Engineering and Technology Design: Assignment Brief

1) LO1 - demonstrate a detailed understanding of design process.
2) LO2 - define appropriate analytical/modelling tools in order to support the design process.
3) LO3 - identify requirements and develop appropriate solutions within a design.
4) LO4 - demonstrate an effective and sustained contribution to the working of a designteam.

This assignment is worth 29 % of the overall in- course assessment for this module. Marks Awarded for: Confidence, clarity of presentation, and coherence of findings. Detailed marking scheme is included in the assignment briefing sheet. Marks will be lost if the submission does not conform to the guidelines. Your student peer assessment and academic review and/or individual logbook will be used as a guide in the allocation of a final ‘individual’ mark. A note to the Students:

1. For undergraduate modules, a score above 40% represent a pass performanceat honours level.

2. Modules may have several components of assessment and may require a pass in all elements. For further details, please consult the relevant Module Guide or ask the Module Leader. 

Assume you are working for a mass production first tier supplier to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Your main task is to identify a niche market for a given vehicle of your choice and attempt to identify a specific pack such as: Aero Pack, Performance Pack, Cosmetic Pack and so on so forth which will have the signature of your company associated with it. As a group of maximum 6 students are expected to identify and redesign 3 main components so that they can be fitted on the chosen vehicle. The objective of this phase is to investigate the main drivers for the vehicle class/segment and the chosen sub-system and components and to present a cohesive summary of findings and methodology.

(i) To present a cohesive summary of the findings and methodology including sketches / drawings of different concepts of the subsystem.

(ii) To discuss the range of factors likely to have an impact on your design (see items 1-7below).

(iii) To formalise a PDS for the chosen sub-system and vehicle class.

(iv) To present the chosen subsystem, its components and how it was / will be evaluated.

(v) To produce QFD and HOQ and discuss the convergence and divergence factors.

• Need for the design.

• The car / vehicle segment you are aiming at and the need for your design.

• System design rationale and concepts. Create a number of sub-system concept designs (minimum three) and make comparison using reverse engineering methods.

Marks Awarded

• Overall system layout (packaging). Produce initial drafting package for your system.

• Identify system’s components and describe their function.

• Identify your competitors (as a first tier supplier to an OEM).

• Range of factors that influence the design (see items 1-7 below).

• Product benchmarking (for your sub-system).

• Sub-system specification and production of appropriate PDS.

• QFD and HOQ presentation and discussion on the divergence / convergence of the different factors that influence the final design decisions.

• Produce project management strategy

• Discussion of evaluation methods for system verification and evaluation plans.

• Any added value in your system compared to current systems?

You are required to produce a range of alternative conceptual designs (sketches) of your chosen system (minimum three concepts). The range of conceptual alternatives is likely to be derived from ideas which are both subtle and significant in their differences.

1) User requirements and their expectations.

2) Legislative requirements.

3) Environmental considerations.

4) Cost implications.

5) Branding opportunities.

6) Safety issues.

7) Any other issues?

Note: The above list is not exhaustive. What else would you consider? In some instances the factors may be convergent whereas in others they may be more divergent. This phase investigates how you reconcile such issues. You might like to outline the outcomes as well as the pathways that you followed to get you there. Be aware, however, that this is an executive summary and hence you need to think very carefully about what goes into it and also what gets left out. You need to be very selective. The setting down of the design drivers into a structured format is the Product Design Specification (PDS). In this design phase you are required to produce a PDS which carries, where possible, criteria that are measurable. In addition to producing the PDS you are also required, to include comments on drivers that are convergent as well as those that are more divergent.

The conclusion of this is the application of PDS to your range of alternative conceptual designs. The significance of this phase of work coupled with the PDS should now be obvious in that it allows you to compare and contrast your alternatives and justify your design decisions and rationale. You need to be able to demonstrate the uniqueness of your choice and demonstrate clearly how the PDS has driven this choice. You need to explicitly demonstrate the merits and de-merits of your alternatives and progress towards making a preferred selection. The PDS, HOQ and QFD, the evaluation criteria and the factors affecting the design will be the main points of discussion in the presentation’s executive summary’s “headings”.

This phase of the project is perhaps the most important. It is here that you will expand on the initial phase, develop your understanding of the product/system design drivers and hence develop a range of criteria which you will use to evaluate your evolving designs. In preparation for design phase two, teams will also be expected to produce some packaging layout(s), either made in CATIA v5.0 or free hand drawn, that show some of the system components. It is anticipated that these 3D layout drawings/sketches of the subsystem will be incomplete at this stage and will need further development during the later stages of this project. Note that in Phase 2 you will be asked to produce full packaging drawings of your sub-system and complete production intend drawing for your main components.