Product creation is no easy task
that can prove to be pretty daunting as well.
Engineers pull it off in a seemingly flawless way. This is because they have a process to
follow. Although the engineering design
process varies between firms, it is essentially the same idea throughout
all. You begin be defining your problem,
think of ways to solve it, research and refine your ideas, then build and
market it. When it comes down to it, the
whole process can get very complex and hard to keep track of everything that is
going on. Engineers will use visual,
oral and written communications to convey ideas, thoughts, actions and intent
to other engineers, manufacturers or clients during the engineering design
process in creating a new piece of technology.
First order of business for
the engineering firm is to define a problem.
Most of the time, this is a problem that society is facing and needs
innovation. Other times it is for a
client with the intention to make profit.
In an ABC production, the engineers at a company called IDEO we tasked
with designing a new shopping cart[1]. This is a very crucial step because it will
define all sequential steps. In this
step engineers will be communicating with clients as to what is required,
expected and deemed suitable for this task.
During this stage of things,
there is often lots of written communication that is used for reference later
on in the project. They cannot remember
everything that was said so they will write it down. This makes the needed information easily
accessible and they will not have to bother the client when they need to
remember a detail about the product that they were tasked with building. The engineers may begin to use a house of
quality in this stage while they have the client present. A house of
quality is essentially a spreadsheet that translates the client
defined constraints into engineering jargon that will be used in evaluating the
ideas that are thought of during the next few phases.[2]
Next in engineering process
is research and brainstorming. They can
go in either order, which is why they are talked about together. Research is exactly what it sounds like. Engineers will go and research similar
problems to the one they are tasked with solving. This could be something very simple and only
requires a web search, whereas others require extensive searching. On the more research heavy side of things is
what is called reverse engineering. It
is taking apart an existing product or object and attempting to learn how it
works and why it works well or does not work well. Companies do this all the time and there is
nothing illegal about it. Specific
companies will put warnings or labels on certain parts that says open at your
own risk. For example, there is a cell
phone that Boeing designed and manufactured that will erase all the data on the
phone if the back cover is taken off.
This could be useful for sensitive government officials or spies.
Boeing’s intention though was to release a phone that could be bought by the
average person. They did this so that if
your phone gets stolen or someone tries to hacking the phone it will get rid of
all the data.
Sometimes during this stage
the engineers find that there is little to no documentation of something like
this before. In that case they are left
more in the dark but it allows for more creative freedom when actually making
the final product because you have nobody competing. It could be that the technology does not
exist to make a certain product fit the desired constraints. If they are faced with an extremely
challenging problem, then they will break the problem up into something that
they can solve more easily. A screw is
nothing more than a ramp that is wrapped around an axis. This is an over simplification of it but it
serves to show that problems can be broken into smaller parts.
Mostly written
communications are used in this part.
The reason is that basic researching techniques only require basic note
taking. This again is used more for the
fact that they cannot remember everything so they need to write it down to
remember. While exploring different
answers to the problem, they might end up drawing basic sketches for the
brainstorming process to come. The
sketches could also serve a reference because it is much easier to draw what
something looks like instead of trying to describe it in words. These would be classified under visual
communications.
After all the research is
gathered, brainstorming is allowed to happen.
Brainstorming is meant to be a free thought, no criticism is allowed and
just to get ideas flowing. In the
Project Lead the Way classes, you are taught that it does not have to be a viable
option. If you thought of a pair of
shoes that could shoot lasers as defense, give you super speed and make your
feet feel like they are on air all while making your breakfast then by all
means you are allowed to bring it up.
The logic behind this is that even crazy ideas can lead to something
worth noting. In the IDEO video, the
manager talks about how he encourages such craziness and free thought.[3] From some random idea that nobody thought
would work came something remarkable and innovative.
Sketches, doodles and words
would be the communications used in this step.
This is because each person is allowed to make up their own ideas on how
they think they should solve it. To
communicate this to the other engineers on the team, they will draw what the
product would look like with lots of arrows explaining what each thing
does. These sketches can range from
something drawn on a post it note to something that is on a large piece of
white paper that has shading and looks like a piece of art. Members of the team present ideas to the rest
of the group using their drawings. This
would be oral communications. The team
leader would then write down notes about each design and everyone gets a say in
which are the preliminary designs.
Visual communications are
vital in this area because if a picture is worth a thousand words then it would
take a lot longer time to get these accomplished. These sketches demonstrate ergonomic design,
visual appeal, functionality, and how complex it is or is not. There is something about visual design that
makes it easier to understand and communicate complex ideas. To explain something in words is simply too
vague for this step. If someone said
that their design was cubic, medium size and could made using only 6 parts then
everyone’s idea of it might be different than what the original person had in
mind.
Once all possible ideas have
been thought of they move into the phase called identifying constraints. Now constraints are something that would
restrict the engineers in some way or another.
The resources are not limitless so they have to work within a confined
space that would make the product profitable and marketable while still solving
the problem at hand. For example, a
client wants a revolutionary redesigned backyard grill. They would want to be able to sell it in the
future and make it available to many people.
A constraint would be that it has to be sold for under two hundred dollars,
has a maximum volume of 64 feet squared and has to have a smoker box attached
somewhere. These are important because
the world does not have limitless resources and people selling this product
need to be able to make money from it.
Engineers have to make products that are going to be useful and
practical. Nobody will buy a hundred
dollar toaster oven. They have to keep
consumer in mind while doing this.
During this time a house of
quality and morphological matrix are constructed to better visualize
the constraints and goals of the project.[4] For the most part, the fun has ended and it
is now time to think more logically and seriously about what designs to
consider. A morphological matrix is a
spreadsheet that shows what the client is looking for and what the engineers
came up with during the brainstorming sessions.
It takes all of the better ideas that are proposed and ranks them based
on the criteria that the client has spelled out for them. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of
each design. Most of the time, they
start out with five decent designs and figure out where the strengths in each
lie. If one design has very low weight but very high fuel economy, whereas
another design has very high fuel economy but is heavier, then they would most
likely combine the two ideas to make one better idea. They do this for all the other designs
remaining and see what remains. Often,
it is only two or three designs that make it this far. This is the more where problem solving is
used a lot. During this they are more
focused on legitimate ideas that would make it to the production stage.
“The house of quality takes
the client related constraints and turns them into engineering related
constraints”[5]. If the constraints that the client is
concerned with are low weight, high fuel efficiency and low costs, then the
engineers would relate those terms into more math and science terms[6]. Low weight is a function of density, type of
material and size of the material. If
they choose a very dense material then it will weigh more for a smaller
volume. If they choose carbon fiber over
stainless steel then the cost goes up.
They would look for a cheap, light weight material. The size of the material could be related to
the volume of a container or it could have to do with the cross sectional area
of a more vehicle type product. High
fuel efficiency can be thought of in terms of weight and aerodynamics. Aerodynamics can be effected by the cross
sectional area of the product. A flat
piece of steel does not move through the air very easily when it has more area
facing the direction of travel. Turn the
steel on its side with less area facing the wind and it moves easier. They all end up relating together in some
way. At the top of the house of quality,
which is called the roof, is a large triangle with smaller triangles in
it. The engineers use that to figure out
how the math and science terms they just came up with relate to each other, as
in the example just given.
Much as the name implies,
this is the select an approach and design proposal stage of the design
process. After the best designs have
been considered and looked over, the team of engineers decides on a final
approach to take. They review over the
design ideas that have made it this far and try to narrow down and figure out
which would be the best one to go into production. Once again, they will often combine ideas
that have complimenting advantages to make the product better in some way. They will fine tune the details of the agreed
upon design as to minimize flaws.
This leads to another form
of written communications that they use in documenting the birth of a
product. The two main ones that are used
are risk registers and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA). Risk
registers examine the likelihood of something going horribly
wrong. For example it will say a steel
bar can withstand this amount of force.
Within the design you have the bar so that it might take a greater force
than it can handle, and what is the probability of that happening. It checks for things so that once this
product is being manufactured it is safe to use. It also says how severe something is if it
breaks. If a belt that is attached to a
high speed motor snapped then the belt will fly off and hit someone in the face
causing severe injury. They do not let a
product move on if it has something like that.
The engineers also test to see if, once in production, the product will
last in the consumer’s hands.
Failure
modes and effects analysis is essentially the same thing but
on a bit larger scale. It assesses where
and when the product will break. This is
the test to see how long a product lasts and what internally will cause it to
fail. It checks for the stress that each
part will take and determines whether or not that part will last the life of
the product[7]. If the product out on the market already and
then the engineers find a flaw, the FMEA will determine how catastrophic it
will be to the safety of the consumers[8].
During this step there are
also design proposals that are written.
They are basically a report on what the team thinks the solution is,
provide how much it will cost, the materials it uses, how quickly it can be
made, etc. The team of engineers will
meet back up with the client during this time and submit their design proposal
to them. If the client likes the idea
and thinks it is viable then they continue on with the design process.
Once the design is approved,
the team begins plans to model and prototype the design. This is the next step in the design
process. Modeling software is something
every engineer will encounter at some point and it is the basis for
prototyping. It is called computer
aided design, or computer assisted design. Mostly it is referred to as CAD. They essentially build the product from
scratch on the computer and give it physical characteristics that would match
the material being used. By doing this
they can save a lot of time and money.
By modeling it they can do stress tests on it, figure out where
something does not fit or how to assemble the object once it is
fabricated. It gives them a chance to
work out the remaining bugs. Nothing is
going to be perfect the first time so they do this in order to better the final
product.
From the CAD model, they
create technical drawings of each part that they modeled in the computer. From here, they dimension the drawings and
add comments for the manufacturer who will end up making it. The visual communication here is the upmost
importance. The engineer who is making
the technical drawing is tasked with calling out where certain parts go and
their respective dimensions. They have
to be careful as to not over dimension the drawings. The manufacturer does not want to have too
much information because then it just makes the drawing complicated and he or
she might miss an important dimension within the drawing. The person who creates the drawing has to be
careful so that just the right amount of information is on there.
Within the technical drawings,
there are many standards that engineers have to follow. There are Geometric Dimensioning and
Tolerances (GD&T) and these give rise to standardized ways of
communicating. One of the protocols
include, a diameter is symbolized by a forty five degree angled line coming
from the circle and then is followed by a little circle with a line that
slashes through it. This is a universal
symbol that the dimension given near that is a diameter. This way it is not confused with a radius or
arc length. GD&T also outlines how
tolerances have to be. Tolerances are
how tight of a fit something else will fit into that hole. It dictates if a hundredths clearance is
enough or is a three thousandths clearance enough. In different applications this will be
different. If a loose fit was required with not a lot of
force then there is one type of hole that is made, whereas if a snug fit, high
load and high revolutions per minute is going to need a different tolerance. These are the things that the engineers have
to think about when designing a product.
Once a prototype is made the
engineering analysis part of the process can begin. This is essentially making sure that the
product does what it is intended to do and that it does not do what they do not
what it to do. This is where a change
order could come into play. A change
order basically is something that needs changing on the product so they have to
document what the change was and why it is required.
All of this is to limit the
risk to the user and ensure that they have created something that is safe to
use and will last a while. During this
it also allows them to make sure that they are within standards and limits set
by the government. A new car has to only
allow certain amounts of carbon dioxide into the air per minute.
Once the birth of a product
is complete, there is only one last step to do and that is to make sure you
have records of everything and document whatever you left out. Documentation is extremely important to them
because if they need to go back to this project for some reason then they have
all the information that they need. They
can repeat the process without having to go through the steps again. Now because of all the documentation, this
part is the most communication heavy, in the sense that they are trying to
communicate with a future human being.
This is often used in math and science heavy disciplines. It becomes important, not just to engineers
but everyone, because science and math are based on reciprocation. If someone does and experiment is Boston then
someone else in Tokyo should get the same results.
Overall, visual, oral and
written communications play a major role in the birth of a product during the
engineering design process. The
communications are so vital because it creates a trail for other engineers or
even themselves to follow. This allows
for knowing what happened every step of the way, so that future people will be
able to find their path of logic and recreate what they did. Nikola Tesla was considered a mad scientist
during his life and yet we continue to look back at his technical drawings
trying to figure out what he was trying to do.
From those documents alone, we have been able to figure out what and why
did those things.
Works Cited
Apostolakis, G. E. (2004), "How
Useful Is Quantitative Risk Assessment?". Risk Analysis, 24: 515–520.
Clearance Chart and Lubrication Diagram. Digital
image. N.p., 29 Dec. 2010. Web. 8 Mar. 2014.
Gearyinteractive. "The Deep Dive" Youtube.
Youtube, 26 January 2011. Web. 8 March 2014
Temponi, C and Yen, J and Tiao, W.A.
(1999), "House of quality: A fuzzy logic-based requirements analysis". European Journal of
Operational Research, 117(2):340-354
Starns, Gloria (2014, March 6). Personal Interview
[2] Temponi, C and Yen, J and Tiao, W.A.
(1999), "House of quality: A fuzzy logic-based requirements
analysis". European Journal of Operational Research, 117(2):340-354
[6] ibid
[7] Apostolakis, G. E. (2004), "How
Useful Is Quantitative Risk Assessment?". Risk Analysis, 24: 515–520.
[8] Starns, Gloria (2014, March 6). Personal Interview
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