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Battle between electrical and mechanical engineers

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Strube09:
Okay, so I need to rant for a second. I am currently relaying out a PCB for the third time.... but go figure it has work perfectly from the very first schematic and layout. However due to poor mechanical design there is no easy way to assembly the end product. So the fix? Tell the EE he has to redo the PCB layout to fit in a new area.... Oh wait now that that layout is done we realized that it won't work there either so.... do it again! WOOHOOO

On top of that I am consistently fighting for real estate in the final product. At least at my place of work it seems as though mechanical guys get to take up as much space for poor design and the electricals take a back seat ride until the end and were they try to just jam it in there.

So needless to say I have to sacrifice good layout practices in order to make everything fit in the smallest space possible.

I know that the real estate battle for electronics is nothing new, but I just wish people could think of the whole product before they just tell me where to through my pcb... guess what, the electronics is what makes the products function... consult us for space requirements before the mechanical design phase is done.

Sorry of my rambling just a point of frustration at least at my work.
GRRR
Strube

Kiriakos-GR:
I am on your side ,  but all the participants in large projects have an back seat ride.

Only simple designs , can become as " one man show "  :)

ChrisGammell:
I would also guess wherever you're working Strube produces a product that is "mechanically centered". I have heard this before from other people that if the customer cares more about the mechanics of the thing (regardless of if the electronics are making it work), then the mechanical engineer will win decisions in product design. If the customer only cares about the performance based on the electronics, the mechanical guys get jerked around. Just what I've seen and heard though.

TopherTheME:
This is very common and goes both ways. I've seen EE's push ME's around ME's pushing EE's around. It usually just depends on weather the manager/boss/director is a EE or ME.

Zero999:
That's normally what happens in my experience: the electronic engineer has to fit his design around the mechanical.

This isn't the right way of doing it. If shouldn't be mechanical vs electrical but a group of engineers working together as a team. Also don't forget that what you're doing is at the boundary between electrical and mechanical so you're going to have this kind of problem. Who designs the circuit? Do you do that as well? Who selects the physical components? In some organisations different people are given very specific roles: for example if you're designing PCBs that's all you'll ever do. This isn't the right way of doing it in my point of view.

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