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Miracles Do Happen

aschler said:
There is a lot of engineer hate going on in this entire thread so I'm going to provide a little rebuttal:
1. Cost - Almost always the #1 priority
2. Time - Related to item #1, we often don't get a lot of time to work on things. On a $100k project, you are going to have $5-$10k budgeted to engineering that needs to include all aspects of the project from initial design through hand-over to production. This is going to be split between project engineer/manager and several displine engineers and include travel. The rate is going to be 2-4 times what we are actually making.
3. Difficulty of adjustment or maintenance - It is always important the item can be assembled reasonable easy the first time but after that it is a mixed bag. Sometimes it is overlooked but it is often a feature. There can be liability issues the company is trying to limit. It is usually cheaper and faster to design something that isn't meant to be maintained plus extra profit from additional sales, that isn't the engineer pushing that agenda. Operators and maintenance are essential but they will also mess things up fast if given the chance. After adjusting the slide gates on a dust collection system, we used to mark the correct position but they would always be "adjusted" quickly so we started screwing them down. Wasn't long until the screwdriver came out so we started welding them down, now the grinders have come out. At least it insures you will have steady work.
4. Difficulty - We started having more site participation in the design process a few years ago. The main things that have come out of it are a longer design process (more meetings, site can't decide what they want and want to try different options that don't work out but need to be explored), higher cost (site always wants the gold plated version until they see the cost estimate) and lack of standardisation (no two sites can agree to do the same thing the same way). Engineering cost have increased as a percentage of budget because the change was forced upon us so it was easy to justify, which is good. Good design changes do come out of the new process, either because we have more time to notice the issue or it comes from the site. Also, the site sees why we couldn't do it one way or another and accept certain things are not going to be perfect. It has been a very mixed bag, can't say if the benefits outweigh the cost in totality.
Click to expand...
I wasn't trying to bash all engineers but it would seem if they actually had some experience using or working on some of the things they engineered they might be able to build something better. I believe Samual Colt had complained to his dad he could build a better gun after working on some not so great ones that his dad said then build it.
I will say this for years Chevrolet made the transmission crossmember so close to the pan you had to remove the mount nut and lift the transmission to get the pan off to service it. Now on the 6 speed transmissions they have the exhaust so close under the pan you have to loosen the exhaust to service it. I don't care if it's the engineer, the management or the bean counters this is just stupid no pride in your product or screw your customers. I don't like it.
 
I've worked in a GM dealership since'86 and I understand what you are saying. I ask a field service engineer once about things just like you mentioned and he said: safety is job 1 and getting everything to fit is next. They don't have a priority for making us technicians life easier!!! Oh well, I guess it's just in some of our blood to work on automobiles.
 
1mechanic said:
I wasn't trying to bash all engineers but it would seem if they actually had some experience using or working on some of the things they engineered they might be able to build something better. I believe Samual Colt had complained to his dad he could build a better gun after working on some not so great ones that his dad said then build it.
I will say this for years Chevrolet made the transmission crossmember so close to the pan you had to remove the mount nut and lift the transmission to get the pan off to service it. Now on the 6 speed transmissions they have the exhaust so close under the pan you have to loosen the exhaust to service it. I don't care if it's the engineer, the management or the bean counters this is just stupid no pride in your product or screw your customers. I don't like it.
Click to expand...
15 years ago we did a major expansion of a brownfield site. The project was supposed to cost $100 million; they stopped reporting the cost in the monthly update when it passed $155 million, I don't know the final number but it was probably was $160-$170 million. The project manager was fired and the director of engineer retired early it was such a problem. One of the major cost overruns was the conditioning tower was a third taller than anything we had built before but 15 years later they are finally starting to fill it out and everyone is happy there is enough room for expansion compared to all our other sites.

Like it or not, screwing over your customers can be extremely profitable when done correctly.
 

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