Invited paper to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Process Industries Meeting, Managing Information for Profit, the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre

S F Bush

Background

In the twenty years from 1960 computing had an increasing influence on engineering research and the more fundamental aspects of design, but during the last decade its influence on engineering and manufacturing practice has acquired the characteristic of a revolution. Broadly speaking over the last thirty years the computer has moved from being the specialised tool of a few mathematically able engineers and scientists to being an everyday resource of the many, possibly the majority of engineers today. This immense change has come about because of the rapid reduction in the hardware cost of computing. It is worth briefly reviewing that particular change because it both determines the present and is a pointer to the future.

Invited paper to the Institution of Chemical Engineers 8th Process Development Technology Conference, London

S F Bush

Summary

The paper identifies Design as the engineering function which will be most profoundly changed by current and projected developments in hardware and software. In hardware the three current classes of computer – the mainframe, multi-user mini and single user micro – are shown as likely to reduce essentially to two – the mainframe and the workstation. For software, the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of an Expert System or Designer’s Assistant is seen as the most important new development affecting Engineering.

To understand the potential impact of computing on Design, a design inheritance factor is defined and the concept of parallel as opposed to serial design introduced. The ways in which the projected computing developments will enhance the one and facilitate the other are described.