The Engineering Design Process

Many engineers use an organized engineering design process to come up with solutions to customer requirements. The process adds structure to projects, and also encourages creativity. The objective data collected during the process can help reduce bias and improve decision-making. The process of engineering also shows that setbacks and failures can be useful sources of data for future projects.

The first step in the engineering design process is problem definition. Engineers must be clear on the purpose of their product and the reasons for its existence. This is essential for the rest of your engineering process.

Once the problem has been defined it is important to gather as much information about the solution to the need as you can. This can be accomplished by researching, asking his explanation difficult questions and thinking about ideas. This is where engineering creativity truly shines and where the most innovative solutions can be found.

Engineers should identify solutions and analyze their pros and cons prior to choosing the best. The solution must also be able meet the project’s requirements (e.g. materials, cost, time and space).

Once the best solution has been chosen, it is a good idea to make a model of the product or equipment. Then, tests can be conducted to see if the product does what it is supposed to do. By identifying problems in the initial stages the project is able to reduce overall time to develop and also saves money to fix problems later on.