Creativity is required in engineering design. It is required in the aspects of problem-solving - conceptualizing a new solution to a problem, and problem-exploring - conceptualizing a new problem. Studies show that, in both aspects, creativity is a difficult task in practice. The aim of this study is to support the engineering design community by easing the difficulty in the problem-exploring practice. To achieve this, a computational problem-exploring (CPE) model is developed to mimic how design engineers identify a valid design problem. Consequently, a CPE tool - Pro-Explora V1 is developed based on the CPE model. The CPE model consists of a synergy of emergent computational technologies including data retrieval and machine learning. A Markovian model is employed in the CPE model to enable a data-driven random process for exploring design problems. In pilot test, Pro-Explora V1 generated some engineering design-related problems which are meaningful, unique, and could not be distinguished from naturally generated ones. It provides support to design engineers in problem-exploring at the early stage in engineering design. This study contributes to the global effort towards data-driven processes in the fourth industrial revolution.

Presented is an approach to support margin allocation and management via a graph-theoretical network of assumptions. In contrast to the document-centric approach, the network captures assumptions dependencies, and enables an algorithmic process supporting margin allocation and management. Ultimately, this methodology is intended to assist decision-makers in managing assumptions and examining their impact on an architecture. Explicitly linking margins to assumptions allows to support mitigating their risk of invalidity. The approach is demonstrated with a conceptual aircraft design example.

The industry is currently changing rapidly. Both customers and employees are focusing much more on their own needs. On the one hand, this requires individualized products and, on the other hand, development processes need to be aligned not only more efficiently but also more closely to the needs of employees. Agile development combines these two characteristics and the second point can be further improved through analyses for collaboration. This is not only necessary for consumer products, but also in medical technology, more and more individualized solutions are required to better help patients. This is also the case with the examination of cells using micro titer plates, which is the subject of this project. Due to the interaction of research activities both on the process and on the product side, this paper presents research results regarding agile product development and collaboration analysis of physical products on the one hand and research results regarding additive and biocompatible production of microtitration plates on the other hand.

Product-service/systems (PSS) have been projected to be a potential solution to address overconsumption and to enable an enhanced sustainability performance. However, PSS do not always live up to their potential benefits, due to unintended changes in consumer behaviour. This study aims at investigating existing methods and tools to develop sustainable behaviour within PSS, alongside potential barriers and success factors. Based on a systematic literature review, a total of 46 methods to achieve sustainable behaviour were collected and analysed, and further discussed on the basis of the identified success factors and barriers.

A workflow for the design process of technological products was derived from a model that describes the interplay of lightweight design principles in the human locomotive system. This workflow is not yet ready to be used. In this paper, starting points for new research with the goal to enable the use of the workflow are discussed. Using the interplay of lightweight design principles of the human body in technical applications is approached because it is claimed that the interplay leads to an additional reduction of mass. This was proven for a technological system in a previous study. This study lead to a workflow to consider the interplay of the principles in the design process of the technological system. In this paper, the essential parts of this workflow are described in an abstract diagram as a calculation workflow. Subsequently, inputs and outputs of the workflow are identified. Then, the calculation workflow is integrated into the process of design. Afterwards, it is discussed that tension chording, which is one of the lightweight design principles, needs further investigation, because the interplay of the principles can only be used if the principles themselves are used.

Design aesthetics are one of the most important factors affecting the attractiveness of industrial products. Psychological theory suggests that a moderate level of novelty and complexity yields pleasant feelings in users. A design that is initially surprising to consumers and acceptable over time requires aesthetic interest associated with its novelty and complexity. In this study, we formulated the perceived novelty and complexity of a closed contour shape. Based on this formulation, we developed “Hybrid-GAN,” which is a shape-generation system capable of generating a variety of shapes of arbitrary novelty and complexity. In a series of experiment, we obtained subjective evaluations of novelty and complexity, as well as beauty and interest, for the generated shape samples. The results indicated that our novelty and complexity formulations had significant positive correlations with subjective evaluations. The sum of the formulated novelty and complexity also had a significant positive correlation with interest. The results of this study are expected to be used to support the design of attractive shapes by providing feedback to designers regarding the degrees of novelty and complexity that users find most pleasant.

An essential part of any space in which physical prototyping and prototype-driven product development is being conducted is the education of its users in the necessary skills to fully utilise the material resources of the space. This paper describes how two different skills were transferred between five projects in our research laboratory, TrollLABS. Based on the observed skill-transfers in the production of PCBs and use of RF-communication in mechatronics projects certain tendencies emerged: How the use of forced vocal experience sharing; And in-person transferring of skills has impacted the acquired skills of the learner. The observations further show that through the guidance of a more experienced user the learner is able to make “skill-jumps”: Intermediate skill steps, as well as underlying detailed knowledge, are skipped and the learner is able to reach a high skill level in a shorter time than the original acquirer of the skill. Furthermore, skills are retained in the space through cross-generational collaboration and communication. This article aims to share these insights and provide a starting point for answering some of the challenges of modern maker spaces.

For more than two decades, mobile phone industry has shown that innovation is not only functional optimization and combination but can also be a "functional expansion”. Sometimes called radical or disruptive innovation, this phenomenon leads to the development of new method for engineers and designers. However, the intensity remains undemonstrated: is functional expansion a rare phenomenon (few products during very short periods of time) – or is it an intense phenomenon, that even might have accelerated in the last decades? To answer these questions, the paper overcomes two main obstacles: how to measure functional expansion? And what would be a law of functional expansion, that would enable to test the importance and newness of the phenomena? Building on recent advances on the measurement of innovation and on new computational models of design derived from most advanced design theories, this paper presents unique data on functional expansion of 8 consumer products and tests that functional expansion significantly accelerated in the mid 1990s. The paper confirms quantitatively that our societies are now in a new design regime, a regime of innovative design.

Similitude theory helps engineers to investigate system properties and behaviour with scaling methods. The application of such methods reduces the time for product development and production of prototypes. With increasing component size, the impact of size effects and nonlinear phenomena becomes more important in reduced scale model testing. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the scaling methods and their applicability with regard to size effects and nonlinear phenomena as well as a procedure to support the selection of a suitable method for the scaling task of structures.

To implement circular economy, manufacturers will need to develop new business models. Available approaches are granular, generic, infrequently focusing on advice or implementation, and lacking practical demonstration. This article presents how a tool was proposed to cover these gaps. Based on design research methodology, twenty-two conceptual and practical requirements were identified and translated in functions for the development of the Circular Economy Business Model Configurator, a tool that supports manufacturers in strengthening proposals of business models for circular economy.

The early (pre-requirement) stages of product development can provide relevant insights into the creative design process. At these stages, the communication of ideas during the prototyping process can serve as a rich source for information. In this paper, we attempt to document physical prototypes generated during the design process. We describe the design and preliminary testing of Protobooth Oulu: a system that can be used for documenting the process of prototyping products through capturing process output 'snapshots' in time at the early stages of product development. Our primary motivation is to facilitate documentation and reflection from an educational perspective. We tested the system during a course on digital fabrication in a FabLab environment, where ten teams documented their coursework over the course of six weeks. Managing to capture prototypes over time, analysis of the captured data showed evolution and major changes in the prototypes. Such data can be used for understanding the process of prototyping and consequently provide means to improve prototype and overall creative performance. We outline a future Protobooth system in terms of functionality.

For the user perception of vehicles and consequently the success of automobile design, the body layout and especially the proportions of vehicles are pivotal. In the present study, the SAE main dimensions length (L108), wheelbase (L101), height (H100) and width (W103) of 697 vehicles from different OEMs were examined. The analysis reveals a tendency of increasing length, wheelbase and especially width of vehicles in recent years. Regarding the ratios of these dimensions there are clear correlations, as revealed by an analysis with linear regression. We find particular strong synchrony in the increases of the pairs W103 - L108 and L101 - L108 and lesser so between the ratio E = L108/L101 and the vehicle length. The latter can be explained by vehicles with a high L108 being less compact, i.e. the proportion E increases. Finally, it is discussed whether technological changes lead to revolutionary or evolutionary changes in dimensions. The historical development and the moderate proportional changes of BEVs indicate a measurable but evolutionary development. In contrast, disruptive technologies such as automated driving can significantly change the vehicle layout and thus encourage a more revolutionary change in proportions.

To enhance the success of innovations, various methods for foresight have been developed. Automatization yields the potential of shifting effort away from the process to the actual in-depth analysis of resulting scenarios in scenario-technique. Within this paper, an approach based on a user-specific classification of input factors (consistency values) is presented. Generic consistency patterns used for a semi-automatized consistency assessment based on artificial neural networks are identified using a case study approach. Hereby, the effort for scenario-technique can be reduced significantly.

The objectives and scope of a construction project is defined in the early design stage, the fuzzy front-end. This stage is crucial for project risk management and success, but traditional risk management tend to focus on operational risk in later design stages. This action research study leverages co-design methodology and the project management actuality perspective to tailor a risk management process for the fuzzy front-end of construction projects in a large client organization. The co-design process help enchance stakeholder value perception of the designed solution.

This is a qualitative single case study of a geographically distributed student team that experienced a quite different graduate course, compared to previous year's. This was due to the restrictions placed upon them following coronavirus lockdowns. With already ongoing research, and continuous development of the course, the authors had documented individual reflections and identified patterns and behaviours that seemingly determined the quality of the end result, as well as the students expectations and experiences. Semi-structured interviews, surveys and the author's individual reflection notes were already in place as part of the larger research scope and when the student team during the covid-19 year showed unexpected performance and results, the authors decided to pause the larger research scope and focus on this unique single case and capture those learnings. Not knowing how the Covid-19 situation evolves and leaning on insights from previous years, as well as this unique year, the aim with this paper is to describe the unique Covid-19 year amd share knowledge that can help improve and evolve the development of this longlived collaborative graduate student course, and other similar distributed team contexts.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has traditionally been used for prototyping of products, however, in the last few decades, it has seen a rising growth in the manufacture of final products. The addition of AM as a manufacturing method in the portfolio of a company's production capabilities increases the complexity of decision-making. This is because the decisions are often not based on the same criteria and constraints, as related to conventional manufacturing processes. In this paper, we investigate this challenge by studying how AM affects the current workflow and the associated information flow for a design-make process in a Swedish manufacturer before and after the integration of AM. In this paper, it is argued that apart from an understanding of how to design for AM, it is equally important to consider how introducing AM alters the existing information flow and how to benefit from information available in various design-make process steps to facilitate decision making process. The result clarifies that the current process relies largely on tacit and experiences-based knowledge, whereas to take advantage of AM, more precision is required to capture and process the available information.

Integrated Natural Resource Conservation and Development (INRCD) Projects are efforts at worldwide locations to promote economic development of local communities consistent with conservation of natural resources. This umbrella term includes Integration Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) introduced by the World Wide Fund to combine social development and conservation s through the use of socio-economic investments, and the Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) research and development efforts that have employed a systems approach for quantitative modeling and optimization. In the spirit of the INRCD framework, we describe the development of a system-level agriculture and energy model comprising engineering and economic models for crop, irrigation, and energy subsystem designs for a community in Central Uganda. The model architecture is modular allowing modifications for different system configurations and project locations. We include some initial results and discuss next steps for system optimization, refining model assumptions, and modeling community social benefits as drivers of such projects.

The consideration of manufacturing in design is still a challenge for design engineers. This paper presents the results of an interview study, conducted with 15 participants. 4 challenges are identified in this study: Manufacturing-specific knowledge is mostly not sufficient. The design of manufacturing-oriented concepts in terms of costs is difficult. The feasibility of manufacturing is not assessed. The dimension of cost drivers is unknown, hindering optimisation in early stages of design. Based on these results the need for further research emerges regarding the impact of these challenges.

To pursue business innovation with PSS, many different PSS concepts are designed and evaluated. Various business models of a PSS design concept are devised and evaluated as well. Evaluation of the economic sustainability of PSS business models is critical. This paper presents a systematic method to evaluate the economic sustainability of PSS business models using a system dynamics modelling template. System dynamics modelling task is challenging for practitioners due to the variety of variables comprising business model strategies and their complex interrelationships. To enable the modelling task, a system dynamics modelling template composed of six modules of customer acquisition, channel acquisition, profit creation, resource acquisition, PSS provision, and partnership pattern has been devised. The PSS business model evaluation method has been illustrated using a smart study experience management service system design case to demonstrate the proposed system dynamics modelling template can reflect the case-specific business model which consists of the particular business model strategies.

This paper discusses the issues involved with creating a Tangible Augmented Reality representation of a product so that it can be effectively and validly used to support the product design process. The development of a TAR representation entails building the physical model of the product, a digital model of the product, and developing interactions between the digital and physical representations. Different products have different user interactions, which makes developing TAR representation for products challenging since a new interaction needs to be mimicked. Challenges of developing TAR representations are discussed by investigating TAR representations of four consumer products: a space heater, a MP3 player, an electric can opener, and a seat assist cushion. The goal of TAR representations is to not only communicate the functionality of a product but also to improve the time efficiency of prototyping of physical products. Hence, having a good understanding of the user interactions that need to be developed and planning the representation for construction in the modeling software and AR software is crucial to making the process of developing a TAR representation efficient.