The modular lightweight design attempts to reconcile the partially conflicting goals between modularization and lightweight design in order to establish a harmonized modular hybrid design. This requires a close exchange of the resulting development data between the two areas. In this contribution a concept for an interface for the data exchange between system models and FEM models is presented and successfully implemented in the Cameo Systems Modeler and applied to examples from the aircraft cabin. With the interface the homogenization step of modular lightweight design can be performed.

Breakthrough technologies introduce a radically new capability or a drastic performance improvement. However, the existing engineering design literature does not specifically pay attention to them. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for breakthrough technologies, aiming for a more detailed characterization of breakthrough technologies. First, based on a literature survey, we reflect on the relationship between breakthrough technology and innovation. In addition, we explore the relationship between breakthrough technologies at the component and system level. Next, we propose a conceptual framework with dimensions in which breakthroughs may occur and the corresponding expansion of concepts and knowledge, drawing from C-K theory. We subsequently apply the framework to the case of a laser sail-propelled interstellar probe. We conclude that the relationship between component and system-level breakthrough technologies requires further exploration. Furthermore, the coupling between the breakthrough technology and market breakthrough in the form of a new business model seems interesting for future work.

Lightweight potential is a powerful indicator – but not as powerful as it could be. Current methods for analyzing a product's potential to be reduced in mass only deal with a few of the most important criteria for lightweight design. This paper presents an approach transferring cost-benefit analysis to the holistic derivation of lightweight potential. The approach is able to deal with different types of criteria supporting the designer in indentifying the most promising components for mass reduction. An evaluation example is given showcasing a tooling machine.

In product family design, the commonality of products and performance are competing objectives when designers build platforms. The commonality makes it efficient to manufacture products while it will cause performance loss of products. In this paper, we assume that performance functions evaluate the performance of a product. Targets of performance functions are set for each product depending on the product's property. The designs that satisfy the target of performance functions are denoted as ‘good’ design points. By using ‘good’ design points, a weighted set cover problem (WSC) is applied to formulate the combinatorial optimization problem, which maximizes the commonality by minimizing the number component attributes. A recursive greedy algorithm is proposed to handle the general cost function in the problem for product family design. The formulation and the algorithm are tested for a linear three-degree-of-freedom (3DOF) model. In numerical experiment, the proposed method determines optimal values of the components which are suspensions, stabilizer bars, and tires in the vehicle model.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the challenges in the servitization journey of product-centric firms from an ecosystem perspective, considering both intra-firm and inter-firm levels. Prior research addresses the challenges of servitization in many sectors from different perspectives. However, the majority of studies primarily focus on the provider of an offering. There is a lack of in-depth studies on analysing servitization challenges from the broader set of network actors including customers, suppliers, and sub-suppliers at the intra-firm and inter-firm levels. A multiple case study method was used to analyse five product-centric firms from different industries that were engaged in servitization. At intra- firm level, our analysis shows that ‘coordination’ is a major challenge for the provider, supplier, and sub-suppliers, and that ‘uncertainty’ and ‘risk’ is a major challenge for the provider, customer, and supplier. At inter-firm level, ‘partnership management’ found to be a most significant challenge for provider, customer, supplier, and sub-suppliers. The study contributes to the discussion of the relational view approach for servitization research.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has a large potential to revolutionize the manufacturing industry, yet the printing parameters and part design have a profound impact on the robustness of the printing process as well as the resulting quality of the manufactured components. To control the printing process, a substantial number of parameters is measured while printing and used primarily to control and adjust the printing process in-situ. The question raised in this paper is how to benefit from these data being gathered to gain insight into the print process stability. The case study performed included the analysis of data gathered during printing 22 components. The analysis was performed with a widely used Random Forest Classifier. The study revealed that the data did contain some detectable patterns that can be used further in assessing the quality of the printed component, however, they were distinct enough so that in case the test and train sets were comprised of separate components the predictions’ result was very poor. The study gives a good understanding of what is necessary to do a meaningful analytics study of manufacturing data from a design perspective.

Engineering design methods are typically evaluated via case studies, surveys, and experiments. Meanwhile, domains such as the health sciences as well as software engineering have developed further powerful evaluation approaches. The objective of this paper is to show how evaluation approaches from the health sciences and software engineering might further the evaluation of engineering design methods. We survey these approaches and show which approaches could be transferred to the evaluation of engineering design methods.

This research proposes a group model building workshop method that uses causal loop diagrams to foster capabilities for sustainable product development based on feedback and observations from several cases. The method's potential to enhance sustainability system thinking skills and to identify relationships between sustainability criteria and traditionally identified requirements is evaluated. The method can trigger discussion, visualize complexity and dependencies of sustainable design problems. Other application areas are e.g., sustainability training for practicing engineers and students.

Studies of design activity have been dominantly reporting on different aspects of the design process, rather than the content of designing. The aim of the presented research has been the development and application of an approach for a fine-grain analysis of the design content communicated between designers during the team conceptual design activities. The proposed approach builds on an engineering design ontology as a foundation for the content categorisation. Two teams have been studied using the protocol analysis method. The coded protocols offered fine-grain descriptions of the content communicated at different points in the design session and enabled comparison of teams’ approaches and deriving some generalisable findings. For example, it has been shown that both teams focused primarily on the use of the developed product and the operands within the technical process, in order to generate new technical solutions and initial component design. Moreover, teams exhibit progress from abstract to concrete solutions as the sessions proceeded and focused on the functional requirements towards the end of the sessions.

Digital artefacts call for new design challenges: they enable services, technology-driven and multidisciplinary never ended processes, uncouple form-function, in a social relationship that must be ecosystem-framed. Then, the usual design mindset is not proper and expected vs unexpected outcomes must be equally studied. A framework of methods, in view of the usual design variables and the new ones called by design of smart objects, is here offered. From that the seeds for the future aid to the design process of smart objects result. Then, Objectomy and one real application case are described.

Crucial in the design process, Technology Readiness Levels are a common form of technology maturity assessment. Studies suggest that the TRL scale can be subjective and biased. Automating the assessment can reduce human bias. This paper highlights important challenges of automation by presenting data collected on 15 technologies from the nanotechnology sector. Our findings show that, contrary to claims from the literature, patent data exists for low maturity technologies and may be useful for automation. We also found that there exists unexpected trends in data publications at TRL 2, 3 and 4.

Additive Manufacturing is doing its first steps in the production of spare parts. Usually the spares belong to legacy systems, and the tooling to produce them is no longer available. Re-designing spares that are designed for a previous industry mindset can be sometimes challenging. In this study a rather classic design approach is compared to a functional driven approach. Four case studies from different clients are reported, remarking the benefits and drawbacks of using design for additive manufacturing practices in Laser Powder Bed Fusion.

This paper addresses the problem of finding a robust optimal design when uncertain parameters in the form of crisp or interval sets are present in the optimization. Furthermore, in order to make the approach as general as possible, direct search methods with the help of sensitivity analysis techniques are employed to optimize the design. Consequently, the presented approach is suitable for black box models for which no, or very little, information of the equations governing the model is available. The design of an electric drivetrain is used to illustrate the benefits of the proposed method.

Engineering design in new product development is a constant battle between creativity and strict structure. As researchers look to optimize the process, each stage is placed under a microscope to put designers in the best position to develop better products for companies in a cost effective manner. One idea in improving product development is the concept of incorporating the Human-centered Design into functional analysis. However, critiques of these functional analysis methods cite an unnecessary amount of resources needed to invest in these steps, a restriction in creativity, and a high necessary level of effort from the design teams. The goal of this research will be to address these critiques by incorporating theories from cognitive research and Human-centered Design into the functional analysis process. This work will propose a new method aimed to improve the quality of the function model of the design space, increase the creativity freedom of the designers, and be accessible to engineering students and industry engineers alike.

This paper proposes that safety footwear manufacture shifts towards a sustainable Product-Service System (PSS). The PSS consists of seven stages from identification of requirements through to disposal or replacement. Through this, designers and manufacturers can realise safety footwear that is customised to end user sizing, function, industry and aesthetic requirements. For end users, this PSS leads to the creation of more comfortable and practicable footwear, addressing the underlying level of acceptance of uncomfortable safety footwear, reducing waste and providing sex specific offerings.

There is a growing interest in design research to explore sustainable consumption via products that are cherished as they age. This paper presents an empirical study exploring the influence of patina (signs of surface aging) on consumers’ willingness to discard products and aesthetic appreciation. Results show participants are predisposed to discard everyday products regardless aesthetic qualities (patina). This implies designers should look beyond the presence of pure aesthetic qualities of aging and emphasise symbolic qualities of aging to stimulate appreciation as products age.

One difficulty with sketching pedagogy is the tendency to assess growth according to outcomes, as opposed to processes. We assessed eye gaze patterns between advanced and intermediate design sketchers and anticipated correlations between eye-gaze practices and sketching proficiency. Participants sketched two different objects using analogue materials, a potted plant from memory, and a MacBook from observation.

The study utilised Tobii 3 adjustable eye-tracking glasses and Tobii Pro data processing software. Twenty-five design sketching students and six design sketching instructors participated in the study.

Metrics measured include the quantity of reference line gazes, eye movement during line creation (targeting vs tracking), eye fixation duration, work checks per minute and subject gazes per minute.

The results show a difference in gaze patterns between intermediate and advanced sketchers, both in terms of practice and consistency. Eye-tracking sketching behaviours has revealed a new understanding of how teaching gaze habits could lead to improved methods of design sketching instruction.

This paper provides a preliminary assessment of the literature available in the field of External Technology Searching. Many methods exist to enable companies to take advantage of new technologies and apply them to achieve a competitive advantage. This literature review focuses on reducing complexity and providing clarity related to the numerous different terms and methodologies used throughout the literature. The main methods found in the literature include: Technology Foresight, Technology Forecasting, Technology Intelligence, and Technology Scouting. However, many additional terms have also been used to describe similar strategies, leading to inconsistency in the use of the terms, resulting in confusion and missed opportunities to innovate for those trying to navigate the field. Synthesis of the results assists in clarifying the differences and conflicts in the literature between the numerous terms. The results serve to display the state of the art on the field and present a basis for further research.

The digitalization of the Industry is one of the megatrends taking place, but many companies struggle to follow this trend. The main reason is the absence of simple solutions for the integration of sensory functions, which are applicable to the existing system. Therefore, this paper discusses the aspects of simplicity in the context of integrating sensory functions into existing systems, to support the development of digitalized products.

Two general requirements can be formulated for a solution to be applicable simple: The first requirement is affected by the product structure. The solution must affect the least possible amount of modules and must not interfere with the interfaces of the modular platform. The second requirement is affected by the effort to model the behaviour of the desired information and the possible data a sensory function is delivering. The effort to develop a reliable solution has to be compared with the commercial potential of the solution.

To consider the mentioned requirements, the paper explains three approaches to assess the simplicity of solutions on an example of the desired monitoring of the functions of a rotary plug valve.

To design a more robust artifact, an artifact design based on a design rationale analysis is pivotal. Errors in previous design rationales that led to the degradation of artifact robustness in the past provide valuable knowledge towards improving the robust design. However, methods for exposing and analysing errors in design rationale remain unclear. This paper proposes a structured method for a design rationale analysis based on logical structuring. This method provides a well-constructed means of identifying and analysing errors in design rationale from the perspective of knowledge operation.