Dear engineers, I am a student currently undergoing mechanical engineering. I am passionate about product design and development. I would like to know which are some of the most rewarding areas I may specialize in, regarding engineering design fields. What are some fields I may enter which offer highly competitive salaries as regards to mechanical and industrial product design and which may lead to professional and manegerial engineering positions I may move onto? P.S. I am in my second year M.E and probably next year I will specialize into industrial and manufacturing engineering. Greatly appreciate your help. Ed
The rewarding areas in Engineering are the ones that you enjoy doing, and if you're doing this for money, then you're in the wrong field.
Industrial Engineering usually focuses on designing the tooling and work flow part of an assembly line or process. They look at things like making sure each station in a line takes the same amount of time so parts advance along the line at an even rate without bottlenecks. Manufacturing engineers focus on how parts are made. They learn the details of manufacturing processes like injection molding or casting or machining. Neither of these specialties are product design. Don't get me wrong, to be a good product development engineer you must know about the capabilities and restrictions of various manufacturing processes. But you don't need to know the process to the depth that a manufacturing engineer does. You need to know enough so you can design a part that meets the needs of your project that can be manufactured easily and cost effectively. If you want to design and develop new things, I am not sure you want to focus on IE and Manufacturing engineering. Getting involve with a student design contest like SAE Mini Baja or Formula SAE is a great way to learn about the design process and get your hands dirty with fabrication. Being able to turn the handles on a lathe or mill and knowing your way safely around a machine shop are great skills for an ME to have. Good luck, the last two years of ME are a lot more fun than the first two.
Mechanical engineers are needed to Design Medical devices like pumps and implants. They also design consumer products like Cell phones, inkjet printers, laser printers. Boeing uses a ton of them to design airplanes. 3d printing is a technology that is riding a wave of hype but it will take the talents of many ME's to make the hype real. Those are just some the fields that will need ME's.
Thank you for your response Erich! In fact I am involved with the Formula SAE and up till now all is going great I have actually talked with a lot of lecturers who told me to stream into Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering to continue and expand in product development and design, rather than streaming Thermofluids and Structural engineering in my last two years (P.S. Both streams will graduate as Mechanical Engineers at the end but with different specializations) and I am actually a bit confused. Therefore, if I may ask, how do you think I shall proceed to continue specializing in engineering design? Is Industrial and Manufacturing engineering a good lead-through to this area or not that much? And if so should I specialize more by doing a masters degree or some postgraduate study in engineering design or a related course? Greatly Appreciate your help, Ed
I definitely agree Robodog, But as you know engineering design is such a huge area of specialization and I am not sure what particular area of engineering design I want to specialize in. I'm still in my second year and obviously not an engineer yet but all I can make up till now is that I love all aspects of design. I was mainly asking about some dynamic, fulfilling and rewarding areas that in the future I may be happy working in without actually getting bored in my job Thanks Ed
If I may ask you Erich What kind of mechanical engineers do companies like Boeing look for to design their products and what are the aspects that make you a good designer to be employed by such companies? Thanks Ed.
I definitely agree Robodog, But as you know engineering design is such a huge area of specialization and I am not sure what particular area of engineering design I want to specialize in. I'm still in my second year and obviously not an engineer yet but all I can make up till now is that I love all aspects of design. I was mainly asking about some dynamic, fulfilling and rewarding areas that in the future I may be happy working in without actually getting bored in my job Thanks Ed
Hi Ed, From what I have seen at my own company (a die casting company), there are opportunities abound. We have engineering project managers that work with customers to either utilize existing dies (modified or not) and to create new ones, as needed. It not only factors in the making of the die, but also the part itself. Corresponding the part design with a customer's end product allows you to be heavily involved not only in product design on the die casting end, but also be a part of the end product design. Let me know if you have any questions.
Good day, Take a look at this book I have prepared : Book title - PRODUCT MECHANICAL DESIGN : A GUIDED TRAINING COURSE. Book type - Kindle e-book. This book can be purchased from http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011DY7PYU The price of this book is USD1.99 only. This book was prepared to provide a general exposure to how a product mechanical designer would go about designing a product. A key function of this book is to offer a guided hands on training course for the reader to get a feel of how a new product would be designed in a typical real scenario product development cycle. The training course has been designed such that any person having a minimum understanding in the basics of technical drafting can complete the course at the person's own place and schedule. The training course can be done using any 2D/3D CAD software the reader is comfortable with and it can also be done using a drafting board for those who do not have access to a 2D/3D CAD software. It is hoped that those who complete the training course will find it useful in their pursuit of a career in the product mechanical design engineering field. Questions and feedback from users of this book are welcomed and can be e-mailed to [email protected]
