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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.
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