Engineering Design Process

Engineering Connection

The field of engineering is all encompassing in its subject matter and real-world challenges. Yet, engineers of all disciplines have in common certain approaches—teamwork, brainstorming, problem defining with requirements and constraints, the iterative steps of the design process, testing and analysis, prototyping, production and communication. All engineers use some form of the steps of the engineering design process to organize their ideas, and test and refine potential solutions to real-life challenges. Engineers must gain an understanding of all the contextual factors of a particular design challenge—need for the project, relevant social, ethical, environmental and economic conditions of the target population, system integration, and project needs and limitations. Working through all the technical and non-technical issues helps engineers generate useful, appropriate and successful design solutions.