engineering design of motor vehicle

Engineering design is a philosophy that entails a consistent sequence of steps in the creation of practical processes and goods (Budynas & Nisbett, 2015). The processes used in engineering design are extremely iterative, with a large number of steps that must be repeatedly replicated before progressing from one stage to the next. However, certain degrees of variance occur in the method and system that iterate and cycles involved in any particular project. The method of developing engineering designs entails certain complex procedures that are needed for making educated decisions. It borrows expertise from the fundamental fields of mathematics and engineering sciences. The inclusion of all these disciplines to the field of engineering has always ensured a constant optimisation of available resources to attain and complete some specific set objective (Budynas & Nisbett, 2015). The fundamental elements in engineering design include developing achievable goals and criteria, followed by synthesis, analysis, construction, testing, and evaluation of the sketched process respectively.

Engineering designs have subsections that are handled differently to ensure excellent outcomes of the whole process. For instance, in the locomotive industry, some of the sub-sections include the following three sections:

Preparation of a design that meets clients’ requirements and specifications;

Analysis and evaluation of possible product designs to have a final project design;

Utilisation of computer-aided software in preparation for the design.

Specifications and Requirements Understanding

Specifications and requirements are the scopes that should be covered by the products or processes to fulfil the preferred designs of an intended project stipulated to the expected needs and wants of the potential customers (Ullman, 2016). The specifications are a documented set of designs needed to satisfy the value of the available raw material, the design, and the products or services. For example, when doing an engineering design for a vehicle, technical standards are determined. When a motor vehicle designing process is in the technical stage, the designers take note of the dimensions, which include the length, the width, and the height so to mention with any other specification that might be raised by the client. The design specification is one of the technical standards met in the process of designing a motor vehicle. There exist different types of functional specifications with various applications according to the term of design. To have satisfactory qualifications and requirements, an understanding of two procedures is always taken:

Customer requirements and specifications understanding;

Engineering requirements and specifications understanding.

Customer Requirements and Specifications Understanding

Case studies have shown that the successful developments of new products depend on how thoroughly the front­end design phases are executed (Ullman, 2016). Product failures arise as a result of over or under the assumption of the set requirements from the customers. Most of the project statements provide the cause of product failures as critical judgment errors made at designing the front­ to end stages (Ullman, 2016). It, therefore, means that to have effectiveness and efficiency, the principle of “fetched ­effectively” must be ensured and followed to the later. A fundamental element of front to finish design includes obtaining and developing product specifications.

Inadequate definition of the customer requirements leads to high costs of production. Poor customer requirements understanding leads to a back and forth rectification of the designs, wasting the limited resources and hence becoming expensive (Hosking & Harris, 2002). Inadequate definition of the customer requirements leads to repercussions which should be avoided at all times. The consequences include high rework and cost overruns, a lower quality output, delayed delivery, disappointed customers and exhausted and demoralised team members.

For project design to have a successful project plan and execution, which leads to cost reduction and minimised project failures, proper customer requirements booking and alignment needs to be undertaken as and when the project starts. Early and proper planning together with better understanding customer requirements reduces both costs and possibility of project failures (Tooley, 2010). Customer requirements definition and statements should be received and interpreted accurately. Feeble thoughts and preparations interfere with the results and outcome of the project design. Intercultural design recognition and development eliminates the above stated negative impacts. Thus, it propels the idea of the quality development of the user requirements (Tooley, 2010).

Intercultural recognition is a significant attempt to enhance quality development and customer delivery services, which reduces the chances of going back and forth in design. The later excerpt, from an editorial in the Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, describes how the receiving culture can profoundly influence the perception of what a product should be.

According to the Conference that addresses the history of Mechanical Technology (Yan and Guo, 2012), traditional miscellany sourced it undesirable for originators to rely on a natural acquaintance or individual familiarity International Design (Yan and Guo, 2012). Consequently, many researchers identify the need to examine social issues in motor vehicle design. For example, motor vehicle designing denotes that web design of the locomotive structure needs to have much devising, research, examination, plan, documentation, evaluation, and teachings to give a comprehensive view of requirements of the user, details of the market, and business.

Different clients have varying tastes and preferences of the locomotives they require ranging from saloon cars, caravans, all the way to buses and Lorries. Having that argument, engineering team dealing with designing a motor vehicle needs to be cautious on the type of locomotive required and what it entails. Also, clients have their individual backgrounds and lifestyle, and with that, the specs stated have varied models concerning visual representations, interaction, navigation, and layouts, and have various communication forms with outlook (Yan and Guo, 2010). On account of globalisation, Toyota Inc. has localised ideologies that have matured into a significant and powerful strategy for attracting the attention of the new and potential audience in a global market. Therefore, motor vehicle developers and designers have to make adaptations to fit the needs of people from different culture.

A major outcome from the current literature on the culture and perception about different brands of the vehicles revolves around the mode of their appearance, comfort, and consumption among others. Varied cultural beliefs have led to the different insight on diverse models. The difference in perceptions command the designers of the motor vehicle, who is responsible for crafting to enhance better understanding of the different cultural background of the client as to how and when the specifications should be taken into consideration.

Engineering Designations and Specifications

Engineering designations involve assorting objects that are used to achieve the necessity derived from the addressed customer needs and requirements. Engineering specification involves problem statement of the design requirements placed on board by the customer (Yan and Guo, 2012). Specification invokes the problem being solved and the objectives of the project design and so uplifting the value for money for the customer. The phrase ”engineering specifications” is also referred to as ”product specifications” or ”functional requirements.” Engineering specifications obtained from the customer demands. Engineering specifications need be customer-driven, measurable and quantifiable, solution-neutral and precise. These qualities of engineering specifications are moreover described below.

Customer-Driven Specification

Engineering specifications are fashion oriented and vary with the Customer demands. The design technicians and partners obtain them from stakeholders (Pahl, 2014). The components of engineering setup are critical and crucial on the formulation of the other stages of the motor vehicle design specification. The method used to recognise the demands of a product necessity plug is a complex responsibility which needs to be attained and updated at all times. A significant difficulty of this move is to listen and register the completion of customer opinions outwardly applying presumptions (Pahl, 2014).

For example, when a consumer is describing a design of a saloon car, stating his or her concern to be entertainment when having a drive, a designer valour understands that expression and suggests its execution with an FM powered radio. However, the consumer may need a full entertainment vehicle that ensures lack of boredom when driving (Yan and Guo, 2012). The process of achieving such satisfaction becomes easier due to an improvement to a modified music plan with the existing vehicle friendly woofers and speakers with internal amplifiers.

The stakeholder’s desire for the vehicle to be ”Entertaining to drive” may lead to several considerations regarding user demands and specs that should be considered. For instance, must the music system include a CD or DVD reader? Does it demand to be loud? How loud is the vehicle supposed to be to satisfy the client?

Measurable and Quantifiable

Engineering specification is an example of a measurable, or in other terms, the engineering specification should be quantified regarding the engineering systems (Hosking & Harris, 2002). A good engineering design that observes measurability or quantifiable should have a reliable sketch that holds to these specifications;

Design parameters - Engineering parameters are termed as a body composed of the physical qualities whose assessments always give a strong establishment to the functioning and structure of the design (Ashby, 2017). It is important to note that, architects make explicit decisions that are in most cases aime3d at achieving particular performance level in the nature and design of a product. However, the success of any process of the outcome at the product level cannot be guaranteed until the finalisation of the embodiment of the design activities.

Design variable - The variables of design are measurable performance choices (Ashby, 2017). The design variable has always applied to the measurement which the team designing the object chooses in every architectural process of designs. For instance, the decrease of the cogwheel ratio for the RPM from the rotating axis of an electrical engine can be classified as a design variable.

Constraints - The boundaries that constitute the draft independences are referred to as Constraints. They package to take the kind of an assortment from a critical colour plot or the adoption of a conventional band, or a definite measurement limit restricted by determinants exceeding the limitation of the consumers and the design team. Restraints may in some cases function as a limiting factor on the maximum or minimum value of a display parameter or the design variable. Restraints can take the kind of a variety of interpretations.

In simple terms, engineering specifications that are quantifiable often have the following attributes Numerical, Unit measure, Relational operative (=,