Product Design Phase Research Articles

Modeling and optimization of product design and portfolio management interface

The paper presents modeling and analysis of product design and product portfolio management (PD–PM) domains interaction using an integrated simulation–optimization model. To represent the interactions, the product design phase is modeled as a discrete-scenario static system. The goal of this work is to develop a decision support framework that relies on product design–product portfolio management integration in order to aid product design planning and design execution. We utilize dependency matrix approach to illustrate domain relation between the product design and product portfolio management domains, and to facilitate their integration. Hence, the process integration model utilizes iterative effects, and their attendant processing duration and costs, to pattern domain interaction. An industrial case study is used to illustrate the application and utility of the proposed approach.

A method for engineering design change analysis using system modelling and knowledge management techniques

Engineering design change management is very important to the success of engineering product development. It has been recognised that the earlier change issues are addressed, the greater product lifecycle costs can be saved. However, in practice, most engineering changes happen in the manufacturing phase, the later phase of product development. Change issues happening in the design phase, especially between the functional and the structural domains, have been a research focus in recent years, and thus there is significant research work that has been carried out to resolve early engineering change issues from different perspectives. This article presents a novel methodology that has been developed to help designers trace, analyse and evaluate engineering changes occurring in the product design phase. A modelling method is employed to enhance the traceability of potential design changes occurred between the functional and structural domains of design. Based on functional and physical models, a matrix-based method is developed to analyse change propagations between components and help find out design conflicts arising from design changes. A knowledge-based method has been proposed to resolve design conflicts by reusing previous design change knowledge. An industrial example about changes of a wind turbine cooling system has been used to help understand the methodology and prove its usefulness.

Dynamic life cycle costing based on lifetime prediction

Reliable prediction of total product life cycle costs is crucial for the life cycle management of products. These costs are predominantly dictated by the actual operational behaviour of the product's lifetime, and cannot be sufficiently determined through deterministic calculations due to the stochastic and the dynamic nature of the problem. This is specifically true when considering running systems with unknown lifetime and operation parameters. Against this background, the paper presents a dynamic methodology for predicting life cycle costs based on product failure mechanisms, their associated critical lifetime prediction parameters and optional maintenance strategies to enable decision support for product design and use phase strategies.

A gestão do desenvolvimento de produtos na indústria de materiais de construção

Essa pesquisa, qualitativa e exploratória, focou nas empresas Cecrisa e Tigre, líderes na indústria de componentes para construção, e buscou identificar o grau de formalização, as etapas da gestão do desenvolvimento de produtos e as práticas e características peculiares à IMC, cotejando-as com a literatura. Excetuadas algumas diferenças relevantes, constatou-se uma prática atualizada em relação à literatura e um processo e estrutura formais e organizados. Observou-se a predominância de projetos derivativos, em especial topológicos; diferenças na captação de ideias, com recurso à grande variedade de informações; a inserção pela Cecrisa de depoimentos de especialistas sobre a imagem da linha e a atualidade da ideia no desenvolvimento do conceito do produto, com reflexos potenciais nas suas peças promocionais. A Cecrisa se destaca ainda por montar o produto em etapas iniciais, utilizando a matéria-prima e o processo produtivo finais. As duas empresas realizam o lançamento interno do produto, distinguindo-se pela forma como é feito, o que não é tratado na literatura. As empresas estudadas recorrem à estrutura leve de projeto, pois são empresas pequenas com distâncias hierárquicas menores, onde constantemente acontecem reuniões formais e encontros informais para discussões e esclarecimentos dos projetos.

223 環境負荷評価による家電・ICT機器の体系化と環境負荷削減に向けた検討(環境マネジメント・手法(2))

The aim of our study is to propose manufacturers and users have to do for building a sustainable zero-waste economy/society through quantification of the design for environment, DfE. For a background problem of global warming and depletion of natural resources, it is required to reduce the environmental impacts of the products and services life cycle and to develop the method for quantifying the environmental impacts. Following such a demand, the Eco-Efficiency Potential Assessment, E2-PA which could solve problems in existing LCA, is developed. The feature of E2-PA is to be able to assess the environmental impacts only by the data on the design phase of products and services. Therefore the designer can consider the life cycle including used on the design phase. In this paper, we pay attention to home appliances and ICT devices. Then, we analyze the way of reducing the environmental load about them through a comparison between the environmental load in use and in manufacturing.

Study on Ship Design Information Integration Model

In the design phase of product, design information integration model is the important model. A novel design information integration model is proposed in the paper. Ship is used as the research object. Then, the model includes normal design data of ship, credibility design data of ship and maintainability design data of ship. Firstly, design information integration model is introduced, among which normal design data of ship, credibility design data of ship and maintainability design data of ship produced by the design information integration model are introduced. Finally, data structure of ship design information integration system is introduced.

A Model-driven and Knowledge-based Methodology for Engineering Design Change Management

AbstractChange management is very important to the success of new product development. The earlier that change issues are addressed, the greater that product lifecycle costs can be saved. This paper presents a novel methodology that has been developed to help designers trace, analyse and evaluate engineering changes occurring in the product design phase. A modelling method is employed to enhance the traceability of potential design changes occurring between the functional and structural domains of design. Based on functional and physical models, a matrix is developed to analyse change propagations and help identify design conflicts arising from design changes. A knowledge based methodology has been developed to resolve design conflicts by reusing previous design change knowledge. A wind turbine for power generation from the collaborating company is used to evaluate the developed methodologies.

Network Failure Model Approach Based on FMEA

Failures or defects in a product will influence its quality a lot. Reducing or eliminating failures and defects in product design phase is an economical way. FMEA and BFA are two kinds of methods. By using them, the product quality and reliability can be improved in the design phase. This paper introduced a new kind of failure analysis method which was developed based on FMEA and BFA. This is a network failure model and analysis method. By using this method, the product quality could be improved and failures could be reduced.

Reducing environmental impact and increasing reliability through packaging: A lifecycle assessment approach

As the information and communications technology (ICT) industry continues to implement practices to improve the reliability, environmental performance and total cost of goods sold (COGS) of its products and services, extending one's view beyond the product itself can offer additional, and at times significant, opportunities. This paper will provide an analysis that shows the impact that product packaging (used for shipment and storage) can have on overall reliability and environmental performance. We show that optimized product packaging can contribute to an increase in reliability due to improved electrostatic discharge (ESD) and corrosion protection, as well as a 40-fold reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The analysis will include the environmental benefits in terms of GHG emissions throughout the lifecycle of alternative storage bags, from the product design and raw material extraction phase through end-of-life activities. This work demonstrates that by using a synergistic approach for the primary packaging of products, improvements in the critical trio of reliability, environment, and COGS can be achieved.

The use of a virtual building design and construction model for developing an effective project concept in 5D environment

The growing diversity of disciplines, participants, tasks, tools and events associated with project management at the design and construction stages, the increasing pressure of costing competition and tighter production deadlines, as well as continually increasing quality requirements and the need for technological enhancements, are the driving force of information modeling and numerical simulation in the construction industry. When choosing the most effective investment project in construction, a major problem associated with the actual demand for resources is underestimated. In order to solve this problem in the most effective way, the application programs, covering virtually every phase of the specific construction product development, e.g. planning, design, cost estimation, scheduling, fabrication, construction, maintenance and facility management were developed and supplemented with the calculation of the demand for resources, comparison of alternatives and determination of the duration of all the stages of the project life. Theoretical principles and practical innovative applications of building information modeling and construction process simulation technique, used to determine the most effective alternative of the project by applying the appropriate multiple criteria evaluation methods, are considered in the article.

Taguchi methods in software quality testing

Quality optimisation methods offer a structured way of improving software development as early as in the product design phase. This work introduces the Taguchi method in software design optimisation. The basics of the method are reviewed along with a proposed methodology for design of experiments (DOE). A case study is drawn from a real software development project in the area of industrial simulations. One critical quality characteristic in simulations software is the software performance. A key performance metric, the code total execution time, is selected to monitor experimentally performance variation. Taguchi's DOE is employed to provide a practical relationship between code structure factors and factor interactions and the performance metric. The run-time performance evaluation of two alternate versions of multiple loop-nesting are analysed by Taguchi's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) concept. The purpose of the paper was to insinuate the usefulness of these statistical tools in assessing software quality metrics based on a scientific approach. It is demonstrated that performance optimisation enhances execution time by a factor of three with respect to the expected value.

Prediction of Operating Loads Contribution to Assembly Relation and Product Behavior

In the process of product manufacturing, control of assembly error will directly affect product operating behavior. When product running, operating loads will lead to change of assembly relation of product parts, affecting product behavior. Based on Jacobian-Torsor method, the Jacobian-Torsor tolerance model, considering contribution of operating loads, was extended and corrected, the assembly error (assembly relation change) resulted from operating loads can be calculated. Variation of running behavior with assembly error was divided to three phases: compensation phase, rapid loss phase and total loss phase. Based on changing curve of product behavior, function of behavior loss was constructed to describe behavior loss resulting from assembly error of a part of product. The conception and calculating method of behavior loss index (BLI) are given to reflect behavior changing status of whole product under certain assembly accuracy. Combined with extended Jacobian-Torsor method, the calculated results can be used to predict product behavior change led by operating loads. The prediction can help to know next measurement adopted in product design phase. An example is given to demonstrate calculating procedure of given method. Index Terms—contribution prediction, operating load, assembly relation, product behavior

A graph-based data structure for assembly dimensional variation control at a preliminary phase of product design

Dimensional quality control remains a challenge in assembly of complex products. Currently dimensional variation control research efforts include tolerance analysis and allocation, fixture layout design, assembly sequence planning, and others, without systematically viewing assembly as a proxy for a wide range of design decisions to produce final products with least cost, most productivity and best quality. A literature review in current assembly modelling methods shows that a unified data structure has yet to be developed at a preliminary design phase in order to design product and plan assembly process automatically. This paper serves to develop such a data structure, which captures heterogeneous product and assembly process information available at a preliminary design phase and unifies them in a data structure represented as a hierarchical graph. The graph-based data structure, on one side, facilitates automatic product design and assembly process planning at the preliminary design phase by utilising research results developed in graph theory, and on the other side, allows easier embedding the assembly model into computer aided design (CAD) software since they share the similar data structure. The presented graph-based data structure is illustrated by a sport utility vehicle (SUV) side frame assembly.

Stochastic analysis and robust optimization for a deck lid inner panel stamping

FE-simulation and optimization are widely used in the stamping process to improve design quality and shorten development cycle. However, the current simulation and optimization may lead to non-robust results due to not considering the variation of material and process parameters. In this study, a novel stochastic analysis and robust optimization approach is proposed to improve the stamping robustness, where the uncertainties are involved to reflect manufacturing reality. A meta-model based stochastic analysis method is developed, where FE-simulation, uniform design and response surface methodology (RSM) are used to construct meta-model, based on which Monte-Carlo simulation is performed to predict the influence of input parameters variation on the final product quality. By applying the stochastic analysis, uniform design and RSM, the mean and the standard deviation (SD) of product quality are calculated as functions of the controllable process parameters. The robust optimization model composed of mean and SD is constructed and solved, the result of which is compared with the deterministic one to show its advantages. It is demonstrated that the product quality variations are reduced significantly, and quality targets (reject rate) are achieved under the robust optimal solution. The developed approach offers rapid and reliable results for engineers to deal with potential stamping problems during the early phase of product and tooling design, saving more time and resources.

Construction of an optimum system design method considering product lifecycle

This paper proposes an optimum system design method that especially considers product lifecycles and aims to help designers make effective decisions during the product design phase. By considering and estimating all lifecycle factors of cost and environmental impact in addition to the product performance, this method facilitates development of optimum design solutions that incorporate requirements pertaining to the product's entire lifecycle. Furthermore, quantitative estimation of lifecycle factors enables the numerical expression of optimum solutions, rather than depending primarily on experiment and designer intuition. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, this paper develops an optimum system design method for a milling machine as an example of a machine product designed for long term use. The lifecycle cost and the lifecycle environmental impact are generally expressed as the summation of each value during manufacturing phase, usage phase, disposal phase and recycling phase. In this example model, Eco-indicator 99 is used to evaluate environmental impact. In the proposed lifecycle design optimisation method, the relationships among the product performance, the lifecycle cost and the lifecycle environmental impact are evaluated as a multi-objective optimisation problem. Analysis of the obtained Pareto optimum solution sets subsequently enables designers to pursue breakthrough product design solutions.

Function-based failure propagation for conceptual design

AbstractWhen designing a product, the earlier the potential risks can be identified, the more costs can be saved, as it is easier to modify a design in its early stages. Several methods exist to analyze the risk in a system, but all require a mature design. However, by applying the concept of “common interfaces” to a functional model and utilizing a historical knowledge base, it is possible to analyze chains of failures during the conceptual phase of product design. This paper presents a method based on these common interfaces to be used in conjunction with other methods such as risk in early design to allow a more complete risk analysis during the conceptual design phase. Finally, application of this method is demonstrated in a design setting by applying it to a thermal control subsystem.

A European emotional investigation in the field of shoe design

In this paper we report the results of a Kansei Engineering System study. A methodology for the application of Kansei Engineering at the European level has been developed and validated in the field of shoe design by means of the development of experimental studies in two different phases of product design: the information phase in the earliest stages of the design process and the generation and evaluation phase corresponding to the latest stages of the process.

Analyzing module commonality for platform design using dendrograms

The key to defining a good platform is to identify the common modules that will be shared among products. We develop a quantitative algorithm to identify common sets of elements within a product, as well as, across products. We show a quantitative way of measuring module commonality. We specify commonality based on a Euclidean distance that compares different modules’ inputs and outputs. We cluster modules based on their measured commonality and use dendrograms as a tool to identify groups of similar modules in a product family at the architectural phase of product design. We present the results of the application of our method on a hypothetical example and a real case study.

Reliability assessment of an aircraft propulsion system using IFS and OWA tree

In conventional system reliability analysis, the failure probabilities of components of a system are treated as exact values when the failure probability of the entire system is estimated. However, it may be difficult or even impossible to precisely determine the failure probabilities of components as early as the product design phase. Therefore, an efficient and simplified algorithm to assess system reliability is needed. This article proposes a deductive top-down estimation methodology, which combines intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) and ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators to evaluate system reliability. A case of an aircraft propulsion system from an aerospace company is presented to further illustrate the proposed approach. After comparing results from the proposed method and two other approaches, this research found that the proposed approach provides a more accurate and reasonable reliability assessment.

Failure Prevention in Design Through Effective Catalogue Utilization of Historical Failure Events

The science of failure prevention relies heavily on the experience of personnel on a project. As the nation is about to face a tremendous decline in the experienced workforce due to the baby boomer generation’s retirement, it is critical to begin focusing on capturing their knowledge. Cataloging and communicating the knowledge of potential failures is critical to prevent engineering disasters. Many companies have adopted failure-reporting systems that allow them to record their engineering failures to promote failure prevention. While recording this information is vital to learning from past mistakes, often the information is not stored so that engineers and designers can easily recall this valuable linguistic information and use it to improve designs. Therefore, more effective systems for cataloging and utilizing corporate memory of recorded failure events are needed. This article presents the design of a computational linguistic database to support the failure prevention tool, the risk in early design (RED) method. RED promotes failure prevention by identifying failure risks as early as the conceptual phase of product design, where impacts of failure prevention are greatest. It uses a database populated by historical failure event information to present specific areas that are at risk of failure in a product.