System Engineering Management, 5th Edition

Chapter 4Engineering Design Methods and Tools

Throughout the system engineering process described in Chapter 2, there is a series of design activities accomplished with the objective of ultimately providing a system that will fulfill a designated customer (consumer) need. The successful completion of these activities, amplified to some extent through the specific requirements covered in Chapter 3, is dependent on the proper application of selected design methods and practices. This, in turn, is strongly influenced by the technology and tools available to and utilized by the responsible design engineer(s).

For years, the basic design process involved a series of activities accomplished on an individual-by-individual basis using step-by-step manual procedures. Ideas were generated, conceptually-oriented layout or arrangement drawings/models were prepared and approved, system components were evaluated and selected from design standards documentation, detailed drawings/models and parts lists were developed and reviewed, mock-ups and physical models were constructed, and so on. In essence, the design process involved a long series of activities, usually requiring a great deal of time and often not very well coordinated.

With the advent of computer technology, the design process has changed significantly through the introduction of computer graphics in the late 1950s and early 1960s, user-input devices in the late 1960s and early 1970s (keyboards, light pens, joysticks), and the current ...