Concurrent Engineering Design

The production process executes the final results of the design process to produce a product or system. In the pas\. the creative design process was separated from the production process. With the advent of computer modeling. this separation is no longer necessary. and the modern engineering design approach brings both proc'CSses together.

Concurrent engineering is a nonlinear team approach to design that brings together the input. processes. and output elements necessary to produce a product. The people and processes are brought together at the very beginning. which is not normally done in the linear approach. nte team consists of design and production engineers. technicians. marketing and finance personnel. planners. and managers. who work together [0 solve a problem and produce a product.

Many companies are finding that concurrent engineering pmcticcs result in a belter. higher-quality product. morc satisfied customers. fewer manufacturing problems. and a shorter cycle time between design initiation ,md final production.

Figures 2.7 and 2.8 represent the concurrent approach to engineering design. based on 3-D modeling. The three intersecting circles represent the concurrent nature of this design approach. For example. in the ideation phase. design engineers interact with service technicians to ensure that the product willlJe easily serviceable by theconsumer or technician. This type of interaction results in a better prodllct for the consumer. The three intersecting circles also represent the three activities that are a major part of the conCllrrent engineering design process: ideation. refinement. and implementation. These three activities are further divided into smaller segments, as shown by the items surrounding the three circles.

Design for manufacturabiJity (DFM) and design for assembly (OFA) practices developed out of concurrent

engineering as an elTon to capture manufacturing and assembly knowledge up front in the imitial design

process. This allowed engineering and manufacturing professionals 10 speak a common language that results in an optimilcd product design. OFM and OFA cvcntually cxpanded to include other practices. such as design for serviceability and design for reliability. This led to the realization that it is important to include others in the design process. such as marketing, sales. field service, finance, purchasing. and quality control.

The center area in Figure 2.8 represenL~ the 3-D computer model and rellects the central importance of 3-D

modeling and graphics knowledge in engineering design and production. With the use of a modeling approach. everyone on the team can have access to the current design through a computer terminal. This data sharing is critically important to the success of the design process.

The Engineering Design Process

Bertoline--Wiebe--Miller:

Fundamentals of Graphics

Communication,3/e

The McGraw-Hill

Companies,2001

Read more........