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Communication between people is commonly thought to play a major role in determining the success or failure of collaborative design projects. We conducted 8 weeks of observation and 62 interviews in three design companies. Our findings indicate that communication is blamed for causing many problems which are not of obvious technical nature. However, such problems are more often symptomatic of underlying factors related to information, representation, individual, team, and organisational issues. Examples of factors influencing communication at interfaces are people's understanding of the 'sequence of tasks' or 'goals and objectives' in the design process. With a system-theory informed conceptualisation of communication, we propose that awareness of such factors could assist design practitioners in targeting interventions and researchers in generating hypotheses about communication and design performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in engineering design management point to the need for more dynamic, fine-grain measurement approaches able to deal with multi-dimensional, cross-level process performance in product design. Thus, this paper proposes a new approach to the measurement and management of individual and teamwork performance in engineering design projects. This integrates multiple, previously disparate, aspects of design management and performance measurement theory in a single framework. Further, a fully realised performance measurement approach is developed, which complements existing management strategies. This framework is synthesised from an extensive review and illustrated via an in-depth case study. As such, this work contributes to performance measurement theory in engineering design and has significant implications for both engineering design research and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of assistive products (AP) is a challenging process that gathers a wide variety of agents with different objectives and backgrounds. This complex scenario demands reflexive and multi-referential methodologies, where assessment is essential to make steady progress. We present Xassess, a specific methodological framework for assistive product design that interweaves different phases and types of assessments; it is materialised in a set of tools to be used individually or conjointly. We validated our proposal in a real project, developing an online social network for the support of people with neurodegenerative illnesses with three different scenarios running in parallel. Main conclusion is that the methodology contributes not only to achieve better results, but also to optimise the global process of managing the design of AP. Assessment should be considered from the beginning of the project and interweaved at every stage, include the vision of all the disciplines involved in the project, merge qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches, and serve as enabler of the shared understanding among different worlds. As Xassess also allowed us to see innovation from a different perspective, we encourage its use as a design guide for Design for All and to tailor it to other design realms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Whole-life support for complex products requires coordinated action. Existing shortcomings of the design change management process currently operated within key UK engineering sectors are identified and discussed. The challenges that must be met in order to better satisfy the need for accurate product information across an integrated supply chain are presented. The role that information technology must play in achieving greater efficiency is developed. Recommendations are made in the form of 10 requirements to guide future design change management strategies. It is intended that implementation of these requirements will enable and improve the provision of product-related information so that it more accurately reflects the current configured status of the products. The aim is to facilitate and support enhanced product maintenance, effectiveness and utilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design change increases cost and time of production and redesign substantially. This research proposes a framework to investigate the reasons and their respective production change and redesign costs for design changes during production. It analyses 339 change items and interviews designers, owners and contractors of seven construction projects. Research findings show that design changes result from three categories of reasons: under owner's, designer's, and beyond control. The proportions of change reasons, construction change costs and redesign costs are different for the studied projects. The redesign costs are from 2.1% to 21.5% and on average 8.5% of the construction change cost, equivalent to the fee of a new design project. The identified reasons with quantitative cost behaviours can help clarify design change problems. Insight about design change can also be gained through the convergence of different perceptions of change reason proportions from project participants. The analysis process and results in this research can be referenced by other companies to obtain their own patterns of reasons, production change, and redesign costs from design changes to diagnose design performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work of designers is a vital aspect of the design-construction process. Error during design of major hazardous installations can translate into risk to the safe operation of the installation. Yet designer error remains a generally neglected topic in risk research in the oil and gas industry. This paper examines the perceptions of the aetiology of designer error by exploring dialogues with various stakeholders of the design-construction process in the oil and gas industry. Twenty-three stakeholders, including designers, fabricators, clients and regulators, were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that while designer competency levels, barriers to communication and attitudes to safety were among some of the main factors perceived to be causes of errors, participants also believed that these factors were somewhat reinforced by the time and budgetary restraints imposed on design projects, and driven mainly by wider pressures prevailing in the industry. Findings helped to illustrate that stakeholders in the industry perceive design error to be attributable to a combination of system-wide and latent errors, which were very different to those affecting end users in the oil and gas industry and should be addressed separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for integration of computer-aided design and computer-aided engineering environments stems from the business priority to reduce product cycle times. It is exacerbated by the coexistence of two different paradigms: a topological one in embodiment design and a functional one in simulation. This dualism places increasing demands on human communication between design and simulation engineers. This paper claims that reflecting communication is a key factor for successful collaboration. Reflection is used in both senses of the Latin word 'reflectare': to trigger active thinking about and consideration of communication, as well as to mirror perceptions of a given situation by people collaborating. The paper reports on the development and application of a maturity-grid approach to diagnose the current and desired states of communication between design engineers and simulation engineers in the car body development of a German automotive manufacturer. Results include three themes: one, the importance of understanding of the collaborators' information needs; two, the importance of orientation, e.g., indicated by the engineers' overview of sequence of tasks in the design process; and three, the importance of reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a design experiment that was conducted to study the effects of idea exposure in design idea generation. Earlier studies have shown that idea exposure can stimulate and interfere with cognitive processes relating to succeeding idea generation, which in turn results in either process gains or losses concerning design outcome. However, fairly little is known about the network and interplay between supplementary effects of idea exposure. Perhaps the most relevant form of cognitive interference in creative design problem-solving is design fixation. Designers may become influenced by presented solutions, so that they reproduce features or principles instead of finding new ways to fulfil functional requirements. In the experiment, subjects were exposed to different amounts and types of examples prior to idea generation. Idea generation performance was measured by the amount of new concepts produced by each subject. The results showed that positive design outcome was correlated with the commonality of examples presented, whereas the amount of examples did not show a respective effect. Fixating effects were measured by analysing genealogical links between examples and generated solutions using a weighted link density metric, also presented in this paper. Presenting common instead of unusual examples led to a higher genealogical linkage between examples and generated ideas; this indicates that common examples cause more fixation than novel ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design strategies employed by Taiwanese home appliance companies after Taiwan's entry to the World Trade Organization were investigated in a previous study by the authors. That study identified three strategic design groups: a passive-response group, an aggressive-response group, and an R&D-focused group. This study further explores the difference in design strategy-related issues such as product development types, emphasizing features, motivation, and advertising appeal of new product design projects among these three strategic design groups. Analytical results demonstrate that differences exist among the three groups for strategy-related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product innovation in a compressed time frame puts enormous pressure on a firm to effectively and efficiently manage limited budget, time and allocation of material and human resources. The study reported relates to an innovative new product development and the associated challenges faced by an entrepreneurial business operation. Olde Manse, a company located in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, received a contract to develop, produce and deliver an innovative product called the Hexopater TM . Along the route of development through delivery: critical business drivers were recognized; benefits of Group Technology were realized; the concept of Lean Thinking including the 5 ‘S’s (Sort, Shine, Set in order, Standardize, and Sustain) was examined and utilized; and finally the Hexopater TM was delivered to the customer on time. Special emphasis was placed on: designing a product to reduce the impact on the environment; designing to eliminate manufacturing defects; and writing specifications, even if they were only best guesses at the time, to help to avoid misunderstandings later. This innovative product development exercise emphasized that Lean Thinking may be effective because of employee involvement and management attention, and was not anything magical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes an empirical look into industrial design in process and metal industries. The data are based on a case study of an industrial design pilot project at a company that is a market leader in mineral processing systems. In the paper, the overall structure of the project is outlined and aspects of design work are addressed through detailed analysis of interactions between the participants. In addition, the role of visualizations and the nature of design problems are examined. The conclusions of the paper include implications for the organization of industrial design projects. In addition, general notes are made about the nature of industrial design within the company—and technology intensive areas in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]