Your group has formed an engineering consulting firm that develops prototype designs for private industry. You will pretend to have received a solicitation for a design proposal from a fictional company. The product to be designed is a decision your group will make together. The product does not have to entirely original; it can be a redesign of product that you consider to be flawed. However, by the end of class on Thursday, 14 September 2000, you should have decided what product you are going to design.

Your written report will have three parts which are delineated below.

Part I.

Define the Problem:

Write a memo from the company that clearly states what they are looking for. This memo should define the need for the product you are being asked to develop. A bulleted list of criteria necessary for a successful design should be included in this memo. These criteria may involve physical specifications, cost constraints, safety guidelines, etc.

This memo will be the first page of your report. In addition to including this memo in your report, each group should hand in a copy of this memo on Tuesday, 19 September 2000, for review.

Part II.

This next part of your report will be your group's formal response to the solicitation in Part I.

Gather Pertinent Information:

Your group should conduct research to identify any pre-existing designs that address some or all of the criteria set forth in the solicitation memo. In your report, evaluate these products and discuss the limitations and benefits of them. What features you would keep or change in your design? What features would you add?

What scientific principles may influence your design?

Who will be the end-users of the product you are designing? Identify any concerns or suggestions they may feel are especially important.

Conduct and report any further research you feel may be important to developing your product.

Generate Multiple Solutions:

Brainstorm with your group and report the findings. Briefly discuss each alternative and present rough sketches to clearly show how each alternative will function. For most products, there should be at least one alternative solution for each group member. If you come up with less than this prerequisite number, you should clearly state your justifications for considering a fewer number of designs. All of the sketches should be included in the report as numbered figures. The verbal description of each alternative design should be present in the body of the report and should reference the corresponding figure.

Analyze and Select a Solution:

Use a decision matrix to evaluate your alternatives. The following guidelines may be useful to help you with this step.

1. Compose a list of necessary criteria and assigning numerical values to these criteria that indicate their relative importance. This number can be referred to as the Importance Factor.
2. Decide how well each alternative (on a scale of 1 to 10) meets each of the criteria. This number can be referred to as the Rating Factor.
3. Multiply the Importance Factor by the Rating Factor.
4. Total the results for each alternative and choose your final design.

Discuss your findings your findings in the body of the report and include the decision matrix as a numbered table. Remember to reference the table in the body of the report.

Implement the Solution:

Provide a detailed analysis of your final solution. Your report should clearly show the results of all your considerations. Any analytical calculations or experiments conducted should be explained. This analysis should include the following elements (where applicable):

• detailed drawings
• cost calculations
• discussion of safety considerations
• discussion of ethical considerations
• analytical calculations
• experimental findings.

Part III.

Finally, you should write a user's manual for the product that explains the steps necessary for set-up and use of the product. Any safety notes should also be included in this manual.

G R A D I N G :

Each group will receive one grade for their final report which is due Thursday, 28 September 2000, by the beginning of class. In order to ensure the active participation of all the group members, each group should also hand in a sheet of paper summarizing the contributions of each of the individual members.