The process of designing and developing a device, assembly, or system such that it be produced as an item for sale through some production manufacturing process. Product engineering usually entails activity dealing with issues of cost, producibility, quality, performance, reliability, serviceability, intended lifespan, and user features. These product characteristics are generally all sought in the attempt to make the resulting product attractive to its intended market and a successful contributor to the business of the organization that intends to offer the product to that market. It includes design, development and transition to the manufacturing of the product. The term encompasses developing the concept of the product and the design and development of its mechanical, electronics and software components. After the initial design and development are done, transitioning the product to manufacture it in volumes is considered part of product engineering. For example, the engineering of a digital camera would include defining the feature set, design of the optics, the mechanical and ergonomic design of the packaging, developing the electronics that control the various component and developing the software that allows the user to see the pictures, store them in memory and download them to a computer. Product engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with both the design and manufacturing aspects of a product.
