These listings are articles I've found during the semester that I read, or, at least found interesting enough to glance through for ideas and design solutions:

• Job Shop Technology, August/September 2006: PMA Presents 2006 Awards of Excellence in Metalforming. - This article listed several innovative designs for either manufacturing, or forming metal parts, some that required intricate details. One example was a titanium surgical staple developed by OKAY. They produced a stamping for a part that is 3mm in diameter, changing from an EDM process, which had a much higher cost because of production time. The system removed the parts from the progressive die, checked the appropriate dimensions, flushed them for cleaning purposes and then packaged them. This was all done automatically and the parts never needed to be handled by human hands.

• Seven deadly excuses for poor design http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5324894.html This article from zdnet.com was very interesting. It listed several problems that a company can experience during the design of a product. While this article seemed to be aimed at software, the  list could just as well have been for many other products. The list was as follows (Points and translations from the website, followed by some of my thoughts):

  1. "We have to be first to market."
  Translation: “We don’t have time to make sure the product meets our customer’s needs.”  - People often assume that the first product to market will be the leader. This is not the case and there are many instances that bear this point out. Betamax was to market a full year before  VHS was, but it's extended play capibilities, six hours for VHS compared to one hour for Betamax, helped to make it the winning format. Speed to market is important, but it is not everything.

  2. “Our budget doesn’t allow for design specialists."
  Translation: “We can’t invest what’s needed to maximize long-term company revenue." - The lack of foresight by a company and the creation of such excuses can have a severely detrimental effect on the ability to get a functional, and well developed product to the marketplace.

  3. "The requirements make it clear what has to be done."
  Translation: “Simply including certain features is more important than how those features are implemented.” - Companies should take the time to do thorough evolutions of a customers desires of a product. They should not assume that a given set of features on an existing product is sufficient. Many times there are better, or more encompassing features that could be added to make the product more desirable and marketable.

  4. "Well, it makes sense to me."
  Translation: "I’m a representative sample of our customer base." - This point appeared to be an extension of the previous one. A design engineer or project manager should not assume that just because they like a feature, that their customer will as well. Something that seems "to die for" for you, may well be useless to the customer.

  5. "It will be so cool if we do it this way."
  Translation: "My personal target audience is my co-worker (or resumé) rather than the customer."  - You have to realize that your target audience is wider than the people that are directly in front of you.

  6. "Customers will get used to it."
  Translation: “Customers will continue using the product long enough to lose touch with how difficult it is." - User friendliness can be the winning, or the losing point on a product. Create an interface that customers hate, and no one will use it.

  7. “That’s what the help desk is for.”
  Translation: The design issues will soon be someone else’s problem. - Relying on either training or hand holding of the customer when they use a product is a poor excuse for poor design.

   

• Solidworks for Designers Release 2005, Sham Tickoo - An interesting guide book that gave me some pointers on how to utilize certain aspects of Solidworks I was unfamiliar with in the past.

• Wired Magazine, Chris Anderson - Editor in Chief, Various years - Wired has always exposed me to several new, leading edge design concepts. It was the first to reveal the Segway (code named Ginger). As an example of its new design reviews are that within the pages of its November 2006 issue, there is a Gadget Lab section that features items ranging from an Electronic Rat Zapping mouse trap, to a heart rate monitoring sports bra.

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