Decision-Making in Engineering Design

We use our brains to create plans and designs. However, when the resulting plans and designs take physical form, the ways in which we made our decisions are usually not included. Thus, those who only see the results, do not learn what led the designer to reach such conclusions and consequently never understand the real design. This is the first book to provide a much-needed insight into the ways in which our minds behave when we make decisions, in particular decisions about design. Written by members of The Practice of Machine Design Research Group and consisting of four parts, this book uses case studies and diagrams to illustrate the decisions made by engineers in various situations. This description of decision processes will provide the means for the development of new manufacturing systems and production activities in the future because it helps us gain a real understanding of the how the mind processes we go through when making decisions affect the decisions that we make.