Mechanical Student

Yes and no. Design engineers are often the least practical; that's why it's also the easiest job to get into when you're a fresh grad and why it's so commonly grunt work during internships. The average junior through intermediate design engineer usually doesn't care how the part is made or how it's going to be installed. They simply draw the parts based on standards or based off assemblies they can project features from. It's extremely easy to make a part "work" in an assembly but be near impossible to actually produce.

The ones who actually know how problematic a part might be to manufacture are manufacturing engineers. Their main jobs are to literally make a part work or be "possible." And this is where hands-on experience is actually valuable. Design engineers don't have to know if a bend is possible or the details of how to make curved sheet metal parts. They simply hand them to the manufacturing engineers and go "pls make work thx." Senior design engineers might also know how problematic parts can be but never to the extent of a manufacturing engineer or ME planner.

/r/EngineeringStudents Thread Parent