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System-engineering

Engineering any one part is tough.
Engineering 10,000 parts to work together is much tougher.

I was blessed to start out in the auto business. First, there are no excuses, those cars have to go down the line on a certain date and there just is no delaying the design or postponing the release.

Another great thing about automotive engineering is how tough it is. Hot cold noise vibration, and everything had to be dirt cheap. Just as valuable, you have to understand configuration management, Ford had 19 truck assembly plants, and you had to plan every design revision and its phase-in carefully.

A good system design is like a well-rehearsed orchestra. A lousy design is, well, lousy. There are just so many things that go wrong in a system. And its not just that it works on the lab bench. It has to work and fail gracefully and be easy to fix or recycle when its broken.

A lone wolf can design a component, system design is a social endeavor.

A complex design has complex interactions. Back when designs were done on drafting tables its amazing that anything fit or worked at all. CAD (computer aided design) has made things much easier.

Why Ford Escort cam belts break Ford Escorts introduced in 1980 had a severe problem with camshaft belts breaking. This would grenade the engine. Aluminum cables and dead regulators Ford management thought aluminum battery cables were cheaper. Meanwhile, hundreds of batteries were boiling out.

Why Fords jump out of park Ford vehicles in the 1970s and 80s would routinely jump, pop, or hop out of park. If the engine was running, it could kill you. Engineering disaster: the Ford ignition The 1980 Ford pickup ignition module was the worst reliability part in Ford history. Plus, it stranded you when it failed.

Engineering disaster: the Ford wiper motor The 1980 Ford pickup abandoned a worm-gear wiper motor and used a spur-gear design that was noisy, broken, and costly. Engineering disaster: the Ford dashboard The 1980 Ford pickup truck plastic instrument panel was a nightmare. A cost, reliability, quality, and safety penalty.

Harleys and open systems A baroque and antiquated design is compensated by the open system, and the people that surround it. Subway sandwich shop system design I got a large drink at a Subway shop. The straws were too short for the cup.

The system is the thing Component companies can't ignore the forest just because they sell trees. Mission Motors electric motorcyle Slapping an electric motor into a motorcycle requires a lot of system engineering.

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