Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers

Subject: Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers
From: TechComm Dood <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:05:39 -0400


> I would ask (demand?) that engineers to spend a few weeks on the
> production floor, assembling the products they expect others to assemble.

Do you do the same?

> I would ask engineers to stop designing complicated mechanisms that are
> often impossible to assemble. In one version of the Palm VII Wireless
> PDA, the antenna had far too many parts, and the product was almost
> impossible to build.

Was this made known as a design flaw? What was the result of that discussion?

> I would ask engineers to design using standard parts, not custom parts.
> For example, use standard size screws that can be ordered by the ton, not
> screws that are custom made and impossible to install without damage.

Assuming that this is concerning microelectronics, many times to meet
product functional specifications the design must involve custom
parts.

> I would ask engineers not to be too specific about things like label
> placement. Having thousands of PCBs rejected because the label was a few
> millimeters too high was ridiculous, and there was no need to reject the
> boards.

Is that an engineer thing or a TQM thing?

> I would ask engineers not to be so critical about cosmetic criteria and
> to understand that what they consider to be a flaw that forces a product
> to be rejected, is almost always overlooked by the customer. For example,
> scratches that take a 10X loupe to see on the plastic frames of a PCMCIA
> product.

Huh?

> I would ask engineers to design assembly fixtures so the assembly
> technicians do not have to use a micrometer or a guess. Most (in my
> experience) techs will either read the micrometer incorrectly or perhaps
> not really care.

Isn't that a problem with the techs then? Provided the design was from
spec and not an engineer's whimsy?

> I would also ask engineers not to automatically dismiss suggestions that
> come from outside their group. Some of these suggestions can be quite
> brilliant.

What are the channels for suggestions and are you following the correct ones?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



References:
Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers: From: written_by

Previous by Author: Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers
Next by Author: Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers
Previous by Thread: Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers
Next by Thread: Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads