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

Subject: Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers
From: written_by -at- juno -dot- com
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 18:20:43 -0600


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


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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Bob

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

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.



Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: Re: ADMIN: An Open Letter to the TECHWR-L Community
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