Introductory description

Design is vital to any engineering business’s aim of creating successful products. Design can also be viewed as a systematic and disciplined process. The design process is a framework that engineers utilise to design products. Manufacturing involves the conversion of raw materials into usable products and can be summarised as:- the design and manufacture of products; and using various manufacturing processes, operations and techniques, following an organised plan. Design and manufacturing is interrelated and should not be viewed as separate disciplines. Designed products should meet the design requirements AND be able to be manufactured relatively easily and economically. Effective implementation of design for manufacture requires engineers to have fundamental understanding of materials, manufacturing processes and related operations. In addition, they must be able to assess the impact of designs on; manufacturing process selection, assembly, automation, quality control, tools and dies, cost and sustainability. Management of design and manufacture is complex and as such Computer aided design (CAD), computer aided manufacture (CAM), computer aided process planning (CAPP), computer aided engineering (CAE) computer integrated manufacture (CIM) and product data management (PDM) have become indispensable in management and optimisation of the design and manufacturing process. When this module is delivered on Degree Overseas Programmes, it is delivered in a 1-week block rather than over 4 weeks

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Design process frameworks and management tools
Use of computers and technology to aid design and manufacture
Manufacturing technologies, processes & materials
Designing for a circular economy and lifecycle analysis

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• 1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the fundamentals of product design and development processes, including: methods; technologies; latest trends; tools and techniques; outcome and functional/resource interdependence, interpreting their relationships from concept to customer.
• 2. Critically evaluate and make recommendations on approaches to the management of product design and development processes.
• 3. Critically evaluate and contrast: materials; manufacturing processes; manufacturing tools and technologies that are most used in the manufacturing industry.
• 4. Critically evaluate manufacture-design, demonstrating detailed knowledge of fundamental aspects of manufacturing and materials processes and technologies in the context of a circular /sustainable economy.

Indicative reading list

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

The course is centred around developing a broad range of knowledge and skills in design and manufacturing. The course focusses on two major disciplines, design and manufacturing, and will develop knowledge, skills and core competencies in:

1. Fundamentals of the design process and a framework approach, independent of technology, to manage the design process.
2. Fundamentals of materials and process technology together with utilisation of appropriate selection tools to enable a more scientific approach to material and process selection decisions.
3. Recognise the scope and with utilisation of appropriate tools and techniques, critically evaluate and interpret the impact of automation and computing in design and manufacturing.

Transferable skills

1. Apply complex scientific selection processes to arrive at solutions.
2. Logically argue with rigour and reasoning to arrive at a given solution.
3. Problem solving.
4. Team-working.
5. Presentation skills.