1 Introduction
Today’s design engineers are the modern day Stretch Armstrong.
Time to market has always been a challenge faced by engineers—How can we get products through design and testing, and into production, faster? Current forces bring to bear a whole new set of challenges, such as economic strain, rapidly evolving technology, shorter product lifecycles, new production capabilities, the pressure to self- educate and more.
As a result, design engineers are stretched. Forced to do more with less time and money, and pulled in different directions by competing priorities.
Ouch.
Fortunately, there’s hope. This guide outlines the challenges and trends on the horizon, and highlights practical strategies, tips and technologies for greater productivity and design efficiency, so you can be prepared to conquer what’s ahead.
It’s time to make the most of every minute.
2 Table of Contents
Section 1: Changing Times and Future Challenges ...... 4
Section 2: Increase Your Productivity ...... 12
Section 3: Stay Ahead of the Curve ...... 19
Section 4: Dominate the Design Process ...... 23
Section 5: Conquer What’s Ahead ...... 32
About Hynes Industries …………………………………………………………………….. 34
3 section 1: changing times and future challenges “It has been extremely challenging just to maintain a reasonable life-work balance. . . There is so little time remaining to stay current with relevant engineering information.”
— Engineering Salary Survey Report, Electronic Design, September 2012
5 Shortening Product Lifecycles
The time and effort engineers put into part design has a shorter and shorter shelf life before the part must be redesigned. A number of factors are contributing to this:
• Technology and innovation acceleration, causing new design and production possibilities to be made available faster.
• The rise of lean manufacturing, agile methodology and other iterative design philosophies.
• The wide variety of equipment configurations necessary, resulting in a high-mix, low-volume production environment.
As product lifecycles shorten, design engineers have less time before going back to the drawing board, and time to market timelines become even more compressed.
6 “While in the past, [oil and gas] equipment manufacturers have taken a more traditional and conservative approach to equipment, lately the industry has begun to accelerate through innovation.”
— Oil and Gas Industry Adopts Lean Manufacturing, Assembly Magazine, December 2012
7 The Accelerating Technology Treadmill
In addition to heightened demand for design engineers’ skills, ever-evolving design technology and production capabilities create a continuous learning curve that must be overcome to stay ahead. There often isn’t enough time in the workday to remain current on engineering technologies and trends, resulting in a lot of after-hours self-study.
In fact, the top issue faced by engineers today is staying current with new and emerging technologies, causing even more concern than the economy or job security.
Said one engineer in Electronic Design’s 2012 Engineering Salary Survey Report, “I try to spend time examining topics that aren’t directly related to any work I’m doing now, but may be doing in the future . . . But doing anything outside of current work-related development must be done on my own time at my own expense.”
Approximately 50 percent of engineers have the benefit of company- sponsored training, and only 44 percent can get money for college courses.
8 New Skill Sets for a Changing Workforce
The pressure to self-educate is real, along with a fundamental shift in necessary skill sets. Technology, communication and data skills are particularly in-demand. An increasing number of engineers are predicted to work on interdisciplinary teams with both engineering and non-engineering professionals, and aptitude at advanced CAD technologies such as motion simulation and animation/virtual prototyping are on the rise.
According to The 2011 State of Mechanical Engineering: Today and Beyond by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), “Engineers will need to have the skills to communicate their designs through all types of electronic and data communication. The engineering world is becoming more electronic and digital every day.”
9 “There’s just not enough time in the day to keep up with all of the advances. The explosion of information available on the Internet is just too extensive to keep up with.”
— Engineering Salary Survey Report, Electronic Design, September 2012.
10 Economic Strain and the Pressure to Do More With Less
Another responsibility being demanded of engineers is that of cost manager. Following a recession economy, manufacturers are more cost-conscious and design engineers are on the hook for production costs.
According to a 2012 survey of design engineers, controlling costs (35.3%) and project management (30.9%) surpassed improving time to market (19.1%) as their biggest challenge.
11 section 2: increase your productivity With all the challenges design engineers face in the 21st century, there’s only one solution: Evolution.
You need the tools, technology and techniques to accomplish more, faster. Here are some tips on making the most of every minute.
13 Tools and Tech
First things first—you need the proper tools to help you minimize distraction, stay focused, create and collaborate. Here are some of the top apps and technologies for your tool belt, from the engineering world and beyond.
Minimize Distractions
• StayFocused: This Chrome app increases your productivity by limiting the amount of time spent on time-wasting websites.
• Nanny for Google Chrome: Like StayFocused, Nanny for Google Chrome allows you to block URLs at certain times in a day, limit usage to a certain amount of time, or both.
• Marinara Timer: The Pomodoro Method uses 25-minute work periods accompanied by 5- and 15-minute breaks to maintain periods of focus and prevent mental fatigue. The Marinara Timer is a bit more “fluid,” allowing you to customize the length of these periods to suit your individual needs.
14 Tools and Tech
Stay Focused
• Boomerang for Gmail: Use Boomerang to write an email now and schedule it to be sent later; clear out your inbox and have emails “boomerang” back when you need them; or set a reminder if you don't get a response to a particular email.
• Remember the Milk: A task manager that lets you manage your to-dos the way you prefer. Create lists, use a task cloud, incorporate task geolocation, share tasks with others and more.
• IQTell: A robust tool that allows you to manage email, tasks, calendar, contacts, notes, files and more—all in one place.
• Clear: For those who like to keep it simple, Clear offers an iPhone and Mac app that creates simple, beautiful, easy-to- manage to-do lists. Source: Clear
15 Tools and Tech
Create
• Cloudsave: This Google Chrome extension allows you to easily right click and save items on a webpage to the cloud for future reference.
• Evernote: Like Cloudsave, Evernote has a spectrum of cloud-based products that help you capture, index, search, tag and organize ideas you want to remember.
• Tinkercad: An easy-to-use digital design tool for 3D printer-ready designs.
• Engineering Cookbook (for Android): An easy reference of frequently needed information for mechanical designers, such as design formulas, conversion factors and more.
16 Tools and Tech
Collaborate and Sync
• Google Drive: Google’s file storage and synchronization system that enables ubiquitous access, real-time sharing and collaboration, and cloud-based file backup.
• Dropbox: Install Dropbox on your computers and mobiles devices, or log in to dropbox.com on any browser, and access your files, documents and photos from anywhere.
Source: Google Drive
17 Tools and Tech
Collaborate and Sync
• Basecamp: This web-based project management tool from 37signals makes sure that team members stay on- task, deadlines are clear and project communication is centralized. Projects are organized with their own workspaces to include the appropriate team members, a shared calendar, file storage, automated deadline reminders and more.
• GrabCAD Workbench: The GrabCAD Workbench allows for easy sharing of all major CAD file formats, with versioning, file backup and feedback markup tools.
• Sketchfab: Sketchfab is a web service to publish, share and embed interactive 3D models online without a plugin. Source: GrabCAD Workbench
18 section 3: stay ahead of the curve Once you’ve selected the tools and tech that are right for you, it’s time to develop a plan to stay ahead of the learning curve.
Based on recent surveys of engineers, most professional development is dependent on self-study, and little to no funding for ongoing education is provided by employers. So you need a curriculum that’s cheap, quick and effective.
20 Stay Ahead of the Curve
Changes in engineering technologies and design capabilities have a direct effect on your career, and your company. That means it's up to you to stay on top of new advancements as they come out, and be an advocate for innovative new ideas.
1. Aggregate: Keep pace with relevant technology and industry news by setting up an RSS feed reader with leading trade publications and blogs. We recommend looking at Netvibes and Feedly.
2. Collect: In your daily research, you may come across relevant articles you want to read. Rather than derailing your workday reading articles and blog posts, flag items you want to read later using a bookmarking tool such as Pocket.
3. Divide and Conquer: Set up a routine for self-study so that it is habitual without becoming a distraction. For example, skim your RSS over your morning coffee, flag articles that interest you throughout the day, and catch up on reading for 20 minutes during lunch and another 20 minutes in the evening.
21 Stay Ahead of the Curve
4. Due Diligence: As you read about new materials, manufacturing methods, technology or software, be judicious with your time. Consider the following:
• Is this solution applicable to your business? • To what extent has this solution been tested? • Are there best practices in place? • Are there other alternatives you should review? • Is it compatible with existing systems, software and processes? • Can you try it out? (Think software demo, material sample, free trial, etc.) • What will adoption take? Is training needed?
5. Make Research Actionable: The ultimate purpose of staying current with engineering trends is to discover and evaluate new materials, manufacturing methods or technology advances that you can implement at your company. Your time is limited, so focus on the areas of study that will have the biggest impact in your workplace, and follow up on ideas worth pursuing.
22 section 4: dominate the design process Dominate the Design Process
Like it or not, engineers today are held accountable for costs. This means the design phase is part creative problem-solving exercise, part production scope and project management. Here’s how to keep the process running smoothly and headache-free. Step 1: Do Your Homework
Be proactive. Gather all necessary information including the specs, testing standards and production equipment capabilities. Are there materials or geometry that should be used or avoided?
Early in the planning phase, identify potential obstacles during design, production and testing. Consider applying the DFMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) methodology to factor in manufacturing limitations and assembly costs.
24 Dominate the Design Process
A 2013 Tech-Clarity study of top-performing manufacturers found that those that meet project deadlines, budgets and target production volumes better:
• Understand the full scope. • Communicate and collaborate as a team. • Adhere to more formal change management processes.
Engineering for manufacturing is no different: The more detailed a design can be upfront, the less likely revisions will be made later.
25 Dominate the Design Process
Step 2: Choose a Partner, Not a Producer
There’s a lot more to selecting a part supplier than quoting the price per unit. Avoid the race to the bottom.
When sourcing metal parts, it's common take a cost reduction approach—negotiating cost per part and transportation costs, price shopping, and seeking out low upfront setup and tooling costs.
But adopting a cost avoidance approach could result in greater profit margins, more secure supply relationships, increased cash flow and higher efficiency.
How?
By investing in a long-term sourcing solution.
26 Dominate the Design Process
Selecting a value-add metal fabricator:
• Explore Part Reengineering: Bring your metal fabrication partner into the conversation early, and collaborate on alternative design concepts. Some metal fabricators will offer proactive part analysis and finite element analysis. Invest in the product’s infancy stage because a new design concept could reduce costs by as much as 40%.
• Evaluate Alternative Processes: Investigate various metal fabrication options and select a supplier that advises you on the right solution for your product. Weigh set-up costs against long-term reduction in cost per unit, taking into consideration the length of the product lifecycle and expected production volume.
27 Dominate the Design Process
Selecting a value-add metal fabricator:
• Choose Tooling Cost Amortization: If custom tooling is needed, choose a metal fabricator that offers tooling cost amortization. Spreading out the investment over time, without accruing interest, will lessen the immediate impact of setup costs, stabilizing cash flow while gaining the benefit of a high- volume, long-term production solution.
• Consider Inventory Management: Holding and managing inventory is an often-overlooked aspect of a manufacturer’s total cost of ownership. Offsite inventory storage and management cuts down on needed storage space and labor costs.
28 “For us to be competitive, we need to make our customers competitive. We want to cut dimes and dollars rather than cutting nickels and pennies. We work alongside purchasers and engineers to create a cost- effective solution for their product.”
— Randy Myers, VP of Product Design & Innovation at Hynes Industries
29 Dominate the Design Process
Step 3: Get Creative With Cost Reduction
Metal fabricators are becoming commodities—quoting the same projects, trying to win a price war and subsequently shifting the conversation from one of value to one of price. However, there’s a lot more to the conversation than negotiating cost-per-unit.
You can skim costs all along the production process—and become friends with your purchasing department—by considering the following in design:
• Material Costs: By reducing the gauge of a material (like structural steel), a product can be reengineered to utilize less material content. The end result is a decrease in the product’s overall weight. Perhaps there’s a different material to consider, or a patent-worthy alternative waiting for you to discover.
• Assembly Costs: Reduce assembly time and labor costs by reengineering the product to include fewer parts, pieces or fasteners.
• Transportation and Logistics Costs: Once weight is cut, the cost to ship inherently decreases. From manufacturing the material to transporting it, costs are cut throughout the process, saving money without compromising quality.
30 Dominate the Design Process
Step 4: Embrace Agility
Product lifecycles are shortening. Time to market is less forgiving. To keep up, you need to adopt the processes and methodology to help you create, revise, test and produce product faster than ever before.
• Control the revision process. In order to pull off fast iteration cycles, you need your team to be a well-oiled machine. Implement the processes needed to control how product information is shared between team members and revisions are tracked.
• Design before you prototype, prototype before you produce. Utilize your metal fabricator’s prototyping capabilities to run stress and real load tests and uncover design flaws before you send the product to the production floor.
• Adopt the lean methodology. Through continuous improvement processes and a commitment to eliminating waste, your team can become “lean” and create continuous flow in processes, accelerating production and reducing errors.
31 section 5: conquer what’s ahead Conquer What’s Ahead
As a mechanical engineer in today’s world, there’s only one way to adapt to the challenges of tomorrow: By increasing your productivity, staying ahead of the learning curve and dominating the design process.
But it doesn’t hurt to have a partner you can count on.
Hynes Industries’ engineers work with you to develop innovative new solutions for product design, evaluate materials and create a high- quality product while cutting waste and cost.
Contact Hynes Industries today to talk to our team.
33 About Hynes Industries
Hynes Industries is a leading North American supplier and processor of strip steel, roll formed shapes and flat wire. We have been supplying successful companies since 1925 and are recognized for our commitment to quality, customer service and on-time delivery. Our unique metalworking processes and technologies, supported by a vast inventory of 36,000,000 pounds of prime quality steel and expert engineering, offer an exceptional set of complimentary and highly competitive products.
At Hynes, we've been servicing industries such as appliance, heavy truck and trailer, solar racking and metal service centers for nearly a decade. Hynes Industries continues to earn customer loyalty the old-fashioned way—by delivering no-nonsense reliability and real value.
Today Hynes Industries specializes in a wide range of standard and custom metal solutions for today’s most demanding applications and manufacturing specifications.
To find additional information about Hynes, visit www.hynesindustries.com or call 800-321-9257. Connect with Hynes on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and on our blog.
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