Does Kia make their own engine?

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
Using corporate as the excuse or crutch for not producing the best design within the limits is lame.


Emphasis is mine above. "Within the limits". I think that was Hootbro's point; corporate sets those limits (with a budget) and you have to stay within those constraints. You can tell when a lot of R&D was spent on a design and when very little R&D was spent on the design. This isn't an engineer's fault; they are given a time and dollar budget and have to stay within that.

This is no different than software engineering, with which I think you are likely familiar. Every software engineer I know has a million different ways he or she can make the software better given the time. There's simply no time in the budget to do it.

Everybody does the best they can do with the time they are given, but very often, the time given is such that a good vetting process for different implementations of something just isn't possible.

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: rjundi

Every problem out there has limits and boundaries even a supercar. Using corporate as the excuse or crutch for not producing the best design within the limits is lame. It seems to lead to apathy.


You are over reading my statement. It is not an excuse, it is the actual situation. Every design engineer I work with and to include myself, designs the best product they can given the time, specification and financial budget limits we are given .

To be fair though, if engineers had free rein to run a project with no limits on time or budget, most products would be years behind schedule, over bloated in terms of "over design" and cost way more than most people would want to pay for it. That is why there is very little to no corporate manufacturing structured companies run solely run by engineers. It takes a balance between business managers, quality, touch labor production and engineers to get a product that meets the intended target market.

There is a old saying in the industry, "There comes a time in every program where you have to shoot the engineers and go into production." This is quite true.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
There is a old saying in the industry, "There comes a time in every program where you have to shoot the engineers and go into production." This is quite true.


Bingo!
Just like on a final exam somebody has to say "pencils down", otherwise there will always be someone that wants to add that "one last thing".

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
There is a old saying in the industry, "There comes a time in every program where you have to shoot the engineers and go into production." This is quite true.


Great quote.

 

[javacontour]

According to Terry Haynes (Haines?) a former powertrain engineer with Ford, the first 2.5L Duratec prototype was built by Porsche.

Ford had to make some changes for it to meet emissions requirements and fit in the space alloted in the Mondeo.

My point is having others in on engine design is a common practice.

Instead of keeping a bench full of talent, why not farm out the work when needed?

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: whip
Toyota needs help from Yamaha...........


A number of automakers have chosen to partner with Yamaha for their engines. Ford's SHO engines are very well-known examples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_SHO_V6_engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_SHO_V8_engine

Just as the majority of Ford engines are designed and built by Ford, so too are the majority of Toyota engines...they are designed and built by Toyota.

 

[jrustles]

Nicely put Hoot. This is why I have so much respect for design engineers, given how creative and responsible they must be given what they are "afforded" to work with.

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: rjundi

Every problem out there has limits and boundaries even a supercar. Using corporate as the excuse or crutch for not producing the best design within the limits is lame. It seems to lead to apathy.


You are over reading my statement. It is not an excuse, it is the actual situation. Every design engineer I work with and to include myself, designs the best product they can given the time, specification and financial budget limits we are given .

To be fair though, if engineers had free rein to run a project with no limits on time or budget, most products would be years behind schedule, over bloated in terms of "over design" and cost way more than most people would want to pay for it. That is why there is very little to no corporate manufacturing structured companies run solely run by engineers. It takes a balance between business managers, quality, touch labor production and engineers to get a product that meets the intended target market.

There is a old saying in the industry, "There comes a time in every program where you have to shoot the engineers and go into production." This is quite true.

 

[Errtt]

Well all I can is now adding their 2.4L I4 (2010 Hyundai) to my little fleet, so far it's runs good (45k now), and it will take me a good bit of time to decide how I like it, or not.
Got a deal that I couldn't walk away, I had to try. It's mainly to/from work (2+ hrs a day highway), weekend getaway because it gets better mileage than our other SUV.
Time will tell, and if issues crop up, it's going to be a gone'r, otherwise I'll continue racking up miles. So far so good, but only 45k on the clock so far.