Fundamentals of Engineering Design

The (ED) known as the engineering design process is a formulation of a plan or scheme to assist an engineer in creating a product. The ED is defined as the process of devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs. It is the decision making process (often iterative) in which the basic sciences, mathematics, and engineering sciences are applied to convert resources optimally to meet a stated objective. Among the elements of the design process are the establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing and evaluation.

The ED (Engineering Design) process is a multi-step process including the research, conceptualization, feasibility assessment, establishing design requirements, preliminary design, detailed design, production planning and tool design, and finally production. The sections that follow are not necessarily steps in the engineering design process, for some tasks are completed at the same time as other tasks.

Research

The maximum amount of time is spent on research, or locating, information. Consideration are to be given to the existing applicable literature, problems and successes associated with existing solutions, costs, and marketplace needs.

The valuable source of information should be relevant, including existing solutions. Reverse engineering that can be an effective technique if other solutions are available on the market. Other important sources of information include the Internet, local libraries, available government documents, personal organizations, trade journals, vendor catalogs and individual experts available.

Feasibility Assessment

The feasibility of the assessment is to determine whether the engineer's project can proceed into the design phase. This is on the based two criteria: the project needs to be based on an achievable idea, and it needs to be within cost constraints. It is the utmost importance to have an engineer with experience and good judgment to be involved in this portion of the feasibility study, for they know whether the engineer's project is possible or not.