The engineering process is made up of a set of structured steps that engineers have to go through to design and build a product. There are a variety of different models of the engineering processes, with fewer or more steps. However, they all follow a common pattern. In this article we’ll examine a nine-step engineering design process that engineers use to solve specific issues.
The first step in the engineering design process is to identify the issue. This is a critical step as failing to fully and clearly define the problem could result in delays later on in the design cycle. The solution to a particular issue will be apparent in this stage. For instance when students were tasked to design a way to secure their lunch hooks onto the desk’s bottom, they came up with a simple method of attaching a hook to the bottom of the desk.
In the next step, a requirements analysis is done to determine the specifics of the client’s requirements and resources. This helps you create a specific set of project requirements and limitations. For example, if a customer wants their new product to hold 20 pounds an engineer will estimate the amount of weight the system is able to support and what the hook’s size must be to ensure it can hold the entire student’s lunches.
The next stage, also known as design synthesis or design planning is where the specifics are set and the design for the final product is developed. This includes establishing the interfaces, outputs, and inputs of the various modules that comprise the whole system. This phase includes Gantt and Pert chart spreadsheets, resource loading spreadsheets, sketches, drawings, and proof-of concept models.
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