Josh W., one of our mechanical development engineers, built this “Woody” road bike as a project for one of his upper-level mechanical engineering courses in college. The frame is laminated from exotic hardwoods, then machined and hand worked. He used high-end components throughout to complete the bike. Josh says he gets a great deal of pleasure from riding a bike he crafted by hand.
Craftsmanship is a principle that can be applied to everything from fine woodworking to emails. The spirit of craftsmanship is to embrace quality of execution and detail in ones work. Engineers who embrace this spirit become better design engineers. The products and systems that they design are less likely to exhibit unanticipated and undesirable attributes.
Josh clearly embodies the spirit of craftsmanship. He developed advanced machining and woodworking skills before layering on his mechanical engineering education. The hands-on experience enhanced his ability to think in three dimensions and the influence is evident in his design work, which is characterized by clever designs and elegant implementations.
