How can you improve electrical design for manufacturing products?

In the choosing component step, it sounds good if you first look at the market and find the top suppliers. Most of the time, top suppliers offer appropriate costs and original quality.

With an in-depth knowledge about the specific requirements (KPIV - Key Process Input Variables) and KPOV - Key Process Output Variables) of the manufacturing products just like for an automated machine intended for manufacturing line use, the designers can now be able to anticipate the possible outcome of the machine to be build; improved process understanding; can lead to cost savings and product improvement by exceeding quality standards.

Using the right tools for the right job is very essential to the line of work of an electrical designer. However, these tools must always be in it's prime condition; latest versions; well-calibrated and most of all, they are all accessible to the electrical designers. Another thing is that, the safekeeping of these tools are as well important as its condition. CAD tools for electrical design drawings installed in desktop computers must be in the same versions. You may find it difficult and tedious to open files from higher versions to lower versions of the 3D Electrical Design Drawings in two desktop computers with different versions of softwares.

Can be important to consider the engineering costs in cost reduction - it can be counter productive to spend too much time optimizing things, especially before getting a working prototype

After you acquire the KPIV and KPOV requirements of the manufacturing products you are going to build, the DFM and DFA may serve their purpose by addressing all of the requirements from the KPIVs and KPOVs. You may now be able to see of a glimpse of a possible manufacturing product to be build based from these design concepts.

One of the core values of being an Electrical Design Engineer is Collaboration. But in a corporate world, their are different types of communication style. It is important that you will be able to deliver the message to your team; your cross-functional teams and other stakeholders in spite of your differences & individual preferences. In machine building and automation industry, an Electrical Design Engineer is a vital member in the development of the machine being built. He/she must communicate with the Mechanical Design Engineers to better understand the process or movement of the actuators and cylinders. Same as well as to the PLC programmers for the Inputs and Output devices to be activated in sequence during the machine operation.

If you have a colleague who is senior to you, it sounds great if you show him your design. He could open new horizons! The consequences are time and cost-saving and new experiences

This needs to be moved up a few notches and to also add in the technical team that actually processes the product into the conversation BEFORE it hits the production floor. I found that if you design around the easiest path for the production team, you will get the most efficient results. Include your technicians in these talks…too many Engineers look past some fundamental elements in a customer spec. You may need to gear the design more in the direction of the goal in one aspect and perhaps to relieve yourself in another. Rely on the tech to bring it in full spec. (Eg. it’s easier to find IIP3 than Gain/NF…the tech can tune as needed at a much quicker pace.) This also adds the benefit of having the entire team present and accounted for.

Very crucial in the improvement of the electrical design for manufacturing products are the testing and validation of these designs. It is the vindication of what were being conceptualized, drawn, calculated and assembled if these designs meet the standards and regulations. In the case of machine building, they called it FAT or Factory Acceptance Testing. It is a process that evaluates the equipment during and after the assembly process by verifying that it is built and operating in accordance with design specifications.

If you are starting as a beginner, then one of the best things to do is to start with a smaller project, even an in-house project that will give you a better chance of succeeding and learning the whole cycle. Scale up gradually and correct mistakes, come out more efficient every time. Another important learning lesson is paying attention to detail and understanding how things can be difficult or different when you are dealing with an engineering prototype versus manufacturing real usable product. Always be open to change, and that means listening to your vendors and customers and also be aware of the competition. Go for those tweaks that make the product better with every revision.

Every product has to be supplied with documentation and support. So you need to consider about manuals for users and service men. Many products contain processors and other parts, that need to upload software into. Therefore the service staff needs different special tools (cables, instructions, programmers etc). Spare parts and catalogs are useful for big or expensive products.