The management, use, and application of knowledge in engineering design

The application and management of knowledge in the field of Engineering Design has become a major issue over recent years, more especially as we now recognise that any individual in any geographical location can undertake the production of 'Design deliverables'. We are also aware that the super information highways allow the transmission of vast amounts of design data between Nations continents and cultures. Engineering design is a multifaceted science dependent on the concurrent application of several critical knowledge domains, in which the engineering designer's knowledge initially begins as a single discipline specific domain involving considerable depth of detail and rapidly extends to multidisciplinary knowledge with greater breadth. The useable knowledge acquired over the designer's education, training and experiences is generally viewed as being 'experiential knowledge', it is this knowledge that is employed in the majority of engineering design work undertaken today. Alternative forms of knowledge employed in engineering design now include products which use artificial or machine intelligence, and decision support systems. This paper reviews the constructs of the knowledge employed in engineering design processes and outlines the key elements required to improve its management.