ME 2212 Chapter : Design Chapter 11
Document Summary
The reasoning behind making every product is simple: revenue. So as engineers we need to make sure the product isn"t too expensive and the profit margin is very high. This is why cost estimation is one of the most important parts of the product evaluation process. If the product is too costly, making changing to individual components instead of the product as a whole is critical. Features should be judged on their cost for a function, also called value. Another way to limit cost is focusing on the manufacturing process, the cheaper a product is to make, the larger the profit margin. Assembly can also be costly if the product is complex. It is important to limit assembly cost to save money. This is most useful for high volume products that have molded components. The next step is focusing on functional development, which gives insight into potential failure modes.
