How can you balance quality and deadlines when designing cars?

Harmonizing Quality and Timelines in Car Design: Balancing quality and deadlines in design, especially at AIR eVTOL and running an industrial design studio, is a nuanced art. The key is embracing deadlines as a framework, not a constraint. Deadlines push for efficiency, fostering a focused creative process. Trusting this process is crucial. While striving for perfection, acknowledge that designs can evolve even post-deadline. It's a balance between delivering optimal quality within the set time and understanding that design is an ongoing journey. Remember, a good design delivered on time often trumps a perfect one that never sees the light of day.

One thing I find helpful is involving all the stakeholders. All program managers, designers, modellers and studio engineers should have a common agreement on quality and timing. Being open to suggestions early on helps make decisions in a timely manner.

No amount of planning will suffice when the corporate culture does not value, beyond words, the quality attributes of the product. This requires time for learning by the team and the organization, and at times material investments.

D'après mon expérience, un projet réussi doit suivre ce étapes: 𝟏. 𝐃é𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐬 𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧: Établissez des objectifs de design clairs dès le début du processus. 𝟐. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐞𝐥 : Explorez la possibilité de prototypes virtuels avant la création de prototypes physiques. 𝟯. 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 : Établissez un processus de feedback continu. 𝟒. 𝐔𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 :Utilisez des technologies de prototypage rapide pour accélérer le processus. ℂ𝕖𝕝𝕒 𝕡𝕖𝕦𝕥 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕣𝕖 𝕕𝕖 𝕧𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕕𝕖𝕤 𝕚𝕕é𝕖𝕤 𝕕𝕖 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕟 𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥. Et surtout n'oublier pas la Veille concurrentielle.

Clear Goals: Make sure everyone knows what the project is supposed to achieve. Use Resources Well: Assign people and tools smartly. Focus on Important Stuff: Concentrate on the most crucial design parts. Plan in Steps: Break the project into smaller parts with deadlines. Listen and Improve: Regularly get feedback and make things better. Be Ready for Changes: Things might not go as planned, be flexible. Talk a Lot: Communicate openly with your team. Try Things Out: Test and make models during the process. Watch for Problems: Identify and fix potential issues early on. Keep Getting Better: Learn from each project to do even better next time.

In my view, it's like this: you can't do everything at once or make everything perfect from the start. It's important to focus on the most crucial parts of your design first. Testing and checking your ideas early and regularly using models, simulations, feedback, and data is key. This helps you find and fix problems, make things better, and avoid having to redo a lot of work later on.

In my experience, I’ve found that it is essential to test and validate the design as early as possible, to identify failure points before they become critical. In this sense, building physical prototypes early on is crucial. There are cases in component design where a designer may even start modelling out the volumes of the concept before laying pen to paper, to accurately grasp the parameters of ideation. Such an approach also yields a good marriage of form and function.

je confirme; Il est impossible de imaginer tout simultanément ni de le faire parfaitement. Priorisez les aspects cruciaux de votre conception et concentrez vous d'abord sur eux. Testez et validez vos hypothèses et décisions de conception dès que possible à l'aide de prototypes, simulations, feedbacks, et données. L'itération de votre conception permettra d'identifier et de résoudre les problèmes, améliorant ainsi la qualité et réduisant les ajustements.

In design, you're not on your own, you have a team of experts, partners, and suppliers to help you. Your client, manager, or sponsor can guide you and provide resources. It's important to talk and work well with everyone, using tools that make sharing information easy. Sometimes, you share tasks with others and trust them to do a good job. This teamwork makes the design process smoother and more successful

I agree. I think brainstorming is one of the most valuable tools in the design process. The more eyes and minds on the development the better chance of streamlining the design in an efficient yet robust manner.

Designing cars is like a rollercoaster, it's not always straightforward. You'll face unexpected challenges and changes. Being flexible and adaptable helps you deal with these surprises and find ways to make things better. It's also important to listen to what others say about your work and be open to making improvements based on their feedback. This way, you can stay on track even when things change or new ideas come up.

Planning ahead always assists with a crisp and smooth process. Our industry is faced with many uncertainties and this may negatively impact the clients perception of your business. Having a clear Timeline and additional buffer for design and completion always assists in managing clients expectation. If faced with little timelines , remember the process may not be smooth but the final product will leave a lasting impression.

𝐉'𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞: Le design automobile est un processus fluide.. Soyez donc ouvert aux suggestions des autres, et pourquoi pas, les faire intégrer dans la conception au besoin. Cette souplesse vous permettra de répondre aux évolutions des besoins, attentes et situations.

The most important thing to make ease design with reference geometry that can be easy manufacturing also easy to be measured by tools and inspection fixtures

Car design isn't just about looks; it involves performance, usability, safety, and sustainability. Finding the right balance between how a car looks and how well it works is crucial. You have to think about the impact on the environment, use of technology, following rules, and meeting user needs. It's also about blending your own creative style with what the industry and market expect. This balance ensures that the cars you design are not only attractive but also practical and in line with what people want and need.

Designing cars is an ongoing process that requires constant review and improvement, especially before final delivery. It's essential to assess the design for quality, accuracy, consistency, and completeness, ensuring it aligns with project requirements and specifications. Additionally, evaluating the design for its impact, value, and satisfaction, measured against set objectives, is crucial. Regularly reviewing and refining the design is key to delivering a high-quality product within the designated timeframe and budget.

Without sounding snarky or smart-ass I would implore teams to adhere to the timetable and gateways set out at the start of a project. I can't believe how much churn, re-design and mind changing goes on these days. Someone somewhere has to learn the power of 'No' again. The amount of stress, mental and physical health issues emerging is worrying yet nobody seems to want to know or are just burying their heads in the sand. Who ever the mysterious 'Seniors' are please take a hard look at yourselves and the impact your last minute changes are having on the workforce.

Using today's advanced methods and tools for product design is one of the ways to increase quality and reduce project time. One of these tools is the use of PLM systems during product design to increase productivity by managing processes and documents and reduce errors.

Balancing quality and time poses a significant challenge, especially considering the diverse stakeholders involved at each stage of delivery, including the proto team, engineering, and management. Sometimes, all of them. Challenges manifest as quality improvements, engineering iterations, and the dreaded last-minute feedback from high-level reviews 😄. All this makes establishing a robust process a necessity. Fine-tuning the process for flexibility – enabling early delivery when feasible and accommodating sufficient time for resolution in case of issues is one solution. In a worst-case scenario, a pragmatic solution lies in concentrating on the vital 20% that addresses 80% of the problems. Accommodating as much as one practically can.

Timelines and gateways need to realistic so they can be achieved. Also when people are asked about their deliverables, they need to be honest and not just panda up to their seniors to look good. Another problem I can across on this subject was careers got in the way of task ownership, to much churn greatly delayed timelines.

Using proven technologies and reliable ones. Optimizing the construction processes. Simple design. One cannot do experimentation with limited budgets, so it's better to keep the best quality and sturdiness.