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The Mechanical Design Process 6e with Case Studies - Additional Resources

Templates

A series of twenty five templates support the students as they design products.

Many of these templates have form fields in them to make “filling in the blanks” easy. This includes Text Form Fields and Drop Down Form Fields.. To edit these fields, display the Forms Toolbar (<View>, <Toolbars>, <Forms>). Unlock the form to edit (right icon that looks like a lock). Be sure to relock it or the drop downs won’t work.

Some template are Excel worksheets. They automatically calculate important design information.

Product Decomposition

The goal is to dissect existing products to learn about how things are built. Additional rows can be added as needed. The example of the Irwin Clamp also is included.

Team Contract

This is a blank form for teams to establish goals and performance expectations.

Team Meeting Minutes

This is a simple form for keeping meeting records. It has areas for the agenda, discussion, decisions made and action items.

Team Health Assessment

A questionnaire with seventeen questions to assess team health and room to add more items as needed.

Design for Sustainability

This spreadsheet is based on the ECO-indicator 99 from FutureSME. There are four tabs. The first is an introduction with instructions. The second tab <Form> is the sustainability worksheet. The third tab <Coffee pot> is an example. The remainder of the tabs are support information for the <Form>.

Plastics ID

This is an Excel spread sheet that can be used to identify the types of plastics used in products that are decomposed (see item 1).

Design Report

This is not a template but a guideline for an engineering design report. The items borrowed heavily from one used by the EE department at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. http://www.msoe.edu/eecs/ee/seniordesign/EE408ReportFormat.pdf

Product Proposal

This template has all the elements needed for the proposal of a new product. The example is taken from an actual proposal.

Pro-Con Analysis

This template allows the easy listing Pro and Con factors for making a simple decision.

Project Planning

Project Planning requires the careful definition of tasks, their objectives, deliverables and assignment. This template encourages thinking each task through during the planning process.

SWOT Analysis

The “Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat” or SWOT analysis is widely used in business to evaluate situations. It is also useful in engineering design.

Technology Readiness

This is a simple analysis to determine the readiness of a technology for use in a product. A low “readiness” implies that the project is research and development rather than design; a high readiness technology is product-ready.

Plastic Cost - part cost calculator

This spreadsheet allows the calculation of the cost to produce a plastic part. It is based on the combination of a number of models and includes such factors as material, size, complexity, surface finish, production volume, wall thickness and tolerance. It is fairly accurate and can give a good feel for the effect of design changes, but not intended for actual cost estimation.

Machining Cost - part cost calculator

This spreadsheet allows the calculation of the cost to produce a machined metal part. It is based on the combination of a number of models and includes such factors as material, size, complexity, surface finish, production volume, tolerance, and machine tools needed. It is fairly accurate and can give a good feel for the effect of design changes, but not intended for actual cost estimation.

Morphology

A morphology is a basic method to develop new concepts from a basic understanding of the functionality.

Voice of the Customer

This form helps in asking the right questions to understand what a potential customer might want in a product. It is a good starting place for QFD.

Reverse Engineering for Function Understanding

Reverse engineering is a method to understand how a product works. It is like product decomposition but with a focus on function.

Personal Problem Solving Dimensions

This spreadsheet allows rapid identification of problem solving style

Test Report

This is a simple format to report the results of testing.

Make/Buy or Vendor Selection Decisions

This form can be used to help make decisions about which vendor to choose for a component or product. Alternatively Vendor 1 can be the option to Make the item in-house and Vendors 2-N can be options to Buy the item from others.

DFA – Design For Assembly

This is a questionnaire that develops Design for Assembly (DFA) score. Since this is a relative score, it is only good for the comparison of two designs for the same product. The examples are for two designs for hand clamps.

FMEA – Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

This Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) template helps organize the information needed for an FMEA study.

Bill of Material (BOM)

This form is very useful in developing a BOM.

Engineering Change Notice

This is a simple form for a change notice

Patent Specification

This form contains all the fields needed to write a patent prospectus.

Additional Resources

Capstone White Paper

The goal of this paper is relate how focusing on the design process as pedagogy in the junior year enhances the success of the capstone and internship programs. In the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering (MIME) at Oregon State University (OSU), a junior year course devoted solely to teaching the process of product design is required of all students. This focused offering has led to an improved capstone and internship experiences for the students, increased quality of capstone projects, and a demand from our industry internship partners and recruiters for design process knowledge.

Figure 4-5

An Overview of the mechanical design and product support process.

Figure 6-5

Aisle Chair QFD.

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