The engineering process is a set of steps that engineers follow to develop and create products. There are many different versions of engineering processes, with fewer or additional steps. However, they all follow a common pattern. In this article, we’ll examine a 9-step engineering design process that engineers employ to solve specific issues.
The first step in the engineering design process involves delineating the issue. This is a crucial step as failing to accurately and precisely define the issue can cause delays in the design cycle. Most often, the solution to a particular issue will be apparent during this step. When students were asked to come up with solutions to attach their lunch hooks at school to the bottoms of their desks, they came up an easy hook.
In the next step, requirements analysis is carried out to determine the specifics of the client’s requirements and the resources available. This allows you to develop a clear set of project requirements and constraints. If a client wants something that can hold 20 pounds of weight the engineer will determine the maximum weight the system can handle and the size of the hook to ensure that it can hold the full lunches for all the students.
The next step, also known as design planning or design synthesis, is where the details are formulated and the detailed design of the final product is designed. This is the process of establishing the inputs and outputs of the various modules that make up the system, as well as their interconnections. This phase includes Gantt and Pert chart spreadsheets, resource loading spreadsheets, sketches, drawings, and proof-of concept models.