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Mechanical Engineering in the Information
Age
In the early 1980s, engineers thought that
massive research would be
needed to speed up
product development. As it turns out, less
research is
actually needed because shortened
product development cycles encourage
engineers
to use available technology. Developing a
revolutionary
technology for use in a new
product is risky and prone to failure. Taking
short steps is a safer and usually more
successful approach to product
development.
Shorter product development cycles are also
beneficial in an
engineering would in which
both capital and labor are global. People who
can design and manufacture various products
can be found anywhere in
the world, but
containing a new idea is hard. Geographic distance
is no
longer a barrier to others finding out
about your development six months
into the
process. If you’ve got a short development cycle,
the situation is
not catastrophic－as long as
you maintain your lead. But if you’re in the
midst of a six-year development process and a
competitor gets wind of
your work, the project
could be in more serious trouble.
The idea
that engineers need to create a new design to
solve every
problem is quickly becoming
obsolete. The first step in the modern
design
process is to browse the Internet or other
information systems to
see if someone else has
already designed a transmission, or a heat
exchanger that is close to what you need.
Through these information
systems, you
may discover that someone already has
manufacturing
drawings, numerical control
programs, and everything else required to
manufacture your product. Engineers can then
focus their professional
competence on
unsolved problems.
Many engineers have as
their function the designing of products that are
to be brought into reality through the
processing or fabrication of
materials. In
this capacity they are a key factor in the
material
selection-manufacturing procedure. A
design engineer, better than any
other person,
should know what he or she wants a design to
accomplish.
He knows what assumptions he has
made about service loads and
requirements,
what service environment the product must
withstand, and
what appearance he wants the
final product to have. In order to meet
these
requirements he must select and specify the
material(s) to be used.
In most cases, in
order to utilize the material and to enable the
product to
have the desired form, he knows
that certain manufacturing processes
will have
to be employed. In many instances, the selection
of a specific
material may dictate what
processing must be used. At the same time,
when certain processes are to be used, the
design may have to be
modified may dictate
what processing must be used. At the same time,
when certain processes are to be used, the
design may have be modified
in order for the
process to be utilized effectively and
economically.
Certain dimensional tolerances
can dictate the processing. In any case, in
the sequence of converting the design
into reality, such decisions must be
made by
someone. In most instances they can be made most
effectively at
the design stage, by the
designer if he has are a son ably adequate
knowledge concerning materials and
manufacturing processes. Otherwise,
decisions
may be made that will detract from thee
effectiveness of the
product, or the product
may be needlessly costly. It is thus apparent that
design engineers are a vital factor in the
manufacturing process, and it is
indeed a
blessing to the company if they can design for
producibility—that is, for efficient
production.
Manufacturing engineers select and
coordinate specific processes
and equipment to
be used, or supervise and manage their use. Some
design special tooling that is used so that
standard machines can be
utilized en producing
specific products. These engineers must habe
abroad knowledge of machine and process
capabilities and of materials,
so that desired
operations can be done effectively and
effi8ciently without
overloading or damaging
machines and without adversely affecting the
materials being processed. These manufacturing
engineers also play an
important role en
manufacturing.
A relatively small group of
engineers design the machines and
equipment
used en manufacturing. They obviously are design
engineers
and, relative to their products,
they have the same concerns of the
interrelationship of design, materials, and
manufacturing processes.
However they
have an even greater concern regarding the
properties of
the materials that their
machines are going to process and the
interrelations of the materials and machines.
Still another group of engineers—the
materials engineers—devote
their major efforts
toward developing new and better materials. They,
too,
must be concerned with how these
materials can be processed and with
the
effects the processing will have on the properties
of the materials.
Although their roles
may be quite different, it is apparent that a
large proportion of engineers must concern
themselves with the
interrelationship between
materials and manufacturing processes.
Low-cost manufacture does not just happen. There
is a close and
interdependent relationship
between the design of a product, selection of
materials, selection of processes and
equipment, and tooling selection and
design.
Each of these must be carefully considered,
planned, and
coordinated before manufacturing
starts. This lead time, particularly for
complicated products, may take months, even
years, and the expenditure
of large amount of
money may be involved. Typically, the lead time
for a
completely new model of an automobile is
about 2 years, for amodern
aircraft it may be
4years.
In tackling such problems, the
availability of high-powered
personal
computers and access to the information highway
dramatically
enhance the capability of the
engineering team and its productivity. These
information age tools can give the team
access to massive databases of
material
properties, standards, technologies, and
successful designs. Such
protested designs can
be downloaded for direct use or quickly modified
to
meet specific needs. Remote manufacturing,
in which product
instructions are sent out
over a network, is also possible. You could end
up with a virtual company where you don’t have
to see any hardware.
When the product is
completed, you can direct the manufacturer to
drop-ship it to your customer. Periodic visits
to the customer can be made
to ensure that the
product you designed is working according to the
specifications. Although all of these
developments won’t apply equally to
every
company, the potential is there.
Custom design
used to be left to small companies. Big companies
sneered at it－they hated the idea of dealing
with niche markets or
small-volume custom
solutions. “Here is my product,” One of the big
companies would say. “ This is the best we can
make it－you ought to
like it. If you don’t,
there’s smaller company down the street that will
work on your problem. ”
Today, nearly
every market is a niche market, because customers
are
selective. If you ignore the potential for
tailoring your product to specific
customers’
needs, you will lose the major part of your market
share－
perhaps all of it. Since these niche
markets are transient, your company
needs to
be in a position to respond to them quickly.