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How involved are Mechanical Engineers involved in the production process of a new design?

I like to do a lot of hands-on work and didn't want to enter a field where it was mostly computer designing. #mechanical-engineering #project-management #project-teams

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Marcelo’s Answer

Hi Charles,
on top of Shoshana's answer (and also to exemplify it), let me add a little of my experience... Nowadays, I'm not directly working in the field, but just after graduating, I was working as Product Engineer for an Automotive company. There, my division was responsible for the development and adjust of alternators for the cars/trucks. We had to, based on the vehicle needs, develop (or adapt) new components - that includes the physical shape measurements to fit into the space as well as that the product could then generate the output needed. So far, it was only calculations and "computer design"; then, once we had the alignment that the design was good, there was a need for proving it - and here, i guess, is the hands on you look for.... This part consisted in making sure the materials were the proper ones, test them, make prototypes, support the production process, coordinate the tests, field tests with the final customer (maker of the vehicle) and, in some cases, post support to adjust components due to defects/recalls etc
All this "hands on" portion took ~70% of my time as engineer.
Of course, this was one example, but to answer your question, yes there is a possibility to be a mechanical engineer and support the end-to-end design process.
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Wei’s Answer

In my experience, it all depends on which engineering team you are in. Design engineering would normally get the computerized design experience + the end product hands on Form Fit Function test in the real world applications, but you are less likely to be working directly with the folks in vendor factory engineer team, who would turn your design into a prototype. You are dealing mainly with your supply base engineering and vendor's project manager and application engineer.

The supply base engineering has more chance of getting the hands experience, but that divides into 2 functions as well. At the place I work, there are supply base engineers who function mainly like a technical program manager that deal with vendors' change requests and product quality on released products and new design coordination with vendors and factories, and there are field audit engineers whose main responsibility is to visit vendor factories overseeing production, testing, and quality process control. If you really wants more hands on exp, the 2nd one would fit your bill.
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Raelyn’s Answer

The mechanical engineers that work in the telecom industry are very hands on. They initially conduct the design work, but are also conducting site walks, precon walks, oversea the installation to ensure its in line with the design, and there for final inspections with the AHJs. You can be as hands on or hands off depending on what organization you're in and what industry you're a part of.
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Glenn’s Answer

Great question. The answer is that it depends on your role. As an ME you could do any of the following:

  1. Design for a consulting firm and not be very involved in the production process, but you need to know it well enough to design for it.
  2. Work in design for the company that sell the product. They may use in house manufacturing or Contract Manufacturing. You would generally support the production line during the pilot builds.
  3. NPI (New Product Introduction) engineers are responsible to transfer the design from the R&D group to the Production. This role is involved with both the design team and the production team.
  4. Manufacturing engineers are more focused on the production side, but give input to the R&D team in the form of design for manufacturing.

I hope this helps.
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Shoshana’s Answer

Mechanical engineering is an amazing field. There is no one answer on how hands on or off you would be in a production environment. This is something that will depend in large part on the product itself, and the go to market strategy of the company. These would be things you should research when looking for employers and a great question to ask in a mentoring /interview setting.
Thank you comment icon I didn't think about the fact that its dependent on the product. I'll make sure to keep that in mind when researching job opportunities. Charles
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