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Engineers are problem solvers. In this chapter, we will introduce you to the engineering design process. As we discussed in Chapter 1, engineers apply physical and chemical laws and principles and mathematics to design millions of products and services
that we use in our everyday lives. Here, we will look more closely at what the term
design means and learn more about how engineers go about designing these products
and services. We will discuss the basic steps that most engineers follow when designing something. We will also introduce you to the economic considerations, material
selection, team work, project scheduling, and engineering standards and codesall
an integral part of the design process and product and service development.

Engineering Design Process

Let us begin by emphasizing what we said in Chapter 1 about what engineers do. Engineers apply
physical laws, chemical laws and principles, and mathematics to design millions of products and services that we use in our everyday lives. These products include cars, computers, aircrafts, clothing,
toys, home appliances, surgical equipment, heating and cooling equipment, health care devices,
tools and machines that make various products, and so on. Engineers consider important factors
such as cost, efciency, reliability, sustainability, and safety when designing the products, and they
perform tests to make certain that the products they design withstand various loads and conditions. Engineers are continuously searching for ways to improve already existing products as well.
Engineers also design and supervise the construction of buildings, dams, highways, and mass transit systems. They also design and supervise the construction of power plants that supply power to
manufacturing companies, homes, and ofces. Engineers play a signicant role in the design and
maintenance of nations infrastructures, including communication systems, utilities, and transportation. They continuously develop new advanced materials to make products lighter and stronger for different applications. Engineers are also responsible for nding suitable ways and designing
the necessary equipment to extract petroleum, natural gas, and raw materials from the earth.
Let us now look more closely at what constitutes the design process. These are the basic steps
that engineers, regardless of their background, follow to arrive at solutions to problems. The
steps include: (1) recognizing the need for a product or a service, (2) dening and understanding the problem (the need) completely, (3) doing preliminary research and preparation, (4) conceptualizing ideas for possible solutions, (5) synthesizing the ndings, (6) evaluating good ideas
in more detail, (7) optimizing solutions to arrive at the best possible solution, (8) and presenting the nal solution.
Keep in mind that these steps, which we will discuss soon, are not independent of one
another and do not necessarily follow one another in the order in which they are presented here.
In fact, engineers often need to return to steps 1 and 2 when clients decide to change design
parameters. Quite often, engineers are also required to give oral and written progress reports on
a regular time basis. Therefore, be aware of the fact that even though we listed presentation of
the design process as step 8, it could well be an integral part of many other design steps. Let us
now take a closer look at each step, starting with the need for a product or a service.

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Step 1: Recognizing the Need for a Product or a Service

All you have to do is look around to realize the large number of products and services
designed by engineersthat you use every day. Most often, we take these products and services
for granted until, for some reason, there is an interruption in the services they provide. Some of
these existing products are constantly being modied to take advantage of new technologies. For
example, cars and home appliances are constantly being redesigned to incorporate new technologies. In addition to the products and the services already in use, new products are being
developed every day for the purpose of making our lives more comfortable, more pleasurable,
and less laborious. There is also that old saying that every time someone complains about a
situation, or about a task, or curses a product, right there, there is an opportunity for a product
or a service. As you can tell, the need for products and services exists; what one has to do is to
identify them. The need may be identied by you, the company that you may eventually work
for, or by a third-party client who needs a solution to a problem or a new product to make what
it does easier and more efcient.

I need
better roller skates!

Step 2: Problem Denition and Understanding

One of the rst things you need to do as a design engineer is to fully understand the problem.
This is the most important step in any design process. If you do not have a good grasp of what the
problem is or of what the client wants, you will not come up with a solution that is relevant to
the need of the client. The best way to fully understand a problem is by asking many questions.
You may ask the client questions such as: How much money are you willing to spend on this
project? Are there restrictions on the size or the type of materials that can be used? When
do you need the product or the service? How many of these products do you need? Questions
often lead to more questions that will better dene the problem. Moreover, keep in mind that

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engineers generally work in a team environment where they consult each other to solve complex problems. They divide up the task into smaller, manageable problems among themselves;
consequently, productive engineers must be good team players. Good interpersonal and communication skills are increasingly important now because of the global market. You need to
make sure you clearly understand your portion of the problem and how it ts with the other
problems. For example, various parts of a product could be made by different companies located
in different states or countries. In order to ensure that all components t and work well together,
cooperation and coordination are essential, which demands good teamwork and strong communication skills. Make sure you understand the problem, and make sure that the problem is
well dened before you move on to the next step. This point cannot be emphasized enough. Good
problems solvers are those who rst fully understand what the problem is.

Step 3: Research and Preparation

Once you fully understand the problem, as a next step you need to collect useful information.
Generally speaking, a good place to start is by searching to determine if a product already exists
that closely meets the need of your client. Perhaps a product, or components of a product, already
has been developed by your company that you could modify to meet the need. You do not want
to reinvent the wheel! As mentioned earlier, depending on the scope, some projects require collaboration with other companies, so you need to nd out what is available through these other
companies as well. Try to collect as much information as you can. This is where you spend lots
of time not only with the client but also with other engineers and technicians. Internet search
engines are becoming increasingly important tools to gather such information. Once you have
collected all pertinent information, you must then review it and organize it in a suitable manner.

Step 4: Conceptualization
During this phase of design, you need to generate some ideas or concepts that could offer reasonable solutions to your problem. In other words, without performing any detailed analysis,
you need to come up with some possible ways of solving the problem. You need to be creative
and perhaps develop several alternative solutions. At this stage of design, you do not need to rule
out any reasonable working concept. If the problem consists of a complex system, you need to
identify the components of the system. You do not need to look at details of each possible solution yet, but you need to perform enough analysis to see whether the concepts that you are
proposing have merit. Simply stated, you need to ask yourself the following question: Would
the concepts be likely to work if they were pursued further? Throughout the design process, you
must also learn to budget your time. Good engineers have time-management skills that enable
them to work productively and efciently. You must learn to create a milestone chart detailing
your time plan for completing the project. You need to show the time periods and the corresponding tasks that are to be performed during these time periods.

Step 5: Synthesis
Recall from our discussion in Chapter 1 that good engineers have a rm grasp of the fundamental principles of engineering, which they can use to solve many different problems. Good
engineers are analytical, detailed oriented, and creative. During this stage of design, you begin
to consider details. You need to perform calculations, run computer models, narrow down the
type of materials to be used, size the components of the system, and answer questions about how

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Two engineers considering

details during the design
process.
Source: Courtesy of
DOE /NREL

the product is going to be fabricated. You will consult pertinent codes and standards and make
sure that your design will be in compliance with these codes and standards.

Step 6: Evaluation
Analyze the problem in more detail. You may have to identify critical design parameters and consider their inuence in your nal design. At this stage, you need to make sure that all calculations are performed correctly. If there are some uncertainties in your analysis, you must perform
experimental investigation. When possible, working models must be created and tested. At this
stage of the design procedure, the best solution must be identied from alternatives. Details of
how the product is to be fabricated must be worked out fully.

Step 7: Optimization
Optimization means minimization or maximization. There are two broad types of design: a
functional design and an optimized design. A functional design is one that meets all of the
preestablished design requirements but allows for improvement to be made in certain areas.
To better understand the concept of a functional design, we will consider an example. Let us
assume that we are to design a 3-meter-tall (10 ft) ladder to support a person who weighs
1335 newtons (300 pounds) with a certain factor of safety. We will come up with a design that
consists of a steel ladder that is 3 meter tall (10 ft) and can safely support the load of 1335 N
(300 lb) at each step. The ladder would cost a certain amount of money. This design would
satisfy all of the requirements, including those of strength and size, and thus constitutes a

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functional design. Before we can consider improving our design, we need to ask ourselves
what criterion we should use to optimize the design. Design optimization is always based on
some particular criterion, such as cost, strength, size, weight, reliability, noise, or performance.
If we use the weight as an optimization criterion, then the problem becomes one of minimizing the weight of the ladder without jeopardizing its strength. For example, we may consider
making the ladder from aluminum. We would also perform stress analysis on the new ladder
to see if we could remove material from certain sections of the ladder without compromising
the loading and safety requirements.
Another important fact to keep in mind is that optimizing individual components of an
engineering system does not necessarily lead to an optimized system. For example, consider a
thermal-uid system such as a refrigerator. Optimizing the individual components independentlysuch as the compressor, the evaporator, or the condenserwith respect to some criterion does not lead to an optimized overall system (refrigerator).
Traditionally, improvements in a design come from the process of starting with an
initial design, performing an analysis, looking at results, and deciding whether or not we can
improve the initial design. This procedure is shown in Figure 3.1. In the past few decades, the
optimization process has grown into a discipline that ranges from linear to nonlinear programming techniques. As is the case with any discipline, the optimization eld has its own
terminology. There are advanced classes that you can take to learn more about the design
optimization process.

Initial
design

Perform
analysis

Evaluate
results
of analysis

Modify
design

Yes

Can the design

be improved?

No

Figure.1

An optimization
procedure.

Final
design

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Step 8: Presentation

Now that you have a nal solution, you need to communicate your solution to the client, who
may be your boss, another group within your company, or an outside customer. You may have
to prepare not only an oral presentation but also a written report. As we said in Chapter 1,
engineers are required to write reports. Depending on the size of the project, these reports
might be lengthy, detailed technical reports containing graphs, charts, and engineering drawings, or they may take the form of a brief memorandum or executive summaries.
A reminder again that although we have listed the presentation as Step 8 of the design process, quite often engineers are required to give oral and written progress reports on a regular time
basis to various groups. Consequently, presentation could well be an integral part of many other
design steps. Because of the importance of communication, we have devoted an entire chapter
to engineering communication (see Chapter 4).
Finally, recall from our discussion in Chapter 1 regarding the attributes of good engineers,
we said that good engineers have written and oral communication skills that equip them to
work well with their colleagues and to convey their expertise to a wide range of clients. Moreover, engineers have good people skills that allow them to interact and communicate effectively with various people in their organization. For example, they are able to communicate
equally well with the sales and marketing experts and with their own colleagues in engineering.
In Step 7 of the design process, we discussed optimization. Let us now use a simple example
to introduce you to some of the fundamental concepts of optimization and its terminology.

Presentation of a design
includes both oral and written
reports.
Source: Courtesy of
DOE /NREL