Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Base of this contribution is a quite new theoretical approach to modelling products and product development processes developed by the author and his team: “Characteristics-Properties Modelling” (CPM) and “Property-Driven Development” (PDD), respectively. This approach is able to give extended or new explanations for some issues important in product development/engineering design. In this contribution the terms “Design for X” (DFX) and “(Degree of) Product Maturity” are investigated both of which are important issues in practice, but until today only weakly related to the theoretical foundation of product development/engineering design.

Design research in the past few years has revealed several lacks of the “classical” design methodologies. The predominantly systematic-analytic, on deductive procedure based design methodologies are still basis for research and education but are judged to be little applicable in a real designing environment [4, 5]. Hence, the trend of design research has put the engineer in the middle of focus as a problem-solving individual. This paper introduces an approach for a successful proceeding in solving complex engineering problems based on the established Contact and Channel Model (C&CM). The problem solving process begins with a C&CM system analysis providing the information needed for understanding the relations between form and function on the adequate level of abstraction. Through a widespread understanding, a basis for creative, intuitive filling of the gaps in the problem ground is created.

Nowadays, the production enterprise may become a network of independent companies which share experiences, knowledge and capacities. However, to transform this network into a competitive advantage requires that information be exchanged efficiently. As project and component production are elaborated increasingly by a network of suppliers and as the process becomes faster to answer consumers’ demands, the integration problem extends beyond the limits of the system and company. A new approach to this problem is the Semantic Web, an emerging area of research that purposes to guarantee interaction among information systems, to permit a variety of complex applications through the characteristics of semantic descriptions of web resources (data and services).

A variant management has the goal to offer as many product variants as possible to the customer but keep the internal variety in the company as low as possible at the same time. Inevitable creation of new parts or subassemblies has to be controlled in a standardized process of variant creation. To provide sustainability the new product data has to be integrated into the existing product data model in order to support the creation of a new product variant. This paper discusses the management of product data using reference product structures as well as reference products, and the support of a product data management system (PDMS) within the context of product lifecycle management (PLM) strategy.

Heuristic engineering methods can provide essential support of management of informational complexity in early stages of innovation processes. This paper applies principles from system and model theory to the development of a meta-method, i.e. a method to support the definition of heuristic engineering methods. The resulting framework facilitates discursive procedure in method development and operative engineering activities respectively, and provides increased understanding of fundamental method mechanisms with regard to informational complexity.

This paper describes the results of an experience carried out in the field of systematic innovation. Its main goal has been to verify the validity of evolutionary laws introduced by TRIZ theory applying them to a complex industrial product. The product considered is a washing machine and particular attention has been focused on two sub-systems, the tub and the soap dispenser. The paper, first, describes the patent search activity carried out for both the whole washing machine and the specific subsystems; then their evolutions have been single out and compared with the evolution patterns coming from the formulation proposed by Savransky.

Industrial design and styling is the activity associated with aesthetics and the evocation of human emotion through manufactured products. In today’s cost competitive global markets industrial design and styling is a significant lever in distinguishing products from others to potential customers. This paper investigates the current state of practice and research in linking aesthetics with engineering design. With the help of a case study, the research identifies major issues in the integration. The research also highlights the potential problems and opportunities for the integration of requirements, concept design, industrial design and styling via software.

Protocol analysis is an important approach to studying designer’s thinking process and problem-solving behaviours. Although protocol analysis has been used in a lot of research to understand designer’s cognitive activities in the design process, a systematic procedure is needed that can be used across different experiments. This paper proposes a protocol analysis study based on the concept of design state. A design process is composed of a series of design states. An experiment is conducted to collect protocol data about a product design, from which design states are extracted. The preliminary analysis of the protocol data shows that a designer generally considers more environment components and their deeper relationships in delivering a key concept.

Mechatronic systems combine the advantages of mechanical engineering, computer science and electronics, especially with regard to the innovative performance of advanced functions. This leads to intelligent and frequently complex systems whose remarkable functionality is, however, quite often accompanied by the risk of poor reliability or even safety. These aspects are frequently subsumed under the heading of dependability, especially in the field of information technology (Laprie 1992). In order to determine the present state of the application of dependability oriented design methods, an industry survey was made, whose results will be presented. Adapted from these results, the paper sketches an approach of a “design for dependability”.

When solving design problems a holistic view is often required, because an optimization of products depends on sets of sometimes contradictory goals and the properties especially of complex products are related in a likewise complex network. Another important reason for a holistic view on products can be a high integration level: e.g. cost or weight optimization needs often the realization of many different functions in the same parts or components. A short insight into important historic roots of holistic methods is given. Some different approaches for holistic methods are described, discussed and evaluated. A conclusion will be given about the future needs for holistic methods and the future possibilities to use holistic methods.