What Is an Engineering Design?
Engineering design involves applying engineering techniques and principles to find practical solutions to design challenges. Design engineers often develop products that meet specifications or accomplish specific tasks to solve a problem. They often divide the whole engineering design process into several steps, introducing clarity and structure to their tasks. Product teams usually begin the engineering design process steps with the ideation stage, seeing the product through from prototyping to production when it is ready to enter the product market.
Engineering Design Process
Engineers follow the engineering design process meticulously to provide the best design solution to problems. Although engineers scarcely follow the engineering design process steps as listed, the common practice is to generate a design, test it rigorously, identify a problem, and revisit the earlier steps to modify the design. This mode of operation is often called ‘iteration’. This section of the article explores each stage of the engineering design process:
Problem Definition
One of the earlier steps in the engineering design process is defining the problem, and it is the most important step. The engineering team meets with the product stakeholders, including product managers, the sales team, and investors. They all discuss the product design’s requirements in detail, and the entire group’s expectations are well-understood. Product quality, budgetary constraints, aesthetic requirements, product functionality, and material limitations are common issues discussed.
Defining the design challenge helps create a framework for design teams to base their work on. As such, goals are put in place for subsequent stages in the engineering design cycle, and you are expected to revisit the problem statement if complications arise.
Research
In this stage, engineers study the project thoroughly to understand the problem from different sources, such as design consultations, academic literature reviews, and engineering design principles. Through research, you can learn from the experiences of others, discover existing solutions to related problems, and avoid repeating the same mistakes.
This research allows designers to ask users or customers critical questions to develop the best solution for a design problem. It offers designers definite insight into the problem and prepares the stage for enlightened decision-making. Ultimately, the product designers recognize the problems they may encounter and the positives they can leverage.
Design Requirement
After completing the research phase, engineers can translate their insights into specific criteria to define design requirements. These criteria are primarily specific, measurable, and technical. In a typical engineering design process example, these requirements include targets such as user safety, product weight, user life, volume, and manufacturing costs.
Feasibility Study
Feasibility study is a critical phase in the engineering design process. It focuses on assessing the real-world practicality and how feasible the potential solutions are. Generally, product engineers weigh their design ideas against limitations coming from financial, legal, technical, and environmental aspects.
Moreover, designers get to understand the project beyond the core design aspects. Besides, they can identify potential challenges, risks, and technologies that can help creatively define a feasible way forward. Furthermore, ensuring project feasibility is often important to secure funding from investors.
Concept Generation
Feasible projects transition to the concept generation phase, an intensive brainstorming stage where the design team suggests ideas for different design concepts. Creativity and problem-solving are the focus in this phase; team members are encouraged to source for possible solutions to the issues at hand. Consequently, intensive brainstorming creates a pool of potential design concepts that the team can then move ahead with.
Following the initial stage, design engineers have idea-specific discussions to filter poor ideas and place their focus on the concept without exploring it further. This phase is critical to the engineering design process as low-potential ideas are sifted out while the team gains clarity and informed direction concerning their approach.
Initial Design
Designers need to get to work after finalizing a concept for production. The initial design stage involves creating rough outlines or initial drafts of the proposed solutions, focusing on key design features and requirements. It facilitates effective cross-team communication, which is crucial to ensuring the progress and transparency of the engineering design process. These initial designs are a starting point for further optimization in upcoming stages.
Optimize Design and Engineering Drawing
At the end of the initial design phase, design teams must go through a lengthy process of elimination to identify the final design they want to proceed with. However, the initial design has not become functional at this stage in the engineering design process.
Moreover, the detailed design and optimization phase bridges the conceptual and functional design gap. The initial design will add the necessary details. Different materials are selected, dimensions are finalized, tolerances are determined, and assembly setup/constraints are specified. These mechanical design activities are critical to the functionality and safety of an engineering design.
Engineers use these technical drawings to culminate and convey all requisite details within and across teams. You may also need to perform an optimization study after design. This practical design practice aims to maximize the product’s performance by finding the ideal configuration for design inputs (orientation, engineering fits, dimensions, etc.)
Prototype Development and Testing
The design team’s focus in the prototype development and testing phase is on transforming the product design into a functional form. At this point in the engineering design process, different rapid prototyping techniques, like CNC machining or 3D printing, are employed to produce a working prototype.
After, engineers rigorously test these prototypes to identify flaws and areas requiring improvement. These tests include fatigue testing, failure testing, overloading, etc. All these tests simulate the product’s real-world working environment and verify whether the design can perform efficiently in those conditions.
This is an iterative phase in the process, as each testing cycle shows new problems that require reworking the design. The transition from conceptual design to the final version often requires enough time and patience from the design team.
Moreover, this phase of the engineering design cycle allows for an in-depth design-for-manufacturing study. This analysis centers on optimizing the design to ensure its compatibility with machining processes. However, after the prolonged prototype development and testing phase, the design is ready for batch production. The design team conveys the results with other teams, including in a display board or a final report.
Production
This is the final phase of the engineering design process, after which the team launches the product to market for end-users to purchase. As such, this phase is critical, and you cannot afford to make mistakes as the stakes are high. The design team usually sends its work to the production department. The production team then prepares a manufacturing plan according to chosen manufacturing processes, material availability, quality and quantity requirements, DFM analysis, and deadlines.
For instance, suppose the product quantity is low, and the production team concentrates on low-volume manufacturing techniques like vacuum casting or CNC machining instead of die casting or injection molding processes.
After the products have been manufactured, they pass through a quality check system to confirm that they meet various clients’ specifications, such as dimensional and form tolerances, heat treatments, and surface quality.
Meanwhile, most manufacturers often work with a pre-defined quality threshold. For instance, companies operating on a 6-Sigma level must ensure less than 3.4 defects per million chances. These requirements help maintain superior manufacturing quality. Furthermore, the production team packages the products, handing them to the supply chain department for delivery.
Why Is Engineering Design Important?
Engineering design’s developed solution meets the product manufacturing needs as it drives innovation, allows customization, improves quality, shortens the product’s time-to-market, and promotes sustainability. We’ll explain the benefits of engineering design deeper under the following headings:
Cost Reduction
Engineering design effectively identifies cost-saving opportunities through product component, material, and manufacturing process optimization to manufacture products at the lowest cost. Manufacturers can optimize efficiency and reduce waste and production costs through value engineering and design for manufacturing (DFM) processes.
Time-to-Market Reduction
Tailored engineering design processes ensure products get to market faster by enabling faster product development cycles. Manufacturers can iterate designs faster, identify potential problems early, and offer as many solutions as possible, fast-tracking the overall manufacturing timeline with computer-aided design (CAD), rapid prototyping, and simulation tools.
Product Personalization
The engineering design process allows engineers and design teams to customize products according to customer’s specific needs and preferences. Through flexible manufacturing processes and modular design ideas, manufacturers can offer variations of a particular product without experiencing significant increases in production complexity and costs.
Quality Improvement
Effective engineering design focuses on product quality from the start. Manufacturers can create superior-quality products that resonate with customers’ expectations by evaluating factors such as functionality, reliability, and durability during the design stage. Therefore, it increases customer satisfaction and loyalty by reducing product defects, returns, and warranty claims.
Competitive Edge
When manufacturers invest in engineering design capabilities, they earn a competitive edge in the product market. Manufacturers with outstanding design expertise can produce unique items that meet customer preferences and facilitate premium pricing. Also, consistent design practice improvement helps companies remain agile and responsive to the ever-dynamic market trends and customer needs.
Sustainability and Environmental Considerations
From raw material sourcing to end-of-life disposal, viable engineering design prioritizes the reduction of environmental impact throughout the product lifecycle. Manufacturers ensure their products meet environmental regulations and consumer demands for feasible solutions through eco-friendly material integration, reduction of generated waste, and optimization of energy usage.
Important Skills Required for Successful Design Engineering
As a growing field with a broadened scope for young and talented professionals, engineering design constantly evolves and absorbs related principles into the vast body of knowledge, promoting the fact that engineers working on design must keep up with the latest technology to remain competitive.
Although the development of the engineering design cycle is a vast topic, we will discuss some important skills to master for successful design engineering:
Engineering Knowledge
Acquiring engineering knowledge is the first and most important requirement to becoming a talented design engineer. You must have a deep understanding of topics such as thermal and fluid systems, machine design, manufacturing, and CAD. This list is endless and we have only highlighted some of these common topics for a basic overview.
However, the knowledge requirements can change depending on the designer’s specific industry. Identifying your interest early and developing yourself in these specific skills to get a head start is a helpful practice.
Communication and Teamwork
As we have discussed earlier in this article, the engineering design cycle is not simple. One person can hardly manage the workload alone. Therefore, while working on an engineering design project, a common practice is to work in a team of non-technical and technical personnel.
Communication and teamwork are critical skills to possess as good designers and engineers. Being a good collaborator helps you to effectively carry your team very well. Respective team members put in their share of the workload, maintain respectfulness and complement each other’s capabilities.
Moreover, communication is an important skill to possess in teamwork to brainstorm solutions. Ineffective communication can cause complications in numerous situations. For instance, the inability to effectively communicate quality requirements to the production department can have severe consequences in the form of failed products.
Creative Problem Solving
The creative ability to contribute novel practical solutions to engineering problems is a key skill requirement for engineering design. Design often entails finding creative solutions to complex problems. Moreover, these solutions must match the set design requirements and meet the design standards.
As expected, it can be quite challenging to come up with new ideas that are creative and functional from an engineering point of view. As a result, it is only right that as an aspiring design engineer, you should put yourself through a design project to enhance your skills and become better at the job.
Engineering Design and Design for Manufacturing
Engineering design and design for manufacturing are intertwined concepts that work together for the success of product development processes. As discussed earlier in this article, engineering design includes numerous design engineering process steps and clearly indicated roles for design engineers at each stage. The engineering design process allows you to solve complex design problems and create products that meet specific requirements by applying engineering disciplines, creativity, and scientific method.
Design for manufacturing on the other hand is a specialized approach that centers on making a design easy to manufacture. This involves altering the design to ensure it is manufacturable and the product’s functionality remains uncompromised, while the product gets cheaper and quicker to manufacture. DFM approach evaluates material selection, production techniques, assembly methods, part complexity, tolerances, and maintenance ease.
The practice of removing deep and narrow slots, using fillets in internal corners, and avoiding thin walls in CNC machining to ensure superior surface quality and mitigated tool wear is a typical example of DFM analysis. While this causes a drastic decrease in product rejection, material wastage, and cycle times, it doesn’t alter product utility in any way.
Early integration of engineering design and design for manufacturing approaches allows you to identify and rectify potential manufacturing problems sooner in the product development stages. In addition, collaboration between design engineers and other individuals on the manufacturing team facilitates the development of products that are cost-effective to produce, maintain, and perform the desired function.
AT-Machining: Your Best Bet for Reliable Engineering Design-From Prototype to Production
The full engineering design process ensures manufacturing efficiency and feasibility, mitigates potential production hindrances, and reduces machining costs and lead times. As a rapid manufacturing expert, AT Machining optimizes the engineering design process by providing advanced and viable manufacturing solutions to meet clients’ specific preferences and needs. Count on AT Machining’s support to identify and address potential problems early on, ensuring a seamless transition from design to prototyping and production of final products. Feel free to contact us today to speak with our experienced and certified professionals about your design.
Conclusion
The engineering design process is arguably an exceptional methodology that helps design engineers devise solutions for design problems. This guide discusses various steps that make the process systematic, straightforward, and easy to follow. It evidently helps design teams better organize their work and achieve the best results.
FAQs
What Are Standard Engineering Design Tools?
Design engineers use different programs and tools to conceptualize, design, simulate, and manage the product development process. These design tools include finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), computer-aided design (CAD software, life cycle analysis, 3D printers, and CNC machines. However, the engineering design process step and the project’s nature often determine the specific choice of engineering tools.
What Are the Common Challenges Designers Encounter in Engineering Design?
Meeting design requirements within constraints like costs, integrating diverse components, ensuring the safety and reliability of the design, managing complexity, and addressing unanticipated issues that arise when designing are typical engineering design challenges.
