The Engineer’s Tools for Designers
A product engineer has a very rich toolbox since he is led to study his projects as a whole and in a transversal way. Whether methodologies for formalizing and managing projects, design and modelling software, or theoretical and practical knowledge, especially in terms of material selection and implementation processes, nothing is left to chance. As the main guarantor of the success of its project, he needs to follow the evolution of the product, from its definition to the after-sales service. The engineer is led to collaborate closely with actors from diverse backgrounds such as marketing and R&D for product design, purchase and procurement for supply, quality and regulatory for product viability, production for its industrialization, the sales for its presentation, and finally the after-sales service for customer returns. Thus, more than on the artistic level and considering the transition of our society towards the industry 4.0 and the goals of this last one, it seems important to be able to adapt these tools for the designers.
Functional analysis appears to be one of the pillars of this approach. It is intended for designers of products or services, and concerns all the actors of the same project. Divided in several steps, it defines the system, its environment and the functions that bind them. Defining the object of the study is to begin by verbalizing it before stating it. It is important to use precision, clarity and synthesis to make this tool intelligible. In a second step, it is necessary to identify and characterize the external environment in which the system will evolve during the different steps of its life in an objective way. Indeed, although a product is theoretically designed to satisfy its main use, each stage of its life cycle adds constraints: it must then be a compromise. Linking the system to its environment, through more or less technical service functions, which allowing the creation of a powerful specification seems to be the following most important point. Once the product functions have been identified and characterized, it is then possible to measure its progress and success against objective criteria. Therefore the subtlety of this exercise is to integrate the aesthetic aspects wished for the product as functions, in the same way as other more technical functions, such as mechanical constraints for example. Because of their subjective quality, it is commonly considered as an error to include functions that rely more on sensitivity than on quantitative criteria. Nevertheless, in the context of the ENGINASHION concept, it seems relevant to transgress this "rule". Then this requires awareness on the one hand designers to a more standard formalism and on the other hand, engineers to an open mind in favor of aesthetics for better cooperation. This is why, it seems interesting that the specifications are co-created simultaneously by both parties, in a collaborative approach, and in a mixed format: technical and imaged. Finally, it is important to emphasize that this tool remains alive throughout the project.
Other relevant engineering tools in product design include parametric CAD software, numerical simulation, material selection, and life cycle management of a product. We also note the relevance of the life cycle analysis, lean management, or QHSE approach. Although these concepts are beginning to approach the world of design, the gap still exists and as an example, it seems still complicated to make a dialogue between a designer who draws on software like Illustrator and a technician who draws on software like Catia. But if the same CAD software allowed, for example, to make these two worlds interact through mixed graphical interfaces and additional modules, it would be a step forward.
Thus the ENGINASHION methodology extols a hybrid toolbox adapted to men and women of science and art.