Project Teardown: Proctor Silex
Team Members: Wei Cui and Omar Khan
What I learned
The Product Teardown being the first major assignment for me in my engineering development taught me a few but very valuable things about engineering. I've come to realize that engineering concerns itself with the detail. This shows me that engineering is as much about perfection as it is about publicizing and marketing. I used to view engineering as simply over-representation of work where products try to "sell themselves." This was in part because of commercialization of the tech industry. However, after the teardown I've come to realize the amount of design decisions that go into making and engineered product.
Design for X (dfX)
The first engineering concept I have learned is the way a designer looks at his or her work: design for something. By this I mean that every product has a purpose and so does every component of the product. For instance, in the Proctor Silex Hand Blender, I observed that the handle was curved in order to demonstrate or value design for ergonomics. At the same time I learned that the hand blender had to forego durability to accommodate ergonomics. This meant that design decisions are made carefully and making compromises is a strength if made for the right reason.
The Product Teardown being the first major assignment for me in my engineering development taught me a few but very valuable things about engineering. I've come to realize that engineering concerns itself with the detail. This shows me that engineering is as much about perfection as it is about publicizing and marketing. I used to view engineering as simply over-representation of work where products try to "sell themselves." This was in part because of commercialization of the tech industry. However, after the teardown I've come to realize the amount of design decisions that go into making and engineered product.
Design for X (dfX)
The first engineering concept I have learned is the way a designer looks at his or her work: design for something. By this I mean that every product has a purpose and so does every component of the product. For instance, in the Proctor Silex Hand Blender, I observed that the handle was curved in order to demonstrate or value design for ergonomics. At the same time I learned that the hand blender had to forego durability to accommodate ergonomics. This meant that design decisions are made carefully and making compromises is a strength if made for the right reason.