Editing Design engineer (section)

==Design engineer tasks==
Design engineers may work in a team along with other designers to create the drawings necessary for [[prototyping]] and production, or in the case of buildings, for [[construction]].  However, with the advent of [[Computer-aided design|CAD]] and [[solid modeling]] software, the design engineers may create the drawings themselves, or perhaps with the help of many corporate service providers.

The next responsibility of many design engineers is prototyping. A model of the product is created and reviewed. Prototypes are either functional or non-functional. Functional "alpha" prototypes are used for testing; non-functional prototypes are used for form and fit checking. [[Virtual prototyping]] and hence for any such software solutions may also be used. This stage is where design flaws are found and corrected, and tooling, manufacturing fixtures, and packaging are developed.

Once the "alpha" prototype is finalized after many iterations, the next step is the "beta" pre-production prototype. The design engineer, working with an [[industrial engineer]], [[manufacturing engineer]], and [[quality control|quality engineer]], reviews an initial run of components and assemblies for design compliance and fabrication/manufacturing methods analysis.  This is often determined through [[statistical process control]]. Variations in the product are correlated to aspects of the process and eliminated. The most common metric used is the [[process capability index]] C<SUB>pk</SUB>. A C<SUB>pk</SUB> of 1.0 is considered the baseline acceptance for full production go-ahead.

The design engineer may follow the product and make requested changes and corrections throughout the whole life of the product. This is referred to as "cradle to grave" engineering. The design engineer works closely with the manufacturing engineer throughout the product life cycle, and is often required to investigate and validate design changes which could lead to possible production cost reductions in order to consistently reduce the price as the product becomes mature and thus subject to discounting to defend market volumes against newer competing products. Moreover, design changes may be also made mandatory by updates in laws and regulations.

The design process is an information intensive one, and design engineers have been found to spend 56% of their time engaged in various information behaviours, including 14% actively searching for information.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Robinson | first1 = M. A. | year = 2010 | title = An empirical analysis of engineers' information behaviors | doi = 10.1002/asi.21290 | journal = Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology | volume = 61 | issue = 4| pages = 640–658 }}</ref> In addition to design engineers' core technical competence, research has demonstrated the critical nature of their personal attributes, project management skills, and cognitive abilities to succeed in the role.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Robinson | first1 = M. A. | last2 = Sparrow | first2 = P. R. | last3 = Clegg | first3 = C. | last4 = Birdi | first4 = K. | year = 2005 | title = Design engineering competencies: Future requirements and predicted changes in the forthcoming decade | doi = 10.1016/j.destud.2004.09.004 | journal = Design Studies | volume = 26 | issue = 2| pages = 123–153 }}</ref>

Amongst other more detailed findings, a recent [[work sampling]] study<ref name="Robinson (2012) DS">{{cite journal | last1 = Robinson | first1 = M. A. | year = 2012 | title = How design engineers spend their time: Job content and task satisfaction | doi = 10.1016/j.destud.2012.03.002 | journal = Design Studies | volume = 33 | issue = 4| pages = 391–425 }}</ref> found that design engineers spend 62.92% of their time engaged in technical work, 40.37% in social work, and 49.66% in computer-based work. There was considerable overlap between these different types of work, with engineers spending 24.96% of their time engaged in technical and social work, 37.97% in technical and non-social, 15.42% in non-technical and social, and 21.66% in non-technical and non-social.