> On 07/09/2012 03:46 PM, scott wrote:
>> But don't worry, you're not alone in underestimating the amount of
>> design work that goes into everyday products. Once you've been to a few
>> conferences on design and simulation software you realise that nothing
>> is just designed by trial and error. For example even the part of your
>> dishwasher that contains the salt to soften the water has been carefully
>> studied, designed and simulated to minimise salt use, pressure drop and
>> material costs. Certainly some person didn't just draw it out and say
>> "that'll work, let's test it" and then maybe make a couple of tweaks.
>> You wouldn't survive 5 minutes if your company worked like that.
>
> I can imagine a lot of design work goes into a brand new product. But if
> you're making a dishwasher, you're not making a brand new product.
> You're making a product which is nearly identical to several hundred
> thousand existing products, but with one or two trivial differences.
> Most of the research has already been done. You just need to
> double-check that your new design doesn't contain any unexpected flaws.

Even changing a small mounting bracket requires lots of simulation 
(Google finite elements analysis* ) to make sure the bracket will not 
break after 3 months of use.

Even if a good deal of the research has been done, a change in 
regulations, or market conditions, can force a dish-washing machine 
maker to have to review the entire design.

Besides, there's lots of research that has to be redone because it was 
initially done by another company and you can't be sued for 
reverse-engineering their product, so if both use 1/8th inch mounting 
brackets, you need to be able to show a judge that you did do all the 
calculations necessary to determine that it was the proper thickness, 
ans that you didn't simply copy the other company's bracket.

* lots of math and programming in that field, for someone with an 
interest in those.  You may not know the first thing about strength of 
materials, or vibrations, but the engineers and physicists who do can't 
program their way out of a paper bag, so they need programmers and math 
is the common languages that these two groups speak.

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