An affordance-based approach for generating user-specific design specifications

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Cormier ◽  
Kemper Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Personal Knowledge ◽  
Specific Design ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Design Specifications ◽  
Individual Design

AbstractWhen developing an artifact, designers must first understand the problem. This includes the benefits that the artifact must deliver and the user variation that is present. Each user has a unique set of human factors, preferences, personal knowledge, and solution constraints that could potentially influence the characteristics of the artifact. Currently, there is little work supporting the process of how to formally generate user-specific design specifications, resulting in ad hoc or a priori decisions when generating design specifications. Further, because most design processes generate design specifications manually, the number of design specifications is not typically addressed at the user level. This research presents an affordance-based approach for use in the early stages of design to help designers establish user-specific design specifications. This information can then be used in the creation of a system or set of systems that meets the demands of both the user(s) and the organization that is developing the artifact. An affordance-based approach is leveraged because it maintains the relational field of view among the user, existing artifacts, and the artifact(s) being designed. Once individual design specifications are generated, designers can use this information in later stages of the design process.

Evaluating consumer commonality leveraging consumer specific design information

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 474-487
Author(s):  
Phillip Cormier ◽  
Kemper Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Design Method ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Personal Knowledge ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Specific Design ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractWhen developing a product, designers must decide what consumer variation will be addressed and how they will address it, because each consumer has a unique set of human factors, preferences, personal knowledge, and solution constraints. Numerous design methodologies exist to support the design of a product or set of products that address this consumer variation. However, currently there is little work supporting the selection of a design methodology, resulting in an ad hoc or a priori decision before conceptual design begins. This paper presents an affordance-based design method for use prior to conceptual design to help designers understand the consumer variation that is present. This facilitates the creation of a product or set of products that meets the demands of both the consumer(s) and the organization that is developing the product. Once consumer variation is understood, conceptual design can be performed with a more complete understanding of the overall problem.

scholarly journals Explicating concepts in reasoning from function to form by two-step innovative abductions

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehud Kroll ◽  
Lauri Koskela
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Abductive Reasoning ◽  
Parameter Analysis ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Functional Aspect ◽  
Specific Design ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Step Process ◽  
Design Reasoning

AbstractThe mechanism of design reasoning from function to form is suggested to consist of a two-step inference of the innovative abduction type. First is an inference from a desired functional aspect to an idea, concept, or solution principle to satisfy the function. This is followed by a second innovative abduction, from the latest concept to form, structure, or mechanism. The intermediate entity in the logical reasoning, the concept, is thus made explicit, which is significant in following and understanding a specific design process, for educating designers, and to build a logic-based computational model of design. The idea of a two-step abductive reasoning process is developed from the critical examination of several propositions made by others. We use the notion of innovative abduction in design, as opposed to such abduction where the question is about selecting among known alternatives, and we adopt a previously proposed two-step process of abductive reasoning. However, our model is different in that the two abductions used follow the syllogistic pattern of innovative abduction. In addition to using a schematic example from the literature to demonstrate our derivation, we apply the model to an existing, empirically derived method of conceptual design called “parameter analysis” and use two examples of real design processes. The two synthetic steps of the method are shown to follow the proposed double innovative abduction scheme, and the design processes are presented as sequences of double abductions from function to concept and from concept to form, with a subsequent deductive evaluation step.

scholarly journals Adapting Engineering Design Tools to Include Human Factors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Lynn Village ◽  
Michael Greig ◽  
Saeed Zolfaghari ◽  
Filippo A. Salustri ◽  
W. P. Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Participatory Development ◽  
Design Tools ◽  
Design Environment ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Assembly Design ◽  
Business Goals

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS In a longitudinal collaboration with engineers and human factors specialists at an electronics manufacturer, five engineering design tools were adapted to include human factors. The tools, many with required human factors targets, were integrated at each stage of assembly design to increase the proactive application of human factors. This article describes the process of adapting the five tools within the collaborating organization. Findings suggest 12 key features of human factors tools, most importantly that they “fit” with engineering processes, language, and tools; directly address business goals and influence key metrics; and are quantifiable and can demonstrate change. To be effective in an engineering design environment, it is suggested that human factors specialists increase their understanding of their organization’s design process, learn which tools are commonly used in engineering, focus on important metrics for the business goals, and incorporate human factors into engineering-based tools and worksystem design practices in their organizations. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Rationale: Design engineers use diverse tools in design, but few incorporate human factors, even though optimizing human performance can further improve operational performance. There is a need for practical tools to help engineers integrate human factors into production design processes. Purpose: This article demonstrates how five engineering design tools were adapted to include human factors and were integrated into design processes within the case study organization. It also provides features of an effective human factors tool and recommendations for practitioners. Method: A longitudinal collaboration with engineers and human factors specialists in a large electronics manufacturing organization allowed in vivo adaptation and testing of various tools in an action research methodology. Qualitative data were recorded from multiple sources, then transcribed and analyzed over a 3-year period. Results: The adapted tools integrated into each stage of the design process included the human factors process failure mode effects analysis, human factors design for assembly, human factors design for fixtures, workstation efficiency evaluator, and human factors kaizens. Each tool had a unique participatory development process; 12 features are recommended for effective human factors tools based on the findings herein. Most importantly, tools should “fit” with existing engineering processes, language, and tools; directly address business goals and influence key metrics; and be quantifiable and demonstrate change. Conclusions: Engineers and management responded positively to the five tools adapted for human factors because they were designed to help improve assembly design and achieve their business goals. Several of the human factors tools became required targets within the design process, ensuring that human factors considerations are built into all future design processes. Adapting engineering tools, rather than using human factors tools, required a shift for human factors specialists, who needed to expand their knowledge of engineering processes, tools, techniques, language, metrics, and goals.

scholarly journals THE METAMODEL: A STARTING POINT FOR DESIGN PROCESSES CONSTRUCTION

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (04) ◽  
pp. 575-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
VALERIA SEIDITA ◽  
MASSIMO COSSENTINO ◽  
VINCENT HILAIRE ◽  
NICOLAS GAUD ◽  
STEPHANE GALLAND ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Method Engineering ◽  
Actual Situation ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Skilled Personnel

The construction of ad-hoc design processes following the Situational Method Engineering (SME) paradigm is currently carried out by adopting a set of phases for which, until now, no well defined techniques and guidelines have been established. The consequence is that organizations are very dependent on method designers' skills. In this paper, we propose an approach based on SME for constructing customized agent oriented design processes. Our approach adopts the metamodel as the most important factor leading to the selection and assembly of method fragments and an algorithm for establishing the instantiation order of metamodel elements. The algorithm makes the proposed approach repeatable and usable even by not very skilled personnel, thus proposing an improvement to the actual situation. The proposed approach and the algorithm are also experimented through the construction of a design process (ASPECS) for developing dynamic hierarchical societies of agents. The approach we created is general enough to be applied in other development contexts (not only agent-oriented).

A framework for ad hoc information management for the building design process

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 1034-1052
Author(s):  
Jeevan Jacob ◽  
Koshy Varghese
Keyword(s):  
Information Management ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Information

Purpose The building design processes today are complex, involving many disciplines and issues like collaboration, concurrency and collocation. Several studies have focused on understanding and modeling formal information exchange in these processes. Few past studies have also identified the importance of informal information exchanges in the design process and proposed passive solutions for facilitating this exchange. The purpose of this paper is to term the informal information as ad hoc information and explores if components of ad hoc information exchanges can be actively managed. Design/methodology/approach An MDM-based framework integrating product, process and people dependencies is proposed and a prototype platform to implement this framework is developed. The demonstration on the usage of this platform to identify information paths during collaboration and hence manage ad hoc information exchanges is presented through an example problem. Findings Based on the effectiveness of the prototype platform in identifying information paths for design queries, it is concluded that the proposed framework is useful for actively managing some components of ad hoc information exchange. Originality/value This research enables the design manager/participants to make a more informed decision on requesting and releasing design information.

scholarly journals An ergonomics action research demonstration: integrating human factors into assembly design processes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Lynn Village ◽  
M. Greig ◽  
Filippo A. Salustri ◽  
Saeed Zolfaghari ◽  
W. P. Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Electronics Manufacturing ◽  
Manufacturing Firm ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Assembly Design ◽  
Engineering Design Process

In action research (AR), the researcher participates ‘in’ the actions in an organisation, while simultaneously reflecting ‘on’ the actions to promote learning for both the organisation and the researchers. This paper demonstrates a longitudinal AR collaboration with an electronics manufacturing firm where the goal was to improve the organisation’s ability to integrate human factors (HF) proactively into their design processes. During the three-year collaboration, all meetings, workshops, interviews and reflections were digitally recorded and qualitatively analysed to inform new ‘actions’. By the end of the collaboration, HF tools with targets and sign-off by the HF specialist were integrated into several stages of the design process, and engineers were held accountable for meeting the HF targets. We conclude that the AR approach combined with targeting multiple initiatives at different stages of the design process helped the organisation find ways to integrate HF into their processes in a sustainable way. Practitioner Summary: Researchers acted as a catalyst to help integrate HF into the engineering design process in a sustainable way. This paper demonstrates how an AR approach can help achieve HF integration, the benefits of using a reflective stance and one method for reporting an AR study.

scholarly journals An ergonomics action research demonstration: integrating human factors into assembly design processes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Lynn Village ◽  
M. Greig ◽  
Filippo A. Salustri ◽  
Saeed Zolfaghari ◽  
W. P. Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Electronics Manufacturing ◽  
Manufacturing Firm ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Assembly Design ◽  
Engineering Design Process

In action research (AR), the researcher participates ‘in’ the actions in an organisation, while simultaneously reflecting ‘on’ the actions to promote learning for both the organisation and the researchers. This paper demonstrates a longitudinal AR collaboration with an electronics manufacturing firm where the goal was to improve the organisation’s ability to integrate human factors (HF) proactively into their design processes. During the three-year collaboration, all meetings, workshops, interviews and reflections were digitally recorded and qualitatively analysed to inform new ‘actions’. By the end of the collaboration, HF tools with targets and sign-off by the HF specialist were integrated into several stages of the design process, and engineers were held accountable for meeting the HF targets. We conclude that the AR approach combined with targeting multiple initiatives at different stages of the design process helped the organisation find ways to integrate HF into their processes in a sustainable way. Practitioner Summary: Researchers acted as a catalyst to help integrate HF into the engineering design process in a sustainable way. This paper demonstrates how an AR approach can help achieve HF integration, the benefits of using a reflective stance and one method for reporting an AR study.

Adapting Engineering Design Tools to Include Human Factors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Lynn Village ◽  
Michael Greig ◽  
Saeed Zolfaghari ◽  
Filippo A. Salustri ◽  
W. P. Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Participatory Development ◽  
Design Tools ◽  
Design Environment ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Assembly Design ◽  
Business Goals

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS In a longitudinal collaboration with engineers and human factors specialists at an electronics manufacturer, five engineering design tools were adapted to include human factors. The tools, many with required human factors targets, were integrated at each stage of assembly design to increase the proactive application of human factors. This article describes the process of adapting the five tools within the collaborating organization. Findings suggest 12 key features of human factors tools, most importantly that they “fit” with engineering processes, language, and tools; directly address business goals and influence key metrics; and are quantifiable and can demonstrate change. To be effective in an engineering design environment, it is suggested that human factors specialists increase their understanding of their organization’s design process, learn which tools are commonly used in engineering, focus on important metrics for the business goals, and incorporate human factors into engineering-based tools and worksystem design practices in their organizations. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Rationale: Design engineers use diverse tools in design, but few incorporate human factors, even though optimizing human performance can further improve operational performance. There is a need for practical tools to help engineers integrate human factors into production design processes. Purpose: This article demonstrates how five engineering design tools were adapted to include human factors and were integrated into design processes within the case study organization. It also provides features of an effective human factors tool and recommendations for practitioners. Method: A longitudinal collaboration with engineers and human factors specialists in a large electronics manufacturing organization allowed in vivo adaptation and testing of various tools in an action research methodology. Qualitative data were recorded from multiple sources, then transcribed and analyzed over a 3-year period. Results: The adapted tools integrated into each stage of the design process included the human factors process failure mode effects analysis, human factors design for assembly, human factors design for fixtures, workstation efficiency evaluator, and human factors kaizens. Each tool had a unique participatory development process; 12 features are recommended for effective human factors tools based on the findings herein. Most importantly, tools should “fit” with existing engineering processes, language, and tools; directly address business goals and influence key metrics; and be quantifiable and demonstrate change. Conclusions: Engineers and management responded positively to the five tools adapted for human factors because they were designed to help improve assembly design and achieve their business goals. Several of the human factors tools became required targets within the design process, ensuring that human factors considerations are built into all future design processes. Adapting engineering tools, rather than using human factors tools, required a shift for human factors specialists, who needed to expand their knowledge of engineering processes, tools, techniques, language, metrics, and goals.

scholarly journals Research on Superelevation Design in Highway Route Design

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mi Fu
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Design System ◽  
Specific Design ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Design Specifications ◽  
Operation Conditions ◽  
Road Section ◽  
Route Design ◽  
Curved Road ◽  
Driving Stability

Superelevation design can basically be regarded as an important part of highway route design system. In the specific design process, designers need to strictly comply with the requirements of superelevation design specifications to ensure the driving stability of curved road section. However, due to the differences of road operation conditions in different regions of China, there are many uncertain factors in the design of super elevation, resulting in design errors. In order to reduce design errors as much as possible, this paper mainly based on the highway route design, highway route design problems and key measures are summarized for reference.

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