Information searches by vehicle engineers in engineering design development

Abstract

The development of design support requires a clear understanding of the situations that need to be improved. A literature review has identified that only few studies have observed the way in which design practitioners work, in an industrial environment; and since those few studies on this topic were all conducted 10 or 20 years ago, their findings may no longer reflect current practice. This study investigates the information needs of designers, and the different approaches and resources that they currently adopt to fulfil these needs. The research was performed by interviewing eight engineering designers. The analysis of the interview transcripts leads to the main findings of this research.