An Introduction to Product Engineering

By NIIT Editorial

Published on 10/01/2022

7 minutes

Look at all the consumer products around you. Each product has a specific function. It caters to a specific need of yours. It solves problems.

But how was the product made? Why was there a need for such a product? What was the problem that a particular product was solving? How did anybody know it would be a success?

In a nutshell, the two paragraphs above are, for a layman, the basic foundations of Product Engineering.

The definition of Product Engineering

Product Engineering is the designing of a product along with the manufacturing processes involved in creating the product.

The answer to the question “what is product engineering” is far more complex and detailed than the above definition alone.

Let us explore the workings of a Product Engineer!

What does a Product Engineer do?

Product engineers study their surroundings, recognizing the problem, arriving at various solutions, filtering out options, and finally presenting a product that fits the market.

A product engineer is not only responsible for the creation of the final product, but also for checking its feasibility in a given market.

Does the product satisfy the end user’s needs? Will the product sustain after having been launched? Even after the product launch, the product engineers need to keep a constant track of how the product fares in the market, analysing the feedback that they receive from the customers and acting upon them accordingly.

The roles and responsibilities of a product engineer

A product engineer is considered a jack of many trades since he needs to have in-depth knowledge of all the stages in the product development cycle.

The traits of a product developer, product designer, and product manager can all be found together in product engineers. All in all, product engineers are integral to product engineering services. They play a pivotal role at all stages of a product’s development.

Here are some things that can be expected in a product engineer’s daily job:

Brainstorm creative and unique ideas for a product based on industry knowledge.
Communicating and coordinating with the Product Development Team to finalize feasible product ideas.
Creating product blueprints through computer-aided design (CAD).
Identifying design flaws by conducting tests on working product prototypes.
Determining cost-effective manufacturing processes and materials.
Overlooking the entire manufacturing process, always ensuring safety and productivity.

What skills does one need to be a product engineer?

What happens when there’s a defect in a product? A product engineer consults with the product development team to zero in on the problem source and arrive at a solution. A product engineer, therefore, needs to collaborate regularly with other engineers. For this, a product engineer needs to be a team player.

Another important skill for a product engineer is creative thinking. This is not limited to the ability to create unique products, but also the capability to find cost-effective methods of manufacturing and improving user experience.

A product development phase involves not only engineers, but product managers, corporate executives, logisticians, and shipping managers. These people may not possess the same amount of technical knowledge. Hence, a product engineer needs to have great communication skills to tackle the various levels of knowledge capacities.

Without a doubt, product engineers need to be excellent in Mathematics. Product development involves a lot of calculations – algebra, calculus, and statistics – that can help product engineers to gauge a product’s successes and failures.

Before the final product is created, a blueprint and prototype are required. For this, product engineers need to be fairly adept at computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software.

How to become a product engineer?

It is crucial to understand the educational background and qualification that is required in becoming a product engineer.

Firstly, you must complete a 4-year undergraduate degree course in a related field – like mechanical engineering, product design engineering, or quality engineering. You can check out NIIT - they offer a wide range of degree programs with an esteemed faculty that give you an insight into the actual product engineering industry.

Following your graduation, you can opt to start work in product engineering-related positions. You will have to start as an entry-level product engineer job or quality control engineer, and then you can work your way towards becoming a senior product engineer or even a product manager based on your education and work experience.

To advance your career opportunities, do consider enrolling in the PGP in Full Stack Product Engineering. Such efforts show professional recruiters your willingness to learn, and it also helps you gain knowledge in specialized fields of product engineering. This could accelerate job performances and open up numerous opportunities for promotion.

Product Engineers help businesses achieve efficient and economical product development processes. In this way, product engineers contribute to the improvement of a business’s overall performance and have now become a crucial part of the product development team.