How can you maintain electrical design quality across different project stages?

The quality of electrical design always comes after many experiments and it is important to develop designs until we reach safety and high quality electricity. This requires a great effort from those working in this field to reach the highest levels of safety.

1. Capturing the details and specifications of the Original Equipment/Component manufacturers (OEM) is important in the engineering phase for clear presentation and understanding of the fundamentals. 2. Very clear and precise use of design standards (within the area of practice) must be used , representation, symbols, annotations to comply. 3. Design must go through different stages of peer reviews from second and third parties to scrutinize. The most important review party is the end user. The end users analysis determines whether or not it is "fit for purpose" and it is "constructible".

To maintain electrical design quality across different project stages, establish clear design standards, conduct thorough reviews, and maintain open communication among team members. Regularly update and validate the design against project requirements, standards, and any changes. Use consistent documentation and collaboration tools, and ensure that team members receive appropriate training to uphold design quality throughout the project's lifecycle.

Use a stage gate product development plan. Listen to all stakeholders and align as necessary. Identify technical/project risks and mitigations.

Clear objectives are important and comes along with the inter department communications. A good and effective electrical design can never be achieved without clearly understanding of the mechanical system that would be driven, and thus clarity in this respect should be sorted at the very beginning of the project. At the same time when internally the objectives and scopes are being set right it is equally important to work with the suppliers & vendors associated and make your requirements crystal clear.

Creating standards in Electrical software coding is one of the most effective ways we have been able to scale and deliver the project "Right First Time."

Quality of design is crucial and this is dependent on the application of effective verification of requirements and scope of works, design reviews and associated parameters like process safety requirements.

Not only technical standards but also the destination country's rules and regulations must be consulted properly. This is a big step in complying with national standards and regulations. The next point is that you should convey the same specifications to your own suppliers and make sure they understand the requirements.

It is indeed important to keep track of all electrical design decisions for justification, however, in some cases reasonable deviations from Standards & codes are required to achieve the success of the project. Deviation from the standards should be widely discussed and a well-justified decision. However, it is vital to always follow Electrical Codes & Standards and always be updated on the latest changes.

Standards are almost never changed, specs are always moving, and processes are constantly modified to the circumstances. I feel like this conversation is management generated and partially blind to estimation and the field installation. How can one expect any design standard to applied effectively without a common language of methods that all aspects of the organization understand and are regularly trained on?

Something old fashioned, but pretty effective for all stages of projects, and best if started in the early phases: 1. A simple scalable equipment list for all anticipated components of the project, using previous similar projects. Updating this at periodic intervals and sharing with all direct team members, so that they can add/edit based on the portions they worked on will not just keep the team aware of the current scope, but also function as a checklist for QC. 2. Creating a simple and scalable open issues list and sharing with direct team members, project managers, and other disciplines. If periodically updated and accessible to all members, it will function as a history of project scope, and improve communications on critical aspects.

Again we are assuming that somehow everyone on the team has a common communication language… what software? What hardware? What tools and when are they used and by who? What are their safety requirements? On and on.. updating and maintenance are only required when you don’t have a system in place. The issue is spending the money and development and training to have a system. That’s the holy grail and most contractors are agnostics.

Cria??o de Diagramas: Elabore diagramas unifilares e multifilares claros, de fácil compreens?o. Simula??es e Análises: Utilize programas de engenharia para simular a performance do sistema, prever problemas e aprimorar o projeto. Gest?o de Disciplinas: Atue em colabora??o com outras equipes (civil, mecanica, automa??o) para prevenir conflitos e interferências.

As a design engineer, the method is the design standard I said above. But Tools is the software that you design based on. For example, maybe the client wants network studies only based on ETAP or DIGSilent. Or ask for the design of the ground network based on CDEGS or CYMGrd. You must master all these tools.

Tools and methods are vital inputs for any electrical design. It is always important to use certified tools and industry-approved methods to justify design decisions at all stages of the project starting from Concept to Closeout. Tracking the accuracy and outputs from the various tools and methods in a Lessons Learnt registry will allow engineers to execute future projects with a higher efficiency and positively impact the schedule.

Make design reviews from time to time in the project and conduct lessons-learned sessions. This is an important task and should be carried out in a phase-wise manner.

Dont use the time allocated for testing and integration as a buffer for a date of completion. Establish a design freeze date that is as important as the finish date.

Sometime, when is needed Mockups, models are very important and suggest how the project design should looks like! In the same time, the project design team should calculate the cost of of these and to include the money in total cost!!

In my shop, quality control comes to me through training my technicians. I like the occasional product failure as it is a great opportunity to troubleshoot, learn and grow. If we find a repeat quality problem, we implement training around it. We use it as an opportunity to evaluate how and why we do certain things in a certain way and we make changes based on logical, provable conclusions.

This statement assumes that the QA QC process is somehow disconnected from the installation process and needs to reassert itself later. There needs to be checks and balances but the secret is in the sauce of the original system. If everyone agrees what a 100 amp feeder in EMT looks like and how it might change given distance and conditions. Then the major concern in QA is more training, not an assertive benevolent force correcting the unknowing to the constantly changing winds of customer request. BTW, most of these changes are billable and we are missing those opportunities because we are trying to figure out what we did and where things went wrong, not what we did right and how it differed from the original scope.

The electrical engineer designs the electrical network for a Load List, all of which are produced by other engineering groups such as process and mechanics. Even the lighting loads are based on the design of the architecture group. Therefore, the electrical engineer cannot deliver good work to the client without effective and accurate communication with other engineering groups.

The engineer should be able to present complex information to non-engineering colleagues in a basic form to ensure that everyone is on the "boat". Hence, a large amount of data should be squeezed, BUT not distorted, to visualize engineering data in a way that is accessible for most of the project team. Thus, everyone gets the message and reduce the gaps in a design process.

Prioritize effective collaboration with a standard document-saving system. As project scopes evolve, archive outdated documents to avoid confusion. Make sure the team always knows where to find and access the latest design criteria and documents.

The ability of the electrical engineer to stay in constant and effective communication with the boots on the ground can have a serious impact on project success. As design components are encountered and implemented, the contractor will inevitably require clarification or problem solving, and the ability to have immediate access to the electrical engineer is critical to staying on schedule and budget.

In my experience, to maintain electrical design quality across different project stages, it's important to prioritize collaboration with experts and conduct regular progress reviews. This helps ensure that the design meets all requirements and standards. Additionally, keeping open lines of communication and seeking feedback from team members can help identify and address any potential issues early on.

Continuous improvement has a scope larger than a project. Before starting a design, complete a review of product returns and failures. Ensure that the defects and are addressed as far as possible. Review with manufacturing, sales, service, and technical support.

I would say a comprehensive quality control and assessment plan is important to ensure adherence to the design plan for a project. An important function of that plan would be a quality review follow-up meeting with all stake holders to be held after the project has been completed. Getting feedback on design characteristics and/or flaws is most helpful in planning future projects.

Realize revis?es periódicas do projeto em cada etapa. Isso inclui revis?es de design, onde engenheiros e especialistas podem validar as escolhas feitas e garantir que est?o de acordo com as normas e necessidades do cliente. Realize inspe??es em campo durante a execu??o do projeto. Isso ajuda a identificar e corrigir problemas antes que se tornem grandes falhas. Mantenha uma documenta??o detalhada de todas as decis?es tomadas, altera??es realizadas e normas seguidas. Isso será útil para auditorias e para garantir que todos os envolvidos tenham uma referência clara.

By following these strategies and best practices, the engineer can help to ensure that, the electrical design quality remains consistent and meets the project's goals throughout different stages, from initial concept to final implementation and operation : Clearly Define Requirements, Use Design Standards, Design Review, Documentation, Design Validation, QA/QC, Training and Skill Development, Documentation Management, Technology and Tools, Continuous Improvement

Maintaining electrical design quality across project stages involves rigorous reviews at key milestones. Establish a structured review process with defined criteria, involving team members from various disciplines. Conduct regular design reviews, addressing aspects like compliance with specifications, safety considerations, and scalability. Document findings, track changes, and ensure feedback integration. This iterative approach enhances collaboration, reduces errors, and ensures consistent design quality throughout the project lifecycle.

I believe following proper engineering verification activities and plan at each stage of the project is one good practice to make sure that a transparent and cohesive design analysis is achieved. Also , having a good risk register and design notes register to note every aspect of risks in the design identified at each project stage will be very beneficial for design gap analysis , codes and standards applicability , setting the right project technical specs and work out all the technical issues before construction

In my perspective, quality in electrical design at various stages could be achieved by defining quality assurance (QA) as standard operating procedures (SOPs) and quality control (QC) as a checklist.

Good design no matter how much effective it, needs good craftsmanship and selection of proper materials to accomplish the task. Hence when emphasizing design, it is also important to see how it is going to be implemented. This angle is sometimes neglected in projects which end up not so well.

Managment of NO CHANGE: at some point we pass the point where "Review & improve continuously" is appropriate, the time for design improvment has passed, the opportunity for making changes decreases and risk of making changes on a system whose base functionality / site testing is already largely complete starts to increase. There is a rule of unintended consequence where fixing one issue, introduces other issues! With electrical protection now so complex it's a thread we need to do our best to avoid pulling, especially as deep into a project the number of people in the Enginering Office who know the full details of why things are how they are decreases. HOWEVER safety related impacts need to be addressed as they are discovered.

While I understand that this query is AI driven, these are good parameters. The single thing that’s missed in the general process is understanding that construction serves two masters. The office and the field. There are steps that can be taken, trainings that can be held, and systems that can be created to mitigate this problem, but the first step is to identify the motivations of both sides as a communication issue that will always exist because of limited visibility The office believes that efficiency comes from X, and the field knows it comes from Y. They both have accurate data, it they are not in alignment. This is the challenge of data driven construction… and It’s a wonderful problem to try to solve.