There is no perfect design. Only Optimization

A big part of requirements-driven design (or any "design" for that matter), is translating human needs and wants, which are articulated in their language, into engineering language which can be measured and analyzed.  Most importantly, though it is always the goal, there is rarely one design-sweet-spot that perfectly solves everyone's problem. Making things worse, as statisticians, we can appreciate that given all the variations and stack-ups that exist in our solutions, even six-sigma-and-beyond answers have tails of "failure".  Hence, every design problem theoretically has no solution! To coin another Wilson-ism, design is an Over-constrained, Non-solvable, Mathematical Equation (ONME).  Each NPD project I've been given always weighs heavily "on me"!  
In this module, you will collect some real ergonomic data and then use that data to optimize a solution. While the "home-version" you will complete is simple and quite crude in precision, this professor-given case-study is actually one of the more ubiquitous ergonomic optimization design challenges of all of life's products: how to "properly" seal a peelable package!

What's different? Bolsters “doing” and “analyzing”.

Output: Understanding that finding quick boundaries are helpful, more confidence to tackle much more complex engineering design problems.

Reality

Human ergonomics must combine with rigorous testing to design and validate products. The ubiquitous peel-seal makes a great learning scenario.

Hands-on work

Using simple equipment to mimic real life, ergonomic data is collected and various material and lid-stock options are tested.

Design optimization

Typically, there is no single perfect design solution.  Design recommendations must be optimized amid numerous and conflicting requirements.

Like a mini-capstone project--pulling together mechanics, protocol design, targeted user demographics, ergonomics, data cleansing, statistics,  project management, and team-building skills.

Who Hosts an Engineering Boundary Discovery Workshop? Engineering Professors. Especially those wanting to build a highly experiential assignment into their course.

Target attendee: Engineering students, especially those interested in new product development, requirements-driven design, ergonomics, and tools to optimize the User-Experience. Ideal for students not yet having much project experience.

Contact time:  Two x 2-hour sessions with a week in-between.

Options: 

• This workshop can be sized to fit a wide range of engineering modules.  Contracting: Either the actual ergonomic gathering, or the actual material testing can be given.  Expanding: Merge in topics of Good Laboratory Practice, Good Documentation Practice, Requirement Driven Design, Risk Assessment, Verification & Validation, Regulatory compliance, Testing Standards...
  
• Instead of using the Engineering Kits collectively, there is an video-explained option for making a home force gauge with common household materials, and testing the ergonomics at home. Then optimize the design with materials data which is given.

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