Multi-disciplinary Engineering
Encyclopedia
The term multi-disciplinary engineering (MDE) describes an interdisciplinary process on a highly cross-professional level.
It summons a much higher number of areas for integration than common interdisciplinary, or system integrated projects. In these areas the combination of two different fields of knowledge, rarely more than four are achieved. Sometimes even MDE is falsely used to describe the combination of only two or three fields. But there are challenges that require the evaluation and fusion of dozens, or even more than a hundred fields.

When resources similar to an ordinary project are applied for an MDE process, it results in a less detailed, but much broader evaluation of the task.
This can prevent blank spots in early planning processes and it is indispensable for the enhancement of planning efficiency. It also helps to find the best solution apart from any regimentation or constraints that professions, or experts usually have.

The term is an expression of quality. Principally it is the same like systems engineering
Systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...

 but on a level that is yet uncommon in the industry. A level that is equipped to meet the criteria for a positive material input per unit of service. The MIPS concept is the only concept at hand that has the ability to regard all aspects of a project and deliver a holistic ecological analysis.

Example

Broad arrays of different engineering fields are simultaneously considered in the planning stage of a civil engineering project. But all of these areas are adjacent to each other. For instance the structural analysis, construction physics, inherent material science, actual construction course and logistics are all members of a rather small group.
A difference would be the simultaneous consideration of areas distributed over the professions of the engineers involved and the architects, landscape architects, maintenance specialist, utility-provider and e.g. a scientist rendering the life cycle balance of the project. Such an Multidisciplinary approach
Multidisciplinary approach
A multidisciplinary approach to problem solving involves drawing appropriately from multiple disciplines to redefine problems outside of normal boundaries and reach solutions based on a new understanding of complex situations....

 cross all borders of different professions could be regarded as MDE.
This level of integration has the potential to solve problems on a level adequate for the environmental and economic challenges, reaching highest degrees of efficiency and leading into sustainability.

Quality

MDE is a term that stands for quality, not for any particular procedure.
The quality depends on certain factors:
  • the grade of difference between the disciplines
  • the number of disciplines
  • the resources used for integration (time, experts etc.)

Learning

In order to apply the MDE approach, the individual experts need to go through a very unusual, prolonged period of broad-scale learning.
The MDE method faces the challenge of unifying different scientific languages in order to make it possible for a group of engineers to communicate, or to forge the different data sets, equations etc. together as simple as possible.

See also

  • Earth systems engineering and management
    Earth systems engineering and management
    Earth systems engineering and management is a discipline used to analyze, design, engineer and manage complex environmental systems. It entails a wide range of subject areas including anthropology, engineering, environmental science, ethics and philosophy...

  • Environmental management
    Environmental management
    Environmental resource management is “a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities” . It is not, as the phrase suggests, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of the interaction and...

  • Sustainability
    Sustainability
    Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

  • Industrial ecology
    Industrial ecology
    Industrial Ecology is the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems. The global industrial economy can be modeled as a network of industrial processes that extract resources from the Earth and transform those resources into commodities which can be bought and sold to meet the...

  • systems engineering
    Systems engineering
    Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...


Lists
Topics
  • Enterprise systems engineering
    Enterprise systems engineering
    Enterprise systems engineering is a emerging discipline of engineering that focuses on integration of many engineering sub-systems and principles into a complete system....

  • System of systems engineering
    System of systems engineering
    System-of-Systems Engineering is a set of developing processes, tools, and methods for designing, re-designing and deploying solutions to System-of-Systems challenges.- Overview :...

    (SoSE)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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