Learn from the Offspring

THERE are two opposed approaches to any problem of engineering design. One is to proceed by small steps from established practice so that what amounts to a development tradition is built up. The other is to treat each problem completely afresh, to analyse the requirements and rationally formulate a solution to them from scratch. Of course each approach has its place. Where the problem is to build something which has been built before, but on a larger scale or with a higher performance, the following of established procedures will yield the quickest and perhaps the most reliable solution. Much of our industry in this country works exclusively in this way. It is the natural outcome of our early start in the industrial revolution. However problems do arise from time to time which have no relation close enough to anything which has been done before for anything but a completely fresh approach to suffice. In such circumstances any preconceptions or traditions of approach may be a hindrance. However, where the problem is completely new there can be little choice but to think out solutions from the beginning. In the case of an established industry there may well come a time when conditions have changed, perhaps gradually, or when the problems to be solved have imperceptibly altered to such a degree that the original organization and methods are no longer the best. Here the sweeping away of well established procedures is much more difficult.