Component engineering involves designing and improving small parts to fit into larger projects. Practitioners work in various industries, requiring skills in understanding how the whole system works. General engineering basics, math, technical drawing, electronics, and chemistry are helpful. Business considerations include cost and mass production.
Component engineering is the design of various bits and pieces that fit into larger projects. Engineers in this field are responsible for designing, manufacturing, and improving small parts to make the larger part a working piece. Redesigning and improving those pieces can also play a role in the job.
Nearly every manufacturing, development and technology sector requires the skills of a component engineer. Medical research facilities, aerospace engineering, military defense systems and the telecommunications industry all use the services of those in the component engineering field to create products, equipment and new technologies. Depending on the industry, industry practitioners may work with a wide variety of technologies and materials. From individual car parts and magnetic arrays to fiber optics, the output of research and development by component engineering companies can be seen almost anywhere there is machinery or technology.
It is up to the individuals in this field to accept the challenge of designing parts that fit into a larger whole. In addition to being able to design the part to work as intended, component engineers must also be able to create parts that fit and work with a system that has already been built. They must be able to understand how the greater whole works and think on a larger scale than the piece being designed. Alternatively, when involved in a project being built from scratch, engineers also need to be able to visualize how a part will fit into an item that has yet to be built.
Regardless of the type of technology or processes the engineer is working with, some general skills can be applied to nearly any area of component engineering. In addition to general engineering basics, having a background in areas such as mathematics, technical drawing, electronics or chemistry can also be helpful. Because many of the tasks of component engineering are unprecedented, the ability to visualize three-dimensional objects from a two-dimensional drawing is also critical.
Business is also one of the important considerations of component engineering. In addition to creating parts that perform as expected, engineers’ customers also need parts that perform to a specific standard while the cost of the project stays within predetermined parameters. Other considerations include the ability to mass-produce a part, install it easily, and replace it easily if something goes wrong.
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