Engineering Design interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your engineering background + machinery experience.
2. Tell me about a product or design project you've worked on.
3. Why industrial machinery vs auto / consumer / aerospace / research?
4. Why this product family - construction / ag / packaging / mining / machine tools / oil + gas?
5. Why the firm?
6. What's your read on our product portfolio + recent launches?
7. Tell me what you understand about our engineering culture + product development practice.
8. Walk me through a design project from concept to launch.

Technical concepts to master

• DFMA + cost design

  DFMA (Design for Manufacturing + Assembly) · Should-cost + zero-base cost analysis · Value engineering / VAVE · Modular + platform design · Make vs buy + supplier strategy

• Simulation + reliability + duty cycle

  FEA + fatigue analysis · Duty cycle definition · MTBF + MTTR + reliability metrics · Accelerated life testing · FMEA (DFMEA + PFMEA)

• Customer-application + configurable design

  Customer application analysis · Configurable / configure-to-order (CTO) · ETO (engineer-to-order) · Modular architecture · Customer spec interpretation + RFP response

• Aftermarket + parts + service economics

  Aftermarket revenue model · Serviceability + maintainability design · Warranty + reliability economics · Parts catalogue + S-1000D / S-2000M · Connected machine + telematics + remote diagnostics

Practical drills

• You're designing a new boom / arm structure for a heavy machine. Walk through your design + FEA + duty-cycle validation approach.
• A field campaign shows your machine has 18% higher than expected failure rate on a major sub-assembly. Walk through your RCA + response.
• A major customer wants a customised variant with specific attachments + duty cycle. Walk through your engineering + commercial approach.

Smart-question anchors

• Product portfolio + customer segments - lines + applications + recent launches
• Engineering org + PDP discipline - stage-gates, simulation / test maturity
• Manufacturing footprint + vertical integration - assembly + welding + machining + supplier mix
• Aftermarket strategy - parts + service + warranty economics, connected machine + telematics
• Technology investments - electrification, autonomy, IoT, AI / ML

Sourced from

ISO 12100 + ISO 13849 + IEC 62061 machinery safety standards · EU Machinery Directive / Regulation 2023/1230 · ASME + ANSI + SAE industrial machinery standards · Boothroyd-Dewhurst DFMA + standard cost engineering references · S-1000D + S-2000M Aerospace + Industrial Tech Pubs + Spares standards