Part Concept Selection and Decision Process

[LaurenceSachs]

Hi there,
I trust you all are having a good start to the new year!

As a design engineer, I continuously have to look at new ways of designing components or products.

I obviously have to take cost, weight, material, corrosion, reliability, performance etc. into account. I am familiar with using a Weighted Design Matrix. Where all the options are listed and scored based on their affect on the relevant criteria. The option with the best score is the design that we use.

Now I am finding this unreliable, and I would like to know whether you have any process of making calculated decisions for designs?

Any feedback would be great!

Laurence

 

[tomwalz]

rb1957

I don't know. I got $20 for a piece of carbide that was just lying around.

Yes, I did consider the opportunity for profit.

It felt like one of those things that was going to be a lot of time and trouble and end up nowhere.

It reminds me of a question I got from a banker once. "Now all this R&D you are doing, is that going to pay off?"

I am 65 years old and I lost an awful lot of net worth since 2007. Had to drop pretty near everything, including, my salary and all R&D to survive. Things are getting better but they are still really uncertain. I have learned to be very cautious with all my resources. I don't think their request was possible. I really want to work on things that will be successful, ongoing product lines.

Because I own the place I can use ethics and morals in the decision making process.

I really miss R&D. It is such an incredible rush when something works. Sometimes I just keep running the experiment over and over because it is so much fun to see it work.



Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[rb1957]

tom,

hear your pain, brother.

i read your post as though to sold them a piece of tool steel that'd work for them (rather than a fabulously (??) expensive piece of carbide plate, that they'd asked for but probably wouldn't've worked)

 

[LaurenceSachs]

Yep it is a lot of extra work, I think I am just cautious of forgetting to take something into account...

Thanks

 

[GregLocock]

The main purpose of these formal matrix-like thingies is that it encourages you to identify what information you DON'T have.

Probably an experienced engineer can see how to fiddle the weighting factors to get the answer he wants (yes I might have done this once or twice), but at least he can see how blatantly he's had to rig things to get the right answer.

Most often when looking at one of these and the wrong solution pops up, it is because I've forgotten a complete line item.

Same in FMEAs. The bit of paper isn't the real value, it is being encouraged to think about what is going on that is the important bit.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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