about two to four years while working full time, typically taking 1 to 2 courses per semester.

A: Tuition is charged per credit. See Tuition & Fees for more information.

A: Yes. Courses are designed for part-time study alongside a full-time job.

A: No. The diploma awarded is a UW–Madison graduate degree and does not reference online delivery. Courses are taught and assessed under the same academic standards used across UW–Madison graduate programs. The mode of instruction does not change the credential earned.

A: Submit your application through the Graduate School. See Admissions for details or click here.

Ready to lead with confidence? Advance your career with UW–Madison’s online MS in Manufacturing Systems Engineering.

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