Integration of marketing activities in the mechanical design process

Abstract

Industrial design is today, a key factor for business success, as well as an essential formula to compete in the market. This is one of the reasons why today, there is a great demand for professionals with knowledge in mechanical engineering and industrial design. By contrast, in engineering studies, much time is spent on training in CAD, in order to have an advanced knowledge of design tools, leaving aside the analysis of whether the designs will be good or not from the point of view of the customer. Many of these engineering students will be professional designers in the future designing their own products and being able to create a company that made designs that would have to be customer focused. In this context there has been carry out, several activities in the course of graphic engineering techniques in the degree of mechanical engineering in third year of this studies. The subject has been raised with an applied approach to the professional market, making creative products, including the functional aspect and customer focus, issues of vital importance but neglected by educational programs. In this research, a professor of marketing, with a great professional experience in pa-tent pending, has taught several classes at the beginning of the subject related to how to conduct interviews with the client to identify their needs, with the aim to give the initial design requirements by the customer. The result of the experience has resulted in a set of designs of higher quality than those made in previous years.