Engineering Design Process

Engineering Design Process

Engineering Design is not just a step, but a series of steps followed by all design engineers to efficiently design products. The quality of design and the usability of the product depends largely on these steps. 

Good Design

The definition of a good design differs a lot depending on the perspective.

According to,

• Manufacturer
• Easy to manufacture
• Low-Cost manufacturing / Maximum profits
• Lower material cost
• Lower machining cost
• Customer
• Low cost
• Easy to use
• Form factor
• Quality or Life

Product Life Cycle

Deciding the product life cycle is a very important part of Engineering Design.

The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is divided into a number of phases depending on the type of the product.

These phases are,

Survey

This is the first and the most important step in the life of a product.

This is the step that decides what the product will be...

In this phase, the basic 6 questions are answered,

• Why?
• The need for the product
• What? 
• The problem statement
• Who?
• Who is the product for
• Man or Woman or both
• Rural or Urban
• Age group, etc
• The people required
• Designers
• Prototype engineers
• Machine workers, etc
• Where? 
• Regions where the product will be used
• Rural or Urban
• Luxury or Essential, etc
• Applications
• Home
• industry
• Educational Institutions, etc
• When? 
• Deadlines
• by when is the product required
• How?
• What processes can be followed
• Design approach
• Outsourcing, etc

Concept

This comes next after the basic parameters are decided.

In this phase, the initial ideas are worked on. This may involve sketches, internal circuitry, and all the other initial things depending on the type of product.

The Concept Cars in the Auto Shows, The new Technology products are a part of this phase.

Of course,  these concepts are prototypes and have their own PLC.

Modelling

This comes after the conceptualization phase. In this phase, models of the product are made. They may involve the appearance, working of the product. Multiple models are made to find the better one.

Analysis

Different types of analysis are run on the models created in the previous phase. This phase may involve Structural, Thermal, Flow, etc. The types of analysis done on the models are solely dependent on what the product is, what environment may the product be subjected to, and the application of the product being analysed.

Note: The Modelling and Analysis phases can be together termed as the 'Design phase'. The modelling and analysis go hand in hand, and a lot of to-and-fros may take place in the Design phase.

Prototyping

In this phase, one or more physical models is made and presented to experts and/or customers for review. This is a very important phase. This is the phase which decides the further fate of the product, will it be manufactured or not, will the product sell or not...

Therefore, most brands make very flashy prototypes to showcase, to impress the customers. 

Manufacturing

The product is mass-produced and sold to general customers. The product that comes out may have some features of the prototype, but not all.

After the product is manufactured, we need to survey the customers to know if the product fulfils their need.

And thus, the cycle continues...