The systems perspective is that everything interacts with other things. Yet we tend to design our products in isolation from the environment in which they will operate. This module introduces students to one method of performing systems design; that is, designing so as to take into account the interactions of a product with its environments and the interactions between its elements. Systems designing is an important technique especially in large and complex engineering projects, and in trying to develop sustainable technologies.

The module also looks at how to design systems, covering the topics:

• Define the overall system
• Identify inputs and outputs
• Conceptualize solution systems
• Identify subsystems
• Define subsystem flows
• Systems recursion and iteration

[Description and screenshot taken from the wiki page for this module. Materials are used under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.]

It aims at generating interest in and a common understanding of the product development process; informing about the basic principles and terminology used in connection with systematic design in order to facilitate the use of the four product design examples presented in this course (see TALAT lectures 2102.01, .02, .03 and .04). The lecture is recommended for those situations, where a brief, general background information about aluminium is needed as an introduction of other subject areas of aluminium application technologies. This lecture is part of the self- contained course “Aluminium in Product Development”, which is treated under TALAT lectures 2100.

[Description and screenshot taken from TALAT page for this material. (c) European Aluminium Association used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]