Knowledge Intensive Collaborative Decision Support for Design Process

Engineering design is essentially a collaborative decision-making process that requires rigorous evaluation, comparison and selection of design alternatives and optimization from a global perspective on the basis of different classes of design criteria. Increasing design knowledge and supporting designers to make right and intelligent decisions can achieve the improvement of the design and design efficiency. This paper develops a knowledge-based decision support model and framework that can be extensively applied for an engineering system, which allows for the seamless / smooth integration of collaborative product development with optimal product performance. The developed hybrid robust design decision support model quantitatively incorporates qualitative design knowledge and preferences of multiple, conflicting attributes stored in a knowledge repository so that a better understanding of the consequences of design decisions can be achieved from an overall perspective. Two new concepts and mechanisms, transforming bridge and regulatory switch, are introduced in integration of decision support models. The results of this work provide a framework for an efficient decision support environment involving distributed resources to shorten the realization of products with optimal life-cycle performance and competitiveness. The developed methodology and framework are generic and flexible enough to be used in a variety of decision problems. Case application and studies for concept evaluation and selection in design for mass customization are provided.