Blog What Do Your Designs Rely On?
Engineers are considered to be logical, thoughtful and precise with everything they undertake. Perhaps one reason why, everyone calls themselves an engineer. A house wife calls herself a “Domestic Engineer”. Doesn’t she organize, construct, manipulate, manage, contrive? All used to define an engineer, as per Merriam-Webster dictionary. So next time you boast your engineering skills, beware the docile, and over friendly cookie baking lady has exactly the same skill sets.
There are certain tools any type of engineer would rely upon.
(a) legacy data
(b) testing
(c) intuition
Legacy Data works while designing a family of products. Meaning, similar shaped parts, subjected to different magnitudes of load. Hopefully, the initial design was well engineered and optimized for material and life cycle expectancy.
Testing historically has proven to be expensive, time consuming, but definitive. Need to reduce design cycle time, and ability to match quality is need of the hour. Depends on the nature of the industry you are in, testing more than a couple designs isn’t economical anymore.
Intuition to me works if you have worked in the field for a considerable time. I have known engineers who have spent 10 years designing a pressure vessel or a nozzle. They obviously understand, different conditions components are subjected to. The kind of experience only years of practice can give. Their first shot is very close, if not always on target to an optimized design.
The ability to test multiple concepts, improve existing designs, will define product success and market acceptance. Be it machine design or product design, everyone needs to tune up design process or face competition from every corner of the globe.
SOLIDWORKS Simulation or COSMOS are tools engineers rely upon to make sure their designs perform optimally. There are budget / time constraints at any given moment to ponder upon. If we prove to your management technology works and is economically viable will they work with us?
Rajat Trehan
