Stakeholders consider aesthetics and sustainability as important aspects of over-the-counter pharmaceutical (OTCP) packaging, and studies show that their interests should be represented more. To address this, a framework which supports designers to develop aesthetically pleasing sustainable OTCP packaging was generated, keeping at its core the stakeholders. The requirements were identified, leading to the architecture development and implementation in a prototype tool. Results provide a degree of evidence that the framework contributes to a user-centred design approach for OTCP packaging.

This paper presents five industrial cases where design automation (DA) systems supported by design optimization has been developed, and aims to summarize the lesson learned and identify needs for future development of such projects. By mapping the challenges during development and deployment of the systems, common issues were found in technical areas such as model integration and organizational areas such as knowledge transfer. The latter can be seen as a two-layered design paradox; one for the product that the DA system is developed for, and one for the development of the DA system.

Big data provides high volume of data to inform product customisation. Understanding which data is relevant remains a challenge. A method is proposed to identify relevant data to inform data-driven customisation. A case study regarding customisation of orthoses was conducted. Verbal protocol analysis was employed to extract time spent on major fabrication phases. Data related to patients, therapists and fabrication time was analysed. Results showed that the number of stabilised joints, experience of therapists and whether the design is for in- or out-patient are key factors for customisation.

As the complexity of products and their development processes increases, a trend emerged where companies try to manage the complexity through implementing agile practices on all or on some levels of the development process. It is not yet clear if an agile approach is the solution or under which circumstances it can be most effective in the development of physical products. This paper aims to compile the information from existing empirical and meta-studies to give an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of conventional, agile and hybrid paradigms.

Amputees face challenges with prosthesis such as cost, long delivery periods, as well as social discomfort. Simultaneously, the prosthetists and manufacturers have a difficulty to handle such diverse issues. We thus contribute a Prosthetic Life-Cycle Service System (ProLiSS) Framework, prescribed to involve amputees in different life phases. From an evaluation of ProLiSS, we conclude that it influences how prosthetics need to be designed and that it is beneficial to perform further research to provide manufacturers with a systematic, amputee-centered development and servicing framework.

The manual execution of failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is time-consuming and error-prone. This article presents an approach in which large language models (LLMs) are integrated into FMEA. LLMs improve and accelerate FMEA with human in the loop. The discussion looks at software tools for FMEA and emphasizes that the tools must be tailored to the needs of the company. Our framework combines data collection, pre-processing and reliability assessment to automate FMEA. A case study validates this framework and demonstrates its efficiency and accuracy compared to manual FMEA.

The automotive community has found to design and test autonomous systems, traditional CAE tools are not enough. The number of sensors and controls involved makes it very difficult to predict all the possible scenarios and system reactions to them. An approach to provide input to all the sensors and control systems is to use gaming engines. They are used “headless”, and in other cases with multiple users in the environment. In this paper we will highlight one case on how they are changing how the Army designs, tests, and sets requirements for autonomous ground systems.

In times of ‘grand challenges’, design theorists dealing with complex systems are facing a dilemma: grand challenges require rule breaking, but they also require the preservation, as much as possible, of existing resources, systems, know-how and societal values. Design for transition calls not for ‘creative destruction’, but for ‘creative preservation’. How do we model a design process that involves ‘creative preservation’?

Today, it is recognized that category/topos theory provides a solid foundation for modelling complex systems and their evolution in design processes. Category theory can account for a design process inside a given ‘theory of the object’, while topos theory and design theory can account for the phenomena whereby a design process is innovative to preserve the knowledge structure. At the heart of this creative preservation is sheafification.

In this study, we analyse the sheafification process using design theory. First, we characterize sheafification from a design perspective. Next, we propose a very simple illustration involving the sheafification of an ordinal 2 category presheaf. Finally, we show how sheafification can be used to enable ‘creative preservation’ in specific complex systems.

Increased system robustness is one of the promises of modularity. However, research on the topic has provided conflicting findings. By generating more than 2000 system architectures, this paper shows that the relation between modularity and robustness is multifaceted: Modularity decreases topological robustness, increases robustness to change propagation, and provides economic benefits. Results here confirm the importance of modularity, enable reconciliation of opposing findings from prior research, and guides researchers and practitioners in the selection of appropriate robustness measures.

The development of product-service systems (PSS) requires the design of value propositions, which involves challenging activities. In the context of business model innovation, gamification is presented as a practical mechanism to support the design process. This study aims to create a prototype of a gamified approach to design PSS value propositions and to compare its application to a traditional design approach. Based on a design experiment, the advantages and problems for both approaches were evaluated, providing insights for further development of the new version of the gamified approach.

A data analysis method aiming to support cause and effect analysis in design exploration studies is presented. The method clusters and aggregates effects of multiple design variables based on the structural hierarchy of the evaluated system. The resulting dataset is intended as input to a visualization construct based on colour-coding CAD models. The proposed method is exemplified in a case study showing that the predictive capability of the created, clustered, dataset is comparable to the original, unmodified, one.

In parallel with the industry 4.0 revolution, customers’ demand and number of product requirements are increasing, inducing increased product variability. System complexity is growing with the new technologies and system architectures. Hence, maintaining a system consistent and in the desired state becomes crucial. This paper tackles two problems: a product's variability and its temporal evolution. Regarding variability, Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methods and Product Line Engineering (PLE) techniques become essential to configuring products by selecting and arranging features in a combination. In parallel, versioning and temporal evolution are managed with the configuration management (CM) principles. A versioned feature model (FM) is proposed. In PLE methodology, the first step is to model variability through traditional FM. This research presents an extension of the FM by integrating CM into it. The versioned FM includes not only features’ variants but also their versions, making it evolve in time. This work is presented as a base for a work that will study the application of CM for PLE. This study is done in an automotive industry context at Renault Group, and the model proposed is applied to Renault's systems.

Process modelling (PM) is used to support designers by providing guidance on what needs to be done. Change processes in development organizations accompany introduction of new procedures, new methods (also digital form), tools that have to integrated into existing processes. Objective of this paper is to provide guidance to designers in selecting the appropriate PM language to support structured changes in processes. Requirements are derived from frequent change needs in SME and a PM morphology is provided assisting the selection and use of suitable PM languages for change processes.

A Contradiction Matrix of TRIZ that classifies problems to solve as contradictions of features is an effective framework of knowledge management for problem solving. The features, however, may have a problem of completeness because they may not cover contradictions about all physical phenomena. In addition, rigidly structured Contradiction Matrix may have a problem of searchability because a relevant contradiction may not be properly searched if a recorder and a retriever describe it differently. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a semistructured contradiction matrix using not TRIZ features but physical quantities in SI unit. To enable not only exact match but also partial match in searching for relevant contradictions, dimensional similarity and qualitative value similarity of physical quantity and similarity between contradictions are defined. The proposed method is implemented as software in Python and contradictions are described in XML and stored in a semistructured matrix. From the result of similarity calculation between stored contradictions, possible effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed.

A new design methodology for long life and large size (Ll-Ls) products called Design for Installation (DfI) is proposed. Ll-Ls products are usually made up of large parts that need to be assembled on field. The proposed methodology, based on adapted Design Structure Matrix (DSM) and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) methods, enables to optimize the design of a Ll-Ls product in order to reduce time and cost of the installation process. The new methodology works with a conceptual design of the product and the weight and size restrictions given by logistic factors as inputs.

The product engineering process as part of the product life cycle includes product and production system development as well as production. In integrated product and production engineering (PPE), knowledge transfer is an important success factor. Optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge transfers can, for example, support the avoidance of costly, production-related changes to the product design. The current state of research describes different models of knowledge transfer as well as factors that influence it. Some results show how the speed and quality of knowledge transfer can be improved by implementing so-called interventions. However, those models either represent abstract contexts of knowledge transfer or focus only on product engineering. Therefore, a literature analysis is conducted to identify the system of objectives for a method, that supports the improvement of knowledge transfer in PPE. Subsequently, the system of objectives is operationalized to provide the basis for the InKTI – Interdepartmental Knowledge Transfer Improvement Method, which is applicable, supports the user in improving knowledge transfers in PPE, and aims to increase the quality and speed of knowledge transfers.

Hierarchies of knowledge represent a popular formalism for conceptualizing beliefs, justifications, and truth statements. To capitalize on the opportunity for formulating effective maps of design knowledge, this article introduces the hierarchical context–design development–high-level (CDH) model that stratifies different bodies of design-specific knowledge into ranked levels. We compare it with existing hierarchical models of knowledge, and describe its unique uses and benefits for both design research and design practice.

Currently systems grow in complexity and more aspects, such as socio-technical aspects or the obligation to produce proof become more important. Both require a safety analysis on the system level early in the design process. System overview is provided by MBSE, while safety analysis is provided for example by FMEA. Both processes are executed organizationally and timely separated from each other. This research proposes a concept and a tool integration at the concept design phase, during system definition and functional decomposition and evaluates the effect and its potential applicability.

The maintenance of an industrial plant is mainly based on analogue and manual methods and processes. In the future, the maintenance data of the real object should be determined digital and transferred to a PDM system in real time. This is made possible with a digital method of component identification. This publication presents a system-based component identification using Mixed Reality. Coordinates are determined by the terminal device and compared with a reference structure. After successful identification, maintenance data can be determined and automatically transferred to a PDM System.

This paper proposes an analytical framework for estimating the domain where a type of technology can be used in a system. In order to achieve this aim, we have elaborated on the concepts of technology critical, technology sensitive, and the technology comfort zone, to analytically assess the impact of a new technology in the early phases of system design. The result is a general method to indicate the range of requirements that can result in valid designs. This tool can assist in the decision-making processes for technology portfolio selection based on sustainable principles.