Modeling Known Design Concepts and Managing Their Functional Coupling Modules to Balance Upstream Objectives and Downstream Constraints for New Product Development

Author(s):  
Chu-Yi Wang ◽  
Stephen C.-Y. Lu

Abstract Product development involves many trade-offs between upstream objectives (e.g., customer needs) and downstream constraints (e.g., modularity, manufacturability, etc.) Conceptual design, when design concepts are generated and improved, is the most important product development stage when these tradeoffs are made. However, when designers try to improve a known design concept of a current product during product development, it is often difficult for them to be both creative (i.e., meeting new objectives) and practical (i.e., incorporating existing constraints) at the same time. This paper presents a method that models known design concepts and manages their functional couplings for designers to achieve these difficult balances systematically during concept improvement. The modeling involves three steps. The first is to represent the known design concept as a dual-hierarchy by decomposing it into sub-concepts and identifying their functional requirements. The second is to find “functional schematics,” defined as a design matrix with minimal complexity, to manage functional couplings of the sub-concepts. The third is to build the executable modules based on the functional schematics. The model help designers achieve the most desirable level of upstream-downstream balance. A coffeemaker example is included to show how such a model of design concept is created and its design coupling modules are managed. The result also suggests that this approach can be used to create a “product family” from the base (or an existing) product to meet continually changing market demands.

2019 ◽  
Vol 301 ◽  
pp. 00011
Author(s):  
Chu-Yi Wang ◽  
Ang Liu ◽  
Stephen Lu

Because parametric values are unknown during initial concept generation, the Axiomatic Design Theory uses the binary design matrix (DM) to represent the coupling relationship between functional requirements and design parameters. However, given an existing product, it would be possible to employ the numerical DM that has more detailed information than the binary DM to help improve the design concept. This paper proposed a two-phase method to create a numerical DM in phase I and manage the functional couplings in phase II for concept improvement of existing product. A decomposition-definition-levelling framework and the Puritan-Bennett’s 0-1-3-9 level rating are employed to evaluate the system impact of each functional coupling to create the numerical DM of an existing design concept. The Design Coupling Sequence (DCS) approach was extended to use the numerical DM to improve this design concept. Compared with other numerical matrices for product development and the structured approach by Su et al., our method is more generic and faster, providing useful details yet still able to maintain the dominance of the high-level couplings.


Author(s):  
Robert S. Friedman ◽  
Desiree M. Roberts ◽  
Jonathan D. Linton

The articles addressed in this chapter on new product development can be classified in two general categories—papers that address the internal processes that assist or hinder development, and those that focus on factors that contribute to a new product’s success or failure in terms of performance and diffusion. We begin with Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1986), who report on the second phase of the New Prod project. Its goal was to examine the nature of the steps that affect the development process and determine how the step-wise structure was modified by the developer companies in order to improve process performance. Clark (1989) looks at project scope, or the extent to which in-house part development affects new product development and overall project performance. The new product development process, as a comprehensive scope of work, is the subject of Millison, Raj, and Wilemon’s (1992) discussion, specifically what the tensions and trade-offs are that occur among different functional areas and how they affect innovative product development. Wheelwright and Clark (1992) provide insight into strategies to plan, focus, and control a firm’s project development, offering an aggregate project plan that promotes management clearly delineating the roles and steps of each participant’s activities. Griffin and Page (1993) offer a practitioner’s framework that identifies and coordinates the many measures of product development success and failure, and holds them up against existing measures used by academic researchers. We then move to Souder’s (1988) article examining the relationship between R&D groups and marketing groups, the nature of the problems between them, and the structure of potentially effective partnerships.


2017 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kartik Kalaignanam ◽  
Tarun Kushwaha ◽  
Tracey A. Swartz

This article examines the impact of new product development (NPD) “make/buy” choices on product quality using data from the automobile industry. Although the business press has lamented that NPD outsourcing compromises product quality, there is no systematic evidence to support or refute this assertion. Against this backdrop, this study tests a contingency model of the impact of NPD make/buy decisions on immediate and future product quality. The hypotheses are tested using data on NPD make/buy choices of 173 models of 12 automobile firms in the United States between 2007 and 2014. The authors find that whereas NPD buy has a more positive impact on immediate product quality, NPD make has a more positive impact on future product quality. Furthermore, the immediate product quality impact of NPD buy is stronger when (1) technologies are more complex and (2) firm NPD capability is higher. In contrast, the future product quality impact of NPD make is stronger when (1) there is postlaunch adverse feedback and (2) firm NPD capability is higher. The study highlights the complex trade-offs associated with NPD make/buy decisions and offers valuable insights on how firms could manage these decisions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 301 ◽  
pp. 00015
Author(s):  
Wenguang Lin ◽  
Renbin Xiao ◽  
Rongshen Lai ◽  
Xiaozhen Guo

Axiomatic design theory is widely used in new product development by providing design solutions through mapping between functional requirements and design parameters. However, the theory does not provide a method to help designer obtain and select design parameters. To this end, this paper introduces patent analysis to overcome the deficiency. Firstly, functional requirements are transformed into patent search terms, and design parameters are obtained from patents. Secondly, morphological matrix is used to represent the relationships between target function and multiple design parameters. Thirdly, design parameters with higher patent frequency are chose and combined into a new scheme. Finally, the scheme is evaluated by the independent axiom of Axiomatic Design theory. The methodology is demonstrated and validated with a case study of spa shower.


2013 ◽  
Vol 475-476 ◽  
pp. 1402-1405
Author(s):  
Xian Fu Cheng ◽  
Qi Hang Zhu

A new design method for product family was presented based on adaptable product platform. Firstly, customer demands were analyzed for bridge crane. Secondly, axiomatic design was utilized as framework to zigzaging mapping between functional requirements and design parameters, and design matrix was established. Then the sensitivity analysis among design parameters and between design parameters and functional requirements was done. The design relation matrix was established and relation degree among design parameters was calculated. Based on above analysis, the platform parameters were identified.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Wen-Chin Chen ◽  
Yen-Fu Lin ◽  
Kai-Ping Liu ◽  
Hui-Pin Chang ◽  
Li-Yi Wang ◽  
...  

Globally, industries and economies have undergone rapid development and expansion over the last several decades. As a result, global warming and environmental contaminations have resulted in climate change and jeopardized food security. In many developing countries, already decreasing crop yields are threatened by extreme weather and soil damaged by genetically modified food, making environmental problems worse and increasing food and organic product prices. For these reasons, this study proposes a hybrid multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) model for new product development (NPD) in the light-emitting diode- (LED-) based lighting plant factory. First, literature reviews and expert interviews are employed in constructing a list of decision-making objectives and criteria for new product development. Then, a fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is used to screen the elements of the objectives and criteria, while a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (FDEMATEL) is used to determine the relationships among the objectives and criteria. Finally, a fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) and a composite priority vector (CPV) are manipulated to determine the relative importance weights of the critical objectives and criteria. Results show that the proposed method can create a useful and assessable MCDM model for decision-making applications in new product development, and a case study is herein performed to validate the feasibility of the proposed model in a Taiwanese LED-based lighting plant factory, which not only provides the decision-makers with a feasible hierarchical data structure for decision-making guidance but also increases the competitive advantages of trade-offs on developing novel products.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saptarshi Datta

A parametric, concurrent design methodology for manufacturing of metallic and composite structures is established. Often, during a new product development, designs prepared using the “Sequential” or “Waterfall” approach are rejected or require significant rework during manufacturing, as designers are not always versed with manufacturing principles. Similarly, manufacturers are not always versed in design principles resulting in designs that do not cater to the functional requirements. The goal of this study is to establish a methodology right from the scope to the detailed design for developing manufacturable structures using the “Concurrent Engineering” approach. Existing literature on “Design Optimization for Manufacturing” predominantly focus on single variable optimization problems geared towards conceptual designs. The designs developed through such optimization cater towards functional performance within a “Fixed Design Space” while not accounting for manufacturing or operational challenges. The methodology developed in this study enables “Design for Manufacturing” for “Detailed Designs” through selection of a conceptual design and subsequently optimizing the selected conceptual design for a set of functional parameters. An “Integrated Product Development” approach is used, whereby, the functional requirements are linked to both design and manufacturing variables and optimization is conducted in an “Augmented Design Space” which is not available when only considering design or manufacturing variables. Three case studies involving both “Conceptual” and “Detailed” designs have been used to illustrate the methodology presented. Case I documents the design of a Flight Control System Bracket. Case II illustrates the use of “2D” composite structures to fabricate a roll frame. Case III involves the development of a “3D” composite door for a light unpressurized aircraft. For each of the three case studies a separate development approach has been employed. Case I uses an analytical approach, Case II uses FEM while CASE III employs a hybrid approach comprising of both FEM and analytical techniques.


Author(s):  
Joris S. M. Vergeest ◽  
Imre Horváth ◽  
Sander Spanjaard

Abstract The reuse of precedent designs is a significant profit factor in new product development. In industry there is a tendency to enhance the reuse process by applying digital scanning of 3D parts, sampling imported, normative CAD models or by deploying a digital library of design concepts. The data thus obtained should be inserted into the design model. The available techniques typically originate from reverse engineering applications. However, to support shape reuse during conceptual design a dedicated methodology and workflow are needed. Using our methodology, the designer selects existing products, or parts, or portions of them. Then he/she specifies where and how the selected portion should be inserted into the new design. The key issue of the methodology is the explicit distinction between the variables that the designer does or does not wants to control. The underlying technology, including shape matching, shape parameter fitting and shape merging must be mostly invisible to the user, except for those controls that intrinsically affect the resulting shape. One application of the methodology is a freeform feature copy-and-paste facility based on 3D scanning and fitting of existent designs. The technical feasibility of such an approach will be addressed.


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