What does it mean to be an engineer? Engineers scope, generate, evaluate, and realize ideas. Engineers are often characterized in embracing the design process by highlighting the creation, assessment, and selection and making or bring to life of ideas. Engineering design is a long and methodical process used in the creation of functional products and processes. Management is typical held by individuals with the responsibility to oversee projects and company operations. In reality managers and engineers work closely together in product development towards achieving project completion. Managers might have a tendency to overlook the engineering design process and focus primarily on achieving final production. A well tuned engineering design can lead a company into better practices of engineering and improve existing operations that are beneficial to all. This article will dive into the benefits of justifying better engineering design to your manager.
Engineering design is a systematic, intelligent process in which designer generate, evaluate, and specify concepts for devices, systems, or processes whose form and function achieve clients’ objectives or users’ needs while satisfying a specified set of constraints. Managers are not the only ones who don’t fully understand the power of good engineering design practices. Engineers often employ a style of design that they have become accustom too, often unaware that engineering design can go much further and more in-depth than typical industrial design practices are currently using it for. The design process itself is a complex and cognitive process.
Let's briefly go over the engineering design process and the step included in it:
Identify the Problem
Identify Criteria and Constraints
Brainstorm Possible Solutions
Generate Ideas
Explore Possibilities
Select an Approach
Develop Models or Simulations
Engineers need to have a broad look over of the entire framework of the project. Being able to move quickly from one task to the next without losing sight of the overall objective. Able to handle project complications, uncertainty, and change effectively will make an engineers successful and demonstrate good character.
These traits exhibit qualities of a good design engineer, and often engineers tend to be in managerial positions after years of experience in their respected fields. Managers need to have a fundamental understand, with or without engineer expertise, and be able to replicate the qualities listed above, just as the product development engineer does.
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What are some of the common drawbacks from an unrefined engineering design process, here are a few that commonly come up:
Project Complications
Unknown Probable Uncertainties
Overwhelming Project Complexity
Properly Validated Products
Developing a full understanding of the design process can help achieve better results for your company and demonstrate to managers the need for better engineering design.
Good designers can anticipate the unintended consequences emerging from interactions among multiple parts of an assembly. This kind of foresight is essential for designing engineering assemblies and managing the design process. Most managers, especially recent graduates, could not effectively grasp the reasoning about the dynamics involved with most systems. An in-depth approach for qualitative evaluation of the customers problem can offer better returns further down the line during production. Spending more time understanding the problem statement rather than focusing solely on getting the product to market can save in production costs that weren’t originally anticipated. A well structure design process needs to account for all possibilities that the project could run into. Explaining the drawbacks of not accounting for manufacturing issues, design error, and product complications, that could have been anticipated, can save the company in development time and product cost.
Managers need to understand that project start at a fundamental and rudimentary approach for engineers to begin design and development. There is no perfect first model and most evaluations are done with a rough idea in mind. These approaches give engineers a starting point to develop the project objectives around and start the iterative design considerations.
Engineering design is conducted with imperfect models, incomplete information, and often with ambiguous objectives. The effects of most uncertainties are even more prominent in the design of assemblies. Many engineers have a fundamental understanding of statistical and probability from their education. But, numerous studies have shown that people, not just engineers, are prone to serious error in probabilistic and statistical thinking, often neglecting certain existing probabilities.
Explaining to managers the importance of a well listed understanding of product expectations and problematic uncertainties can alleviate unwanted stress later in production. Expanding on developing a thorough understanding of issues and errors that the product may encounter can increase product quality. Developing thoroughly evaluated assemblies will provide customer confidence in the future, by displaying the company’s ability to design and develop prime quality products. Developing awareness through modern computational tools to support probabilistic thinking is a method used by many companies today. CAD software has come very far and is a powerful tool that can be used to develop product awareness and simulate possible outcomes.
One of the many challenges that designers face is the increase in complexity of the project as the number of variables and interactions grow. This begins to stretch the designers grasp of understanding all the details involved simultaneously. One method for regrasping the concept is to take a step back from the project and look at the primary objects, focusing attention on a limited number of factors. Preferably the most important ones. Good designer can effectively estimate that the parameters and identify those that can be safely neglected, at least for specific purposes. Understanding that projects have primary goals, usually stated by the client, that need to be achieved will direct attention to certain topics and gain insight of how to develop the product centralized ideas.
Managers understand the end game, and want to make the project flow as smoothly as possible. Underestimating the project and constraints on it can seriously affect the end result. Problem understanding and taking more time to develop on the important objectives is beneficial not only to the engineer, but the manager as well. If certain criteria is not met and other less important functions are completed instead this can lead to client dissatisfaction and the time for the product to reach market. Consequentially this would provide an advantage to competitors developing similar products.
All agree that designers make decisions throughout the design process, and that they make sound decisions based on available alternatives to the problem. Engineering design is a rational process that requires individuals to make the best possible choice based on the best possible results. Exploring the relationship between design decisions and the performance, if the resulting solutions are fundamental to design, and optimization is used to introduce goal-seeking directly into design exploration. Designers make well informed decisions based on project framework, design constraints, concept generation, and design alternatives. Critical decisions are done after a thorough understanding of the possibilities that exist and are selected based on producing the best results. Managers need to understand that setting up a well structure design matrix with a list of all possible alternative for the project is essential to evaluate the best options for the final product. More time spent on framing and conceptual design will reduce the chances that a better alternative was not left out during the design phase. Companies that are facing the intense competition and are trying to push an inferior quality and functionality product to market will end up with a reduction in the product demand as well as in customer satisfaction. Spending more time on concept generation will undoubtable supply more options for producing the best results, this could generate public demand of company products due to the superior quality it is known to produce.
Spending a thorough amount of time in the design phase reaps benefits in the long-term race. Designing has a defining effect on the quality and function of the final product. A well thought out design is one that will thrive in the market. Companies that exhibit these qualities in their engineers will undoubtable see product quality and assurance increase.
Every company has a public image that they want to maintain. Companies that rush to get products to market will see issues along the way if the project was premature in design development. Issues and errors come in all size or form, and can wreak havoc on product quality. There are benefits to being the first to getting the product to market, but if the first generation of products turns into a sour apple then public image can take a hit.
Taking the time to look at all the options and possibilities involved with the project can make development run smoother than a fast paced production deadline. Last thing managers want is to see products that have manufacturability issues or functionality problems. These could lead to time delays and re-designing, that could have been avoided if time was taken to understand the project in the early stages of the engineering design process. Rushed work and oversimplified solutions do not allow you to produce the best results, and should be avoided if possible so that the company does not get impacted through it.
Do you feel that design is missing something in your company? If you could how would you like to change it and why?