Engineering Design Error

Design error is an important issue in any engineering field and is ubiquitous. In a 60 year career, and over 100 design projects, the author never experienced a design result that was error free. This volume is an introduction to a four volume series on engineering design error intended to describe the types of error, their causation, how to avoid them, and how to detect and remove them. The first chapter establishes the importance of design error, which is shown to be responsible for the majority of major hazards accidents and to be a major contributor to costs due to rework and recall of products. The volume considers the creative process, an the errors that can arise in the envisionment of design, particularly the topic of overlooked aspects. Different types of design activity are described, and the error types and error causation arising in each. Specification is a frequent cause of fundamental problems in design, including omissions in necessary information, contradictions and incompatibilities and the problems of scope creep. The problems of compliance with legal and standards requirements are also described. Organisational problems, such a competing objectives, communication problems in silo organisations and lack of or loss of corporate knowledge. The volume concludes by describing the procedures and methods for quality control of design, some of them traditional and some made possible by recent advances in computer aided design. All topics in the volume are illustrated with practical examples, many from the author’s own experience in leading design review teams, in safety management auditing and in accident investigation.