ABSTRACT
Engineering design is an interdisciplinary process that transforms marketing ideas and consumer wishes into specific information and instructions that will allow successful manufacture of the product. Figure 5.1 shows the diverse factors that have to be considered when designing a component. In industry, design work is normally carried out by the design engineer in collaboration with other departments including customer service, marketing, and sales; legal and patents; safety, codes, and regulations; R&D; and materials and manufacturing. The design team is often required to make compromises to satisfy the conflicting requirements of the different constituencies. Engineering design work is usually performed on three different levels:
1. Development of existing products or designs, redesign, by introducing minor modifications in size, shape, or materials to improve performance or to overcome difficulties in production. This type of work represents a large proportion of the design effort in industry and may be accompanied by failure analysis to reduce the likelihood of further failures.
