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Innovative design of complex systems faces multi-contradiction (MC). The existing methods to solve MC are mainly based on the General Theory of Powerful Thinking (OTSM) which is independent of the classical Engineering Design Method (ED) to form the process model, they cannot inherit the accumulated knowledge and advantages of ED. This paper proposes a product innovation design process model for MC based on the function-structure model. It starts with an initial scenario of the system to build the function-structure model and MC network based on the root contradiction analysis. The network structure entropy and function importance decision methods are introduced for the trimming target confirming. The key contradiction-node is identified and solved by strategies of trimming based on internal and external resources of the system. The function-structure model in ED and trimming in TRIZ are combined to form an innovative design process for MC systems. The proposed method is evaluated in a case study of an innovative design of the girder bridge erector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the growing maturity of publications in the Journal of Engineering Design over the period 2005 to 2006. This maturity has been explored in terms of its depth of design research content, together with its continued increasing relevance to global industry practices. Not surprisingly, it follows the author's comparable review of papers published in the Journal of Engineering Design on Product Development over the decade and up to 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces that "Multifaceted Assessment of Ideation: Using Networks to Link Ideation and Design Activity," by Philip Cash and Mario Štorga was selected by the "Journal of Engineering Design" as recipient of the Best Paper Award for 2015.

If compared with other branches of engineering, design research sets itself apart from a number of aspects. Among these, one can mention its relative youth, the variety of approaches in use, the involvement of researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds and the fact that there is no specific field of the natural sciences of which it can be viewed as a natural offspring, and from which research methods and tools have been inherited. It is therefore difficult to define the contents, the research approach or the community behind research in engineering design. Gaining insight upon such matters is useful for good research governance in general, as well as for related activities, such as organizing events, refereeing papers, or supervising the work performed by graduate students. The present paper aims to provide a first step in this direction by proposing a quantitative analysis of the papers contributed to the 1997 and 1999 editions of the International Conference on Engineering Design. Papers are categorized in four main typologies; namely, empirical research, experimental research, development of new tools, and implementation studies. Descriptive statistics carried out both upon the collective set of papers and upon each typology highlight the current status of research, together with the interconnections between its diverse branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physical construct of a dual ontological product is essential for those products which physically interact directly with humans, whereas the product's emotional construct interconnects with human cognition. Multitude of human factor aspects must be considered when designing dual ontological products. To increase the product's impact and reach, designers should also understand the requirements of potential users. Designers find it difficult to achieve the right compromise between these constructions. This research therefore contributes a novel harmonistic knowledge-based computational support tool which makes designers aware of design stage conflicts and consequences of commitments made on human factors in the use phase of the artefact. This paper describes in detail the machine learning and harmonistic knowledge-based system which exploits information collected directly from potential users to proactively assist, guide, and motivate product designers. The paper takes the motorcycle artefact as a case of dual ontological product. The prototype support tool has been evaluated with 28 motorcycle design engineers. The results obtained from this evaluation have shown that the approach and design computational-based tool meet their goals, are beneficial, and are required in design engineering practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the Best Paper Award established by the Journal of Engineering Design. It states that the bets paper should provide original scientific contribution and must reflect engineering design research. It notes that all published papers were investigated and sorted into quality categories.

The article presents the Best Paper Award to the article "Engaging children in healthcare technology design: Developing rehabilitation technology for children with cerebral palsy," by Andrew Patrick Hayes Weightman, Nick Preston, Raymond Holt from the "Journal of Engineering Design."

Traditional approaches to managing uncertainties during product development often lead to increased complexity and resource consumption. This paper introduces the concept of ‘resilient objects’ as an alternative solution, designed to provide passive protection against disruptive events of different kinds, thereby reducing the necessity for complex margins at system interfaces. The paper illustrates the concept of resilient objects through practical examples, which demonstrate the objects’ ability to uphold system functionality even when faced with unexpected disruptive events. By embodying resilience locally in areas of the system that are most susceptible to uncertain conditions, resilient objects offer the potential to minimise interface margins and thus the need for excessive system over-design. The concept of resilient objects offers a new perspective on how to solve the trade-offs between resilience and complexity when addressing uncertainties in the dynamic landscape of product development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often computationally intensive to solve combinatorialoptimisation problems due to the inherent large solution space. These problems are commonly observed in the fields of engineering system design and operations. Traditional techniques are limited in handling the growing complexity and size of these problems efficiently. This paper presents a twofold update quantum-inspired genetic algorithm to solve combinatorial optimisation problems. It is generalised as an improved version of quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm. The paper proposes a new problem formulation and the solution procedure for quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithms. An improved quantum-inspired genetic algorithm is proposed with a twofold update mechanism along with various operators. The proposed method is applied to solving a real-life engineering system optimisation problem of modular design. The results are compared using a classical genetic algorithm versus a quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm, indicating that the proposed method outperforms the traditional methods and is more robust and more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the editorial policy of the Journal of Engineering Design.

Behavioural economics and nudge theory have attracted much attention for engineering design in a broader context of sociotechnical systems, which provides new perspectives for engineering design when systems have interactions with human. This paper deals with service system design with a particular application to smart tip nudging. The conventional tip nudging approach that uses a set of default tip options lacks context-awareness and sometimes suggests inappropriate tip options. To address this problem, and to also increase tip revenues potentially, this paper proposes a smart tip nudging mechanism based on prospect theoretic modelling of customer tipping behaviours. The model proposes to use joint prospect values of both customers and service providers, which mimics the trade-off that customers make between their own economic gains and losses and the service provided by service providers. Meanwhile, this study provides a data-driven approach to parameter estimation of the prospect theory model, and it enables tip nudging to be context-aware for tip option adjustment by using intelligent reasoning techniques. One field experiment is conducted to validate the proposed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional practice of value-driven engineering and systems design is mainly based on net present values (NPVs). It is essentially enacted as a budgetary technique that neglects the future risk and strategic flexibility of a design project. Incorporating real options theory in value-driven decision models can improve the inability of NPV analysis in dealing with the upside potential of managerial flexibility and operational uncertainty over the design project life. This paper examines the critical issues and research opportunities for establishing a theoretical foundation of value-driven multiplayer game decision making in large complex engineering and systems design projects. This paper envisions a research framework for value-driven cooperative negotiation by synthesising the mathematical foundations of utility theory, real options theory and game theory into a coherent framework of design decision analysis. Fundamental issues and research directions are discussed to develop a variety of new methods for enhancing the formulation of value models for value-driven design with decision support to achieving equilibrium solutions with optimal value allocation among multiple decision agents involved in engineering and systems design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering companies face the challenge of optimising margins within product platforms while balancing individual product optimisation and maximising platform commonality. Key obstacles include organisational silos, diverse design variables, design space allocation, and varying time perspectives. This paper proposes a value-based modelling methodology that integrates both internal and external variety within the manufacturer. Using an automotive Head-Up Display (HUD) case study, we demonstrate how to effectively utilise platform margins to maximise technological variety and minimise internal variety, thereby enhancing long-term system value. This approach helps design teams understand the implications of their decisions, optimise platform margins to meet evolving technological demands, reduce costs, and maximise value. Our findings advance the understanding of margin optimisation in product platforms and support informed decision-making for engineering companies facing conflicting objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge transfer in engineering design activity involves effectively applying prior practical experience in novel contexts. While related works fostering knowledge transfer focus on educational practices and experience generalisation, recent advancements enable us to analyze its complex cognitive processes using neuroimaging technology. This paper proposes a multimodal approach for facilitating knowledge transfer in engineering design, utilising functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and eye-tracking technologies based on neurocognitive profiling. We conducted knowledge transfer experiments using mixed and extended design tasks. Meanwhile, The analysis focused on gaze duration, gaze counts, brain region activation levels, functional connectivity, and effective connectivity of the participants. Finally, we employed stepwise linear regression to identify significant and potential associated factors of knowledge transfer. By combining eye-tracking predictors and brain network predictors, a multivariate linear discriminant analysis (LDA) significantly differentiated between participants in near-transferred and far-transferred states, achieving an accuracy of 91.16% using leave-one-out cross-validation. The ‘basic-supplementary-target task’ method effectively improved the knowledge transfer performance by 27.6%. Our findings demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed multimodal approach in facilitating knowledge transfer in engineering design activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design is a topic that has been studied from many disciplinary perspectives, each bringing particular methodological traditions to bear and yielding many different insights into the subject, but the diversity has meant that it has been difficult to achieve a coherent and comprehensive view on research in the domain. This paper presents observations on this diversity in design research and then makes suggestions for action to identify opportunities for collaboration and consolidation. The design research ‘landscape’ is first characterised as involving a number of academic communities that research the topic from different perspectives. An approach is then presented to characterising research by considering facets such as the timescale of the design episode being studied, the phase of the design process and the complexity of the resulting artefact, and an example is given of its application to the papers presented at the International Conference on Engineering Design in 2009. Finally, suggestions are made for further steps that the design research community might take in the characterisation and consolidation of the domain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

During recent decades, there has been growing awareness of human safety in the design process. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on design for human safety (DfHS) in manufacturing systems. To this end, a process for systematically reviewing DfHS studies was used. The authors focused in particular on the applications of design theories and methodologies (DTM) and design tools and techniques (DTT) to analyse and identify work situations in order to improve human safety in manufacturing system design. The authors also tried to identify the design phases in which these DTM and DTT could be applied. This research review covered papers published between 1980 and 2015, and combined seven groups of terms: DfHS, design, safety, DTM, DTT, risk and working situation. A critical analysis was also performed in view to defining a research agenda and the most prominent key actions capable of pointing out paths for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Success or failure of a product significantly depends on the design process of the product. Design and production of today's products involve coordinated organization of multidisciplinary groups, activities and information, which develop and dynamically change during product development. Designing is the focal point of many professions, not only engineering but also fine arts and other disciplines. The importance of engineering design for every aspect of life through systems affected by technology and developed by engineers has been widely recognized.

This paper presents a systematic literature review aimed at assessing how well current technology-based interventions that focus on dementia and other cognitive impairments align with the principles of the P4 vision for healthcare: Predictive, Preventive, Personalised and Participative. A search of the SCOPUS database yielded 887 articles, of which 48 were ultimately selected for analysis. Looking at whether and how each intervention implements each 'P'-principle, our results suggest a partial and non-systemic embrace of the P4 vision. Reasoning on possible explanations for this state-of-the-art, we propose that our findings represent an opportunity for the engineering design community to engage with P4-based healthcare delivery models through the development of design frameworks, new indicators for assessing the success of such healthcare delivery models, as well as tools and methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design research is a complex, multi-disciplinary and expanding field of study. The issues being researched are diverse and there is no agreed framework by which a strategic understanding of the field can easily be gained. This has serious implications for senior researchers and funding bodies who regularly need to make far-reaching decisions as to what future research is proposed and supported. This paper presents a strategic taxonomy of design research issues and describes the method by which this was achieved. It is hoped that the taxonomy will bring a clearer understanding of this diverse field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the existence of several methods and tools for engineering products and services, the Product-Service Systems (PSS) design field still lacks some pragmatic support. This paper assumes the existence of a gap between the existing approaches and logics used in product and service engineering that challenges the product-service integration in PSS design. To better support product-service integration in PSS, this paper proposes a system-based conceptual framework for PSS engineering. The framework is based on a system concept that defines products and services as ‘subsystems’ sharing similar properties. The conceptual framework supports the PSS design progression process by integrating and coupling product and service engineering viewpoints. Its aim is to support the engineering process of an entire system until reaching the most detailed phases. The main point of interest of the proposed approach is the specific light it shines on product and service engineering logics and its ability to unify disjoint definitions and processes by proposing a communication basis via a system-based framework. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Unplanned design iterations are considered one of the reasons for the high failure rate of new product development (NPD) projects. Generally, organisations employ 'proactive risk management' (PRM) and 'reactive fast learning' (RFL) to manage unplanned design iterations. This paper aims to explore how organisations employ PRM and RFL approaches to manage unplanned design iterations in the NPD process. To that end, a cross-sectional interview study was conducted in eight organisations. The interview transcripts were analysed as a primary data source using thematic qualitative text analysis technique. For PRM approach, results demonstrate that the design teams were more active in risk monitoring in the design phase as compared to risk identification in the concept development phase. Generally, design teams reduced the likelihood of unplanned design iteration risks by employing learning methods in addition to risk mitigation strategies. For RFL approach, results reveal that organisations lacked a structured approach to select suitable learning methods for fast resolution of unplanned design iterations and to convert new knowledge into organisational learning. We conclude that PRM is more established as compared to RFL in managing unplanned design iterations. We develop recommendations of how organisations can use RFL approaches more efficiently alongside PRM approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel design creations often exist in the form of patents. It is well acknowledged that patents are a great source of design inspiration, therefore designers are encouraged to engage patents early in the design process. Studies of patent analysis have been carried out to benefit engineering design activities such as patent classification, technology forecasting, idea generation and emerging design-prior art comparison. However, the design intent behind inventions has received little attention in patent analysis. Designers can gain better design insight by looking at a patent from a systematic perspective starting from design intent to principal solutions. In this paper, an approach is proposed to extract and link the knowledge conveyed within patent descriptive sections to typical early engineering design stages, namely Motivation, Specification and Structure. This knowledge is then conceptualised into TRIZ engineering parameters and reconciled functional basis to enable cross-patent analysis. When compared to expert analysis, the proposed approach achieves an average of 63% accuracy with respect to Motivation, 56% with respect to Specification function and 44% with respect to Specification flow. Potential applications of such linking for early design use are then demonstrated through a prototype knowledge network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the support of advanced information and communication technologies and open innovative design platforms, the emerging and blooming paradigm of mass personalization drives the process of engineering design to include knowledge with higher heterogeneity and more complex modalities. To this end, Multi-Modal Knowledge Graphs (MMKG), evolved from semantic networks and knowledge graphs, provide a powerful technology system for more effectively organizing and utilizing this knowledge. To understand the state-of-the-art of key aspects that enables MMKG, and recognize the potential challenges for forefront applications in engineering design, a literature review of MMKG-related publications is conducted. With selected 131 representative papers together with other 32 supplementary studies (up to 11/11/2023), this article summarizes the technical and practical efforts of multi-modal knowledge extraction, fusion technology, and specific applications in the engineering design process. Meantime, the challenges that MMKG faces and its foreseeable development potentials are discussed, which is hoped to provide a basis for the futuristic explorations and implementations of MMKG-enhanced availability and productivity in engineering design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering equipment can efficiently assist humans in completing engineering projects and reduce work intensity. As the difficulty and scope of operations increase, higher requirements are placed on function and integration. In product design, excessive user requirements and design constraints lead to discrete results, difficult to converge. Under multi-functionality and high integration constraints, traditional mapping sub-functions to structures one by one results in overabundant mappings, and discrete, redundant structures after mapping, poorly achieving integration and reducing subsequent iteration efficiency. To address these issues, this paper proposes a conceptual design methodology for engineering equipment with function units configuration and schemes iterative solution. First, the Fuzzy Quality Function Deployment (FQFD) method applies fuzzy theory to requirement-to-function conversion, overcoming ambiguity and subjectivity of user requirements. Second, with the goal of integrated structures, an improved FBS method, i.e. Function-Function Units-Structure (FFUS), aggregates sub-functions after decomposition into function units, and then maps to structures, improving engineering equipment integration. Moreover, the Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA) method involves users in an interactive process to generate an optimised design scheme, overcoming blind solution generation. Prototype design and simulation of 8VN1 Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) handing equipment demonstrate that the methodologies are effective in aiding engineering equipment conceptual design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has become an established discipline in both research and education. However, to achieve its full potential AM requires a step-change in design thinking, which makes Design for AM (DfAM) education and training crucial. This paper reports results from the first attempt to investigate the uptake of DfAM in higher education. This research required the development and administration of an articulated online survey, in which educators worldwide who teach AM and DfAM have participated. The results show that DfAM is taught in a considerable number of courses. However, the survey revealed that DfAM is seldom recognised as a distinct course or topic and the relevance attributed and proportion of teaching dedicated to DfAM within wider AM is typically marginal. DfAM is being mostly taught in North America and Europe and is also typically taught in institutions that are research active in AM or specifically DfAM, suggesting the subject has not yet reached maturity or diffusion into mainstream design and engineering curricula. It was interesting to find that currently, the contents of courses do not differ significantly between engineering and design programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the December 2008 issue of "Journal of Engineering Design" is presented.

Two kinds of design ideation process may be distinguished in terms of the problems addressed: (i) solution-focused, i.e. generating solutions to address a fixed problem specifying a desired output; and (ii) exploratory, i.e. considering different interpretations of an open-ended problem and generating associated solutions. Existing systematic analysis approaches focus on the former; the literature is lacking such an approach for the latter. In this paper, we provide a means to systematically analyse exploratory ideation for the first time through a new approach: Analysis of Exploratory Design Ideation (AEDI). AEDI involves: (1) open-ended ideation tasks; (2) coding of explored problems and solutions from sketches; and (3) evaluating ideation performance based on coding. We applied AEDI to 812 concept sketches from 19 open-ended tasks completed during a neuroimaging study of 30 professional product design engineers. Results demonstrate that the approach provides: (i) consistent tasks that stimulate problem exploration; (ii) a reliable means of coding explored problems and solutions; and (iii) an appropriate way to rank/compare designers' performance. AEDI enables the benefits of systematic analysis (e.g. greater comparability, replicability, and efficiency) to be realised in exploratory ideation research, and studies using open-ended problems more generally. Future improvements include increasing coding validity and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formal representation and capturing of uncertainty knowledge are always essential but difficult. Typically, the uncertainties due to incompleteness and inaccuracies of model information in engineering design necessitate the designing of robust decision workflows to improve the quality of process/product in variations. This requests extending a designer's abilities in managing various uncertainties in system design and making decisions that are robust, flexible, and comprehensive. To enable the management of various uncertainties, in this paper, we propose an ontology for robust design and a template-based ontological method that is employed to design decision workflows. We achieve the aforementioned goals through the identification of: (1) procedural knowledge – defining a procedure of designing robust decision workflows, including the sequence of activities, to determine the right combination of design information for a specific type of uncertainty, and (2) declarative knowledge – developing a frame-based ontology for the formal representation of tacit knowledge to capture and document the re-usable information of a robust design by utilising the process templates. We demonstrate the efficacy by carrying out the robust design of the hot rod rolling process based on the analysis and synthesis of the processing-microstructure (cooling module) and the microstructure-mechanical (rod module) simulation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making methods have proven to be an effective support to engineering design. However, it is proved that very often designers prefer tested procedures and experience-based approaches. Many reasons have been discussed in the literature, dealing with consolidated design habits of people and companies, high cost in terms of time consumption, and lack of tools and knowledge. The paper systematically investigates, through an extended critical review, how decision-making methods can be used by automotive designers to solve the most common engineering problems involved along the design process. In particular, the paper proposes an original classification of the most widely used decision-making methods in engineering design, a match between such techniques with the typical design phases, and a mapping of their application into the automotive field. This research can be considered as a further step to transfer the state-of-the-art knowledge on decision-making methods to the industrial context, establishing a common background for practitioners and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper charts the development of a system architecture designed to address the challenges associated with creating accurate and re-usable records of synchronous design activities. It begins by describing the context of through-life support of engineering products, then presents the Knowledge Enhanced Notes system development work undertaken and provides direction for future research work in this area. An empirical research approach was adopted for this work incorporating 11 experimental episodes, ethnographic studies and case-based evaluation of the developed system. The approach and development of the system architecture within this research build upon and extend existing research in the area of knowledge and information capture. The proposed system architecture is proven to enhance the record of engineering design activities, demonstrating that the implementation of software-based tools can have a positive impact on the creation of a more accurate and complete record of activities. This research is focused on one category of design activities – synchronous; therefore, future research that focuses on asynchronous working, leading to an overall enhancement of design working, is needed. While the focus of the research was to aid the creation and through-life support of large, complex engineering products, the solution is entirely generic in its application to synchronous activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the engineering design of modular systems in the manufacturing industry, in which companies can benefit from modular and configurable products that fulfil a variety of customer needs. The purpose of this paper is to study the types of challenges faced in the engineering design of modular systems and the types of support needed to address these challenges. The topic is studied via a literature review and seven industrial case studies. The analysis method for the case studies combines engineering and business perspectives. The engineering perspective highlights engineering concepts related to designing modular systems, while the business perspective focuses on related managerial issues. We find that the studied companies emphasised different aspects of modular system development, despite having similar high-level goals related to the benefits of modularity and design reuse. We also identify several challenges, along with the need for support related to the engineering design of modular systems in the manufacturing industry. Current engineering design practices related to modular systems are not sufficient to generate the typical benefits related to modularity and design reuse; organisations must also focus on other aspects of the design process, such as knowledge retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the computational methods to support sketching, reverse engineering and optimization of shapes. For engineering designers, the shape is defined by technical requirements, functionality, physical principles, structure, ways of materialization and manufacturing technologies, while for industrial designers, it is determined by aesthetics, ergonomics, usability of and experiences with products.

The spatial relations between parts in an assembly can be critical for the functional and aesthetic quality of a product. In the case of the automobile, these relations can be between doors, fenders, hood, panels, and so on. Variation in these relations, caused by part and assembly variation, influences the output variation, which is what the customer sees and judges. This paper presents a computer-aided tolerancing tool that supports and improves split-line design with respect to geometrical variation. A split-line is the relation between two mating parts over a distance. The design and placement of a split-line in an automobile body are influenced by several aspects such as design language, geometrical dimensioning, crash safety, and so on. In this paper only the geometrical dimensioning aspects have been considered. The research has been carried out using simulations and analyses in a computer-aided tolerancing software. The tool presented describes a way to calculate and visualize the geometrically most robust area and split-line between two parts. The findings from the research show that it is difficult to calculate and visualize the result in flush and gap directions in the same way. The tool gives insight into how the configuration of the locating schemes influences the geometrical robustness of the design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Load misalignment is known to reduce the efficiency of structural sections. The study shows that the rate of reduction in efficiency of a section due to misalignment differs depending on the section shape. Sections that are most efficient when loading is perfectly aligned may not be the best choice when there is a load misalignment. When the misalignment is small, i.e. <2°, designers often assume loads are perfectly aligned in order to simplify and minimise design calculations. Safety factors are then used to cope with the effect of misaligned loads. This method is however crude and can lead to over design or under design depending on the section chosen. Therefore, it is necessary to have a simple but an effective methodology to assess the effect of misaligned loads. This paper extends the methodology of shape factors by developing shape factors for geometrically constrained beams with misaligned loads. The paper also shows that a very small misalignment (<2°) can cause significant reduction in efficiency of sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates a general iterative technique for discovering a taxonomy that categorises information contained within a weakly structured design project archive. It is common for large engineering organisations to maintain archives about past design projects. In principle, engineering organisations could mine these archives to extract useful lessons and relationships that would improve future design projects. However, this is difficult in practice, since archives often consist of weakly structured data formats, such as plaintext documentation. This restricts the use of many useful analysis tools. The taxonomy-discovery process presented here is a critical first step towards unlocking the value of such archives. The technique is based on methods from the qualitative research literature. We demonstrate this process by creating a taxonomy of risk-mitigating actions in design projects based on a design project archive from a large engineering organisation. We discuss practical considerations such as missing contextual information as part of the case study. The taxonomy is sufficiently generic to be of use to other organisations. Furthermore, individual organisations can use the iterative technique introduced in this paper to tailor the taxonomy to their own project archives. Thus, this research provides an important foundation for unlocking the value of archived design project information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial relations between parts in assembled products are often critical. In the automotive industry, the relations between the doors, hoods and panels are important quality characteristics. Functionally, it must be possible to open the door without interference with other parts, but the aesthetical aspect is also important. Today, the quality appearance of a vehicle is judged by the quality of the gaps between the body panels (i.e. doors, hoods, fenders and panels). This paper presents three basic types of analysis that can be used to evaluate design concepts and predict the final variation: stability analysis, seam variation analysis, and quality appearance evaluation. The stability analysis focuses on the locating schemes in the assembly and aims at making the concept as insensitive to variation as possible. Seam variation analysis focuses on the relation between parts in an assembly. A seam, as introduced here, is a relation between two parts over a distance. Typically, seam variation is measured and evaluated in two directions, the gap and flush directions. The paper introduces two goodness values for automotive body variation evaluation. The instability index reflects the total locating scheme stability for the whole assembly, while the quality appearance index rates the total variation in all seams of the body. The latter is calculated as the mean variation in all defined seams of a body and allows for evaluating the final appearance of the body, with one measure, already in the early concept phase. The analyses are implemented and performed in the computer-aided tolerancing software RD&T, presented numerically and visualized by colour coding. An auto body example is used to illustrate the analyses. The analyses are, however, general and valid for most. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an introduction to the April 2005 issue of the "Journal of Engineering Design."

In spite of the increasing importance placed on the creation and delivery of value, it is unclear what value is and how it is determined in design. In this paper, the first descriptive model of value determination (ValueD) is presented to clarify the key elements and mechanisms involved. ValueD describes value determination as a cognitive process that is situated and dependent on an agent's knowledge. The variables involved are: an entity interpreted by an agent; a situation of an agent; knowledge of an agent; a criteria prioritisation activity; a criteria selection activity; and a criteria judgement activity. The output of the value determination process is a value statement. Value is shown to refer to a judgement on the extent an interpreted entity satisfies an agent's criteria. The ValueD model is evaluated through comparison against seven axioms of value and a protocol analysis of an engineering design episode. The article concludes with a discussion of strengths, limitations, and future work on ValueD, and its relationship with key value concepts such as added value, exchange and perceived value, benefit, and need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering design automation has been an active field of research and application for more than five decades. Despite a multitude of available methods stemming from research fields such as Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) and Computational Design Synthesis (CDS) the application context in industry is mostly limited to routine tasks. Here we propose a means to foster the transition of academic methods to industrial practice through a comprehensible and comprehensive design automation task categorisation that allows practitioners to grasp the opportunities state-of-the-art design automation offers. The categorisation is based on a critical investigation of 77 papers stemming from KBE and CDS, respectively, and is detailed with respect to knowledge needed for complete formalisation of a task, i.e. inputs, outputs and goals, as well as available automation methods. A thorough discussion indicates the context of the work with current design practice and provides a consolidation of the research fields KBE and CDS including the derivation of technological requirements for design automation task definition by practitioners. Thus, this paper contributes not only by consolidating two research fields but also by presenting technological requirements for further streamlining the process of realising design automation applications in industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Function modelling is proposed in textbooks to support solution finding early in a development process. Although it has great potential to support the comprehensiveness and systematisation of conceptual design, it has been taken up in design practice only to a limited extent. Based on a literature review, potential barriers hampering its widespread application are discussed. A central problem revolves around the abstract nature of function modelling, which makes it difficult to apprehend the concrete benefits from its implementation. The article contributes to related research by showcasing success stories in the implementation of function modelling in six companies. The implemented models include morphological charts, use case modelling and two approaches developed in-house. The paper presents an interview study with managers and design leaders investigating the motivations and reasons leading up to the decision to newly implement function modelling in the companies. Furthermore, the paper explores the interviewees’ reflections on experiences gained while (gradually) implementing function models, the specific advantages attained, and also the challenges faced in doing so. The findings show that shared function modelling has great potential to support interdisciplinary collaboration and comprehension and to lead to a significant increase in the efficiency of the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on evaluation methods in engineering. This is a multifaceted activity both in terms of the level of detail of the activity and in terms of when the activity takes place within the overall design process. The final papers work at a very detailed level, investigating the evaluation of the errors that can occur in computer-aided design models, particularly when they are moved between systems and computers. This is increasingly important as engineering design is undertaken across globally distributed networks and models have to be moved across applications, so that the full benefits from integrated computer-aided engineering systems can be obtained.

Many engineering design optimisation problems are multi-objective and subjected to multiple constraints. These problems may encounter uncertainties in their inputs, which may cause uncontrollable variations in the objectives and constraints. Multi-objective robust optimisation (MORO) approaches aim to obtain Pareto solutions with the least sensitivity to uncertainties. In this paper, an improved sequential MORO approach considering interval uncertainty reduction under mixed uncertainties (SMORO-IM) is proposed. Firstly, it adopts the efficient sequential optimisation framework based on the worst possible point constraint cuts. Secondly, a formulation for obtaining robust optimal solutions under mixed interval and probabilistic uncertainties is employed. In addition, considering that the interval uncertainties in inputs can be reduced at allowable cost, the cost of interval uncertainty reduction is defined as an extra objective function in the proposed approach, aiming at obtaining optimal solutions with different interval uncertainties. Two numerical examples and two engineering cases are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed SMORO-IM approach. The objective and feasibility robustness of the obtained optimal solutions are verified by the Monte Carlo Method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Comments on several papers on engineering design. Views on decision-making and decision optimization; Opinions on industries presenting papers emphasizing the reason behind design research; Remarks on the less tangible areas of market appeal for manufacturing industry.

Design reuse is becoming a widely accepted strategy to meet the increasingly fierce competition in product development. This paper presents a new approach to design reuse based on the decomposition of design processes. In this approach, the basic reusable template, design process unit (DPU), is developed by decomposing the design process, which has four important characteristics: reusability, hierarchical decomposition and composition, domain independence, and decision-centric with well-defined inputs and outputs. Then the criteria of process decomposition and the scale of design process reuse are established, respectively. Based on the methodology above, a multi-tier, three-phase reuse architecture with effective DPU retrieval is presented. Experimental results show that this approach greatly facilitates DPU reuse and is a worthwhile exploration of design reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of constraints in limiting and enhancing creativity in engineering design. Based on a review of literature relating constraints to creativity, the paper presents a longitudinal participatory study from Coloplast A/S, a major international producer of disposable medical equipment. At Coloplast, constraints played a fundamental role and the observations show the important, dual role of constraints in terms of being a limitation and a prerequisite for creativity. Too few or too many constraints had a negative impact on creativity, whereas the formulation, rationale and ownership of formal constraints played a crucial role in defining their influence on creativity – along with the tacit constraints held by the designers. The designers were found to be highly constraint focused, and four main creative strategies for constraint manipulation were observed: blackboxing, removal, introducing and revising. Constraints introduced late in a project contributed to the generation of new solutions to old problems, and existing solutions were creatively adopted to satisfy new constraints. This paper recommends creative constraint-handling strategies, as well as identifying potential directions for future research on the relationship between creativity and constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are motivated to investigate methods to increase creativity in conceptual design since creativity is essential to design success, and no other stage influences final design success as much as conceptual design. Existing work supports that design stimuli may encourage creative concept generation, but does not give details on how to systematically generate stimuli. The established relationship between language and cognition, and the systematic nature of language prompt us to examine its use as design stimuli. Language relationships such as opposition provide a systematic method of generating non-obvious semantic stimuli for design problems. In this paper, we present two experiments, a pen-and-paper and a verbal protocol study, where participants used oppositely related and similarly related word stimuli in conceptual design. We found that designers using oppositely related word stimuli developed more creative concepts. Language analysis revealed how opposite stimuli elicited designer behaviours that may encourage and support creative concept generation. Our empirical results combined with linguistic theory lead us to propose a model explaining the interactions and effects of opposite-stimulus words on concept creativity. This knowledge can be used to facilitate more creative, and ultimately, more successful design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of technical function is used with different meanings in the engineering domain. This ambiguity hampers the exchange of design knowledge across functional modelling approaches. This paper investigates three issues relevant to handling this communication problem. First, it provides a clarification of engineering meanings of function and functional decomposition (fd) models. Secondly, it presents an assessment of the benefits of co-existing functional conceptualisations. Thirdly, following the positive outcome of this assessment, it presents a conceptual strategy to exchange design knowledge across modelling approaches. This strategy does so by converting models of fd across approaches. It is shown that the proposed conversion strategy is able to retain design knowledge that is lost when using another methodology for the conversion of fds. This paper ends by identifying a future research agenda for model conversions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a computational tool to support designers in choosing an engineering concept is proposed. It takes into account aspects of supply chains (with a focus on suppliers' related uncertainties) already at the conceptual design stage. It is suggested that a decision on an engineering concept would take into account its robustness to such uncertainties. The introduction and examination of such robustness considerations within the conceptual design stage are undertaken by finding a set of variants for each concept under consideration. The robustness of a concept is gained by allowing the selected concept-related solution to the problem to be later changed to another concept-related variant in response to changes associated with supply chains. In the paper, we propose a procedure that allows a search for such variants that may serve as solutions that promote robustness to suppliers' related uncertainties. Utilising the suggested procedure may support designers in making decisions when considering these uncertainties. We argue that considering elements of supply chains already during the conceptual design space may affect the choice of a concept. An engineering problem is utilised in order to demonstrate the methodology and its applicability to real-life engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding users' perceptions is a key element in design. However, perceptions are typically assessed at the object level of analysis. In this paper, we distinguish between perceptions at the object level and the user level (study 1), and illustrate implications for product evaluations (study 2). We examine evaluations of 'green' products. In study 1, we surveyed 41 design students. At the object level, expressing a 'natural' look was associated with 'safety' for male and female respondents. However, at the user level, women differed from men and did not associate 'natural' with 'safety'. Study 2 demonstrates how this gender difference is reflected in men's and women's product evaluations in the context of benign or threatening nature images. In an experiment with 112 participants, we found that women, but not men, reduced their implicit preference for natural products in the threat condition. The paper shows the importance of differentiating between the object and user levels of analysis when analysing consumers' perceptions to predict product preferences and evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a review of papers published in the Journal of Engineering Design from 2007 to 2008. Included are the different perspectives on key challenges existing within, and state-of-the-art technologies developed as solutions to current design issues. The intention of this paper is not to provide detailed coverage of all the papers published over the last two years, but rather to provide an overview of research efforts focusing upon key research streams and to illustrate trends within design research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]