Calling all engineers - interview question

[PhoenixOrion]

"Can you elaborate on an example wherein you 'engineer out' a parameter so that it wasn't critical anymore in the process?"

lets hear your real life examples

 

[Howard]

Practical or theoretical?

 

[PhoenixOrion]

practical, real-world, and true......you can make it vague/generic if its too proprietary.

 

[TheCanuck]

This one time, at band camp....

 

[Born2bwire]

I gave my idiot coworker a slinky to play with so that he would be distracted for the rest of the project.

 

[drinkmorejava]

Short of invetro removing the penis from the equation, I have no idea how to answer that. Then again, I'm only a third semester aero.

 

[NatePo717]

Had to design a device so that we could reposition a roller so that we could change shear stressed on a page with toner on it. Our initial designs had a micrometer that moved the top part of the roller assembly which caused all sorts of sizing issues and problems with stresses in the device. Then after about 20 cups of coffee and massive hair loss from all parties involved we figured out a way to reposition one of the driven rollers using micrometers attached to the base of the machine and moving the driven roller instead of the top force producing roller. This cut out all sorts of design issues and made the whole thing a hell of a lot cheaper to make.

 

[Sahakiel]

In New York, a woman gave birth to a baby using in vitro insemination of donated sperm. She thus started a family without actually having sex with the father.
Some people would say, "ah, but without the father, it's not really a complete family."
Well, the woman managed to get around that by suing the sperm donor for child support.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

You know, that's a really damn good question :beer:

 

[jamesave]

prove that particular variable won't affect any other processes within that range..

For example if you have three critical parameteres, PVT? (Pressure, Volume, Temp), then you can make sure that one of the parameter stay constant, etc..

 

[edro]

Using unique styled connectors for each circuit, so the production facility cannot incorrectly connect any wires.
Labeling, color coding, giving instructions help, but if the connector doesn't fit, you inhibit any incorrect wiring.