Mechanical Head Charter

Owned by Sofia Varner
Last updated: Dec 03, 2023
4 min read

Time Commitment

  • Heads are expected to contribute on average15 hours of work per week.

    • This will typically consist of meetings, bay times, design reviews, design work, manufacturing, Slack messaging, etc.

    • It won’t make sense to do exactly 15 hours every week. Sometimes there’s a huge push or deadline that requires a 22 hour week, and then you’ll need to do less than 15 hours the following week to catch up on homework. That is fine, as long as you are able to put in the work for the big push weeks and do not consistently do <15 hour weeks.

Weekly Responsibilities

  • The Head is responsible for going through their system’s master assembly file in PDM weekly to check for broken features in the assembly, components with unsuppressed threads, interferences between project assemblies, and any other concerns. The Leads are responsible for fixing any issues found.

  • The Head is responsible for doing weekly detailed checks of their system’s FinishLine projects.

    • The Head should notify Leads if they find any issues with one of their FinishLine projects/work packages. Issues include missed/concerningly close deadlines, missing information, and out of date information.

    • The Chief Mechanical Engineer is in charge of checking over the Head’s FinishLine project(s) and work packages. This should have to happen minimally as the Head should have their own FinishLine work well under control.

  • The Head must organize and run weekly meetings for their system.

    • Content for these meetings should involve updates from these projects and an informative presentation of some sort. Examples of this would be a presentation on a feature from a project, a tutorial on how to use a certain software, or a guest speaker from another subteam.

    • The Head may coordinate with a Lead or Leads to put together and present in there place at some system meetings.

    • The Head must make sure weekly meetings are announced well in advance and send reminders day of.

    • If the Head is absent, they must coordinate with either one of their system’s Leads or the Chief Mechanical Engineer to fill in for them during the meeting.

  • The Leads are responsible for ensuring the bay, maker space, and other club spaces are cleaned up, but in the case where a Lead is not upholding this, the Head is responsible for ensuring the space is cleaned either by the Lead or themself.

    • In the case where a system is consistently not cleaning up, the Chief Mechanical Engineer may require the system to schedule a 2 hour bay cleaning time where they must clean up and organize everything from their system and use additional time to help with additional chores around the bay.

  • The Head must provide bi-weekly updates to the Chief Mechanical Engineer to share in the Leads channel.

  • The Head must attend all design reviews from their system.

    • The Head is responsible for taking notes during design reviews for their system.

    • In the case that a Lead cannot attend a design review outside of their system that relates to their project, the Lead’s system Head must attend in their place.

  • The Head must review all part and assembly drawings for their system.

Knowledge Base

  • The Head for each system should be comfortable enough with all software and manufacturing processes used within their system to train members with them. The Head should also have an understanding of how the limitations of these processes impact vehicle design.

    • The Chief Mechanical Engineer is responsible for organizing trainings prior to the Heads taking office.

    • Responsibilities for each system head:

      • Drivetrain: SolidWorks, CAM, CNC Mill, Lathe, Welding, Matlab, Waterjet

      • Ergonomics: SolidWorks, CAM, CNC Mill, Waterjet, Carbon Fiber, Router

      • Handling: SolidWorks, CAM, CNC Mill, Lathe, Waterjet, Welding, Matlab

      • Structural: SolidWorks, CAM, Waterjet, Welding, Matlab, Ansys Fluent, Carbon Fiber, Router

      • These requirements are subject to change based on design decisions made for the car(s) being worked on when the Head takes office.

  • The Head must be consistently well informed on their system’s projects. They should be able to hop on a project in their system that is in crisis to help out without needing much onboarding.

  • The Head must be knowledgeable on FinishLine and new features to ensure Leads and Members are using it correctly and effectively.

Supporting Leads, Members, and Projects

  • The Head should either make or be heavily involved in making high level design decisions for their system that guide the design of more than one project in or out of their system.

    • Some Examples (not limited to this): The Head of Handling should be heavily involved with suspension and steering geometry decisions, the Head of Structural should be heavily involved in deciding the defining features of the chassis, the Heads of Powertrain should decide the type of drivetrain, and the Head of Ergonomics should decide the driver position.

  • The Head should be contributing to the projects on their team. The Head should never be contributing equal or greater amounts of time and work to a project than the project’s Lead, unless temporary and approved by the Chief Mechanical Engineer.

  • When a Member has a question, the order they go about investigating the answer should be as follows:

    • Confluence

    • Google

    • Other Members

    • Lead

    • Head

    • Chief Mechanical Engineer

  • The Head is responsible for ensuring Members learn information relevant to their system during weekly system meetings.

    • This is meant to prevent Leads from having to repeat the same set of information to multiple members.

  • A Head may lead a project as long as it is within their own system and listed below.

    • Drivetrain: Charger Cart

    • Ergonomics: Headrest, Floor, Driver IO (preferably not Driver IO)

    • Handling: Brakes, Wheels & Axles

    • Structural: Impact Attenuator

Project Management

  • The Head is responsible for ensuring their system’s project timelines integrate with the full team’s timelines.

    • In the case where a project is at risk of being behind and needs additional contributors, the Head is responsible for coordinating with the Chief Mechanical Engineer to provide additional resources to the project.

  • The Head should have a general, vague knowledge of what is going on in the club outside their system at all time.

Sustainability

  • The Head must choose a successor approximately 1.5 months prior to them leaving their position.

    • The Head must make sure their successor is well versed in the responsibilities of being a Head and is able to seamlessly continue work in the following semester.