The engineering process is a sequence of structured steps that engineers have to go through to design and build an item. There are many different versions of the 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 use to solve specific issues.
The first step in the engineering design process is to define the problem. This is a crucial step because failing to fully and clearly define the issue can stall projects later in the design cycle. The solution to a problem can be found in this stage. For instance when students were tasked to design a method to hang their school lunch hooks to the desk’s bottom they came up with a straightforward solution of attaching a hook onto the bottom of the desk.
In the next step, requirements analysis is conducted to identify the specifics of the client’s requirements and resources available. This will help you prepare a clear list of the project’s requirements and constraints. If a customer requires an item that can support 20 pounds The engineer will figure out the maximum amount of weight the system can hold and the size of the hook to ensure it can hold the full lunches for all students.
The next phase is design synthesis or design planning, and is when the specifics are formulated and a precise design of the product is designed. This includes the identification of the interconnections, outputs and inputs of the different modules that form the whole system. Tools used during this phase include Gantt and Pert charts and spreadsheets that load resources sketchbooks, drawings, and proof-of-concept models.