Top-down and Bottom-up Design - Product Design and Development

Product Design and Development

During the design and development of new products, designers and engineers rely on both a bottom-up and top-down approach. The bottom-up approach is being utilized when off-the-shelf or existing components are selected and integrated into the product. An example would include selecting a particular fastener, such as a bolt, and designing the receiving components such that the fastener will fit properly. In a top-down approach, a custom fastener would be designed such that it would fit properly in the receiving components. For perspective, for a product with more restrictive requirements (such as weight, geometry, safety, environment, etc), such as a space-suit, a more top-down approach is taken and almost everything is custom designed. However, when it's more important to minimize cost and increase component availability, such as with manufacturing equipment, a more bottom-up approach would be taken, and as many off-the-shelf components (bolts, gears, bearings, etc) would be selected as possible. In the latter case, the receiving housings would be designed around the selected components.