Transdisciplinary convergence - a vital consideration in engineering solutions

Convergence, or the fusion of technology, devices, knowledge, process and people from multiple engineering disciplines, is vital in solving complex engineering problems. System specialists and engineers can no longer operate in separate environments, designing independent solutions, without understanding their overall interconnectedness. Increasingly, electrical engineers must understand basic concepts from mechanical engineering, and both must understand basic concepts from software engineering. These disciplines must work cooperatively and in a “convergent” manner to design solutions that integrate cross-discipline components - material (e.g. aluminum, plastic), electrical (e.g. circuitry), communications (internet), and user devices (e.g. computers, phones). This paper provides continued rationale for the emergence of convergence as a key consideration in the attainment of superior performance with respect to time, cost and quality. It outlines the importance of convergence to process engineering and modeling as well as its role in the instantiation of the solution into a final product or service. Convergence provides many benefits including increased productivity, improved coordination amongst the disciplines and access to information almost anytime and anywhere.