Levels of design engineering
Levels of design engineering
(OP)
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. I was unsure where to put it!
Just wondering as a mechanical engineer what the different levels of design engineering are.
I was recently talking to someone at a large construction and chemicals company who expressed themselves as design engineers, in the sense they acquire different components to create an overall assembly (pumps, valves, materials etc.). Whilst other design engineers are more focused on designing individual components from scratch or improving designs (my initial idea of a design engineer)
Just wondering if there is terminology to differentiate between the two? I would also be interested to hear from people in both areas, pros? cons?
thanks
Just wondering as a mechanical engineer what the different levels of design engineering are.
I was recently talking to someone at a large construction and chemicals company who expressed themselves as design engineers, in the sense they acquire different components to create an overall assembly (pumps, valves, materials etc.). Whilst other design engineers are more focused on designing individual components from scratch or improving designs (my initial idea of a design engineer)
Just wondering if there is terminology to differentiate between the two? I would also be interested to hear from people in both areas, pros? cons?
thanks





RE: Levels of design engineering
Might be electrical, might be mechanical might be some other field.
Might be working on individual components or complex systems of many parts.
Different organizations may use the term differently.
I wouldn't get hung up on the title, after all a rose by any other name....
What specific industry sector are you talking about & where in the world as that may make a difference.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Levels of design engineering
A "level" of engineering you could refer to is one's experience and how a company chooses to define your roles and responsibilities based on your experience and knowledge.
RE: Levels of design engineering
RE: Levels of design engineering
They commonly report to degreed/licensed engineers who sign and take responsibility for drawings produced.
There is a lot of overlap in skills ......
MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer
RE: Levels of design engineering
I disagree that All engineers are "design engineers". We have process engineers, calibration engineers, quality engineers, development engineers, application engineers, all kinds of engineers who don't do any design work.
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RE: Levels of design engineering
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
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RE: Levels of design engineering
You are referring to "designers"...a fancy name for a drafter (no offense).
Design engineers should have a 4 year ABET accredited engineering degree and understand engineering concepts. Never in my life have I heard of a 2 year CAD guy beeing called a design engineer.
RE: Levels of design engineering
There are people who've learned enough to basically be an unlicensed engineer in their knowledge and aptitude. This allows an engineer to only have to check their work rather than do all the work. Some designers are worth a lot more than some engineers in the same company, because of this. They may have incomplete courses of study, a non-engineering degree, or gained it all through experience, or any combination of the above. No, they aren't going to be designing the next cable-stayed bridge, but there are a whole lot of steel structures that are quite simple, but require a knowledgeable designer and engineer's P.E. stamp.
It's not a "fancy name for a drafter" as the responsibilities, value, and requisite knowledge are vastly different.
RE: Levels of design engineering
In that world there are places where you don't have to have PE, FE/EIT or even an 'ABET accredited engineering degree' to be considered a design engineer.
While they haven't responded to my suggestion for clarification, I believe the OP may be from England and hence any of those acronyms would not apply anyway.
In England late 90's/early 2000's most of my senior colleagues had HNC/HND/Apprenticeships and got the title 'Design Engineer'*. Some of them were smarter and better engineers than a few pHD's I've known and certainly better than one CEng (equivalent of PE in the UK) who worked with us for a while .
However, this is straying into the 'who gets to be called an engineer' category which has been done to death multiple times before and not really answering the OP's question.
*(Of course, this education was in a land where to some US members of this site even elite universities that have a nice annual boat race are little more than trade schools since every student only study's their major and doesn't have to take history of rock & roll or underwater basket weaving 101 for gen ed credit.)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Levels of design engineering
On the really micro end of the scale, if you are designing some small component of a large system that happens to be relatively simple, you are going to be competing against an entire market of similar widgets that have all been optimized by your competitors because of the simplicity. The more the market has already optimized it, the more you are expected to squeeze the last bit out of it. So there isn't any relief down at the component level.
At the other end of the scale, the guys designing big complex configurations may not know how their particular gearbox works, they may not even know specifically what gearbox ends up getting specified, but they are designing it to interact properly with their drive system, they have to make sure the entire structure is rated to take reaction forces, dynamic loads as the whole system spins up, etc. The scope is much larger.
In the end, it's a complex job choosing components specifications for the hundreds of parts in the assembly, and then it's a complex job for the people choosing specific components for their subsystems that meet those specifications, and then it's a complex job for the guys probably in other businesses who are competing to supply those components.
Unless you have a unique product that the market wants. Then you can be woefully incompetent and cruise along as the only choice people have if they want your widget, right up until the point that someone else finishes copying you and you lose all your market share.