Machine design is the single most important activity in the mechanical industries. Success or failure of a company has it roots in product design, whether it is done in-house or contracted out. It is here that manufacturing costs and profits are determined. Even the best of manufacturing facilities are of little use if the design of a product is inherently faulty. Designers of machinery are individuals who use their talents to solve user-product problems on an on-going basis. They typically spend most of their time and effort on questions of applications and functions, usually within diminishing space requirements. That is, the designer must constantly seek to satisfy the customer's desires with respect to adaptability to the environment and will always seek to reduce the size limitations. Other concerns do not necessarily have lower priorities but are secondary in the sense that form and function are usually fixed in the designer's mind first.
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