The role of information in tbe modern processes of designing work

Abstract

The adoption of new methods, along with the increased utilization of semi-products, prefabricated products and special outfits on the principle of construction sets has remarkably accelerated the designing work of engineers, still to catch up with the world standard an active participation in the economic competition is required, too, in order to shorten the processing time of product designing by almost one-third as compared to the traditional methods.
As has been pointed out in the professional literature, nearly 30% of the working time of a designing engineer is ccnsumed by obtaining and attaining information. These two facts make it clear that new potentialitles have to be explored and new methods have to be elaborated in order to supply adequate information for designing work. The company should increasingly rely on its own internal information as a basic source, thus with the increased requirements of quality and promptness the requirements of quantity have grown correspondingly. The author tends to approach the solution from various I aspects. His suggestions involve the acceleration of the "technical" processes of information by means of mechanization; the conduct of research work in respect of how the attainment and creative utilization of the information available could be facilitated; as organizational improvement he proposes the introduction of team work implying the amalgamation of information and scientific and technological departments of designing offices, that is, the unification of theoretical preparatory work and the practical implementation of conclusions; the training of adequate highly qualified personnel capable of performing this type of work.
The author attaches particular importance to the processing and presentation of trade literature, ae well as of the literature of patents and standards, and the related information. In his opinion this task may only be solved by international co-operation. He also highly appreciates the efforts of the COMECON countries to develop uniform trade catalogues.