Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You go ahead with your work.
You decide to go ahead and redesign the tail lights with fins. After you
have labored for the rest of the day, you excitedly take your design to the
meeting with Sandra and other designers.
One of the first questions asked is: how do you close the
trunk? You are embarrassed to note that your design makes the original trunk
design unworkable.
"We would have to find a new supplier to custom-make the fins, which would
be too expensive. And we would have to calculate a new trunk because the fins
change the design of the whole rear end of the car. The idea is no good,"
says another designer.
"The process is often dictated by cost and feasibility," says Speirs. "Some
designs can't be carried through because the cost is too high, or it's
too complicated a design for the assembly line."
Car body designers can change designs and are encouraged to figure out
problems, but they must tell engineers and other designers what they are planning
to do. "Communication is key in this business," says Speirs. "Many people
work on one car, and everyone has to know what the other person is doing to
make the car come together."