Design/Development Overview

THE ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS

Focus herein will be on product design, however much of

what is presented is just as applicable to the design of
processes

The design process is often combined/confused with product

development - it is difficult to distinguish where design ends
and development begins

Stages/phases in the design/development process begin with

recognition of customer needs/wants through to production
(first article)
RECOGNITION OF NEEDS/WANTS

The needs/wants are subjective and dependent on the

customer (consumer, company, government)

How does one become aware of the needs/wants? -

marketing, publications (http://www.fedbizopps.gov which
has replaced Commerce Business Daily, industry publications),
ongoing customer relationships, ...

Can create the needs/wants? - hula hoop, pet rocks,

DETERMINATION OF DESIGN CONCERNS

Design concerns are defined by the customer and consist of

design requirements (needs) and design goals (wants)

The engineer must translate, what is often times, qualitative

needs/wants of the customer into quantitative and
measurable design requirements and goals

Distinction between design requirements and design goals

design requirements - must be met for the design to be
considered a possible solution (yes or no)
design goals - features desirable in the design - the closer the
design is to achieving the goals the better the design (better or
worse)
IN THE DESIGN OF A BICYCLE

Design requirement - strength: The bike must support the

weight of the rider (with a reasonable factor of safety)
without failing. The rider doesn't care if the bike can support
twice that weight. All the rider cares about is that the bike
doesn't break when he/she rides it. The rider will not look
upon the design which is able to support twice his/her weight
with any additional favor.

Design goal - weight: The bike should be lightweight. Given

everything else is the same, if one bike weighs 20 lb and
another bike weighs 15 lb, the rider will prefer the design
which weighs 15 lb
CAN A DESIGN CONCERN BE BOTH A
REQUIREMENT AND A GOAL?

Although not typical, a design concern may be both a

requirement and a goal
a product may have specific regulations governing a design
concern (a design requirement), however, for that same design
concern the customer may desire the product go beyond the
regulation (a design goal)
i.e. automobile crash safety
THE BEST SOLUTION

A possible solution to a design problem meets all of the

design requirements

The one possible solution which is superior with respect to the

design goals is the best solution

There can be many possible solutions to a design problem,

but only one of those possible solutions is the best solution

The best solution will be the design of choice (will be the one
selected by the customer, will receive the contract award in
an industry setting)
unacceptable solutions
do not comply with all design requirements

possible solutions
comply with all design requirements

best solution
complies with all design requirements
superior with respect to design goals
THE NEXT THREE STEPS IN THE DESIGN
PROCESS ARE ITERATIVE AND THE
ORDER MAY BE ALTERED
Development of preliminary design concepts

Perform analyses (confirm the design concepts comply with

the design requirements and quantify the design concepts
with respect to the design goals)

Application of some decision theory/process to determine

which design concept is the best solution
in order to be considered as a possible solution, the design
concept must comply with all the design requirements, therefore
the decision process is applicable only to the design goals
the decision process can take the form of a simple matrix where
the performance of each of the design concepts with respect to
the design goals is compared
 The analyses may lead to revision of the design concepts or
possibly, some combining of design concepts. If that is the
case, then the revised design concepts would need to be
analyzed and so on. It may be preferable to do some
evaluation (application of a decision process) right after
development of the design concepts in order to reduce the
amount of detailed analyses necessary.

The design of choice is the one which meets the design

requirements and is superior with respect to the design goals
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Stages of product development include:

product CAD files
design tooling, tooling CAD files, and fabrication
fabrication process definition
quality assurance plan (inspection plan, testing plan)
fabrication of tool proof/process verification unit
inspection
fabrication of qualification test unit
qualification testing
fabrication of first article unit
production
At stages in the product development process, redesign of the
product may be necessary
Many stages are done concurrently, rather than sequentially
STEPS IN THE DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT
PROCESS ARE USUALLY CARRIED OUT
IN A TEAM ENVIRONMENT
The team should include representation from various functions
including: product engineering, manufacturing engineering,
production, quality control, marketing, program management

Responsibilities/contribution to the design/development by each

function:
product engineering: product design, CAD, analysis,
manufacturing engineering: fabrication process, tooling design, CAD,

production: fabrication of the product
quality control: qualification testing, inspection, acceptance testing,
marketing: customer insight (greatest awareness of customer desires)
program management: budget, schedule,