This paper presents the work we carried out to investigate how to optimize the processes of development of complex products by incorporating finite elements analysis (FEA) and simulation as a design concepts analysis and optimization technique. As a case-study, the processes of development of thick film heater (TFH) subassemblies in a selected TFHs supplying company were explored. The principal challenges we dealt with were twofold, namely: (1) how to optimize the processes of development of TFH subassemblies through FEA and simulation, and (2) how to sync and optimize the TFHs supplying company’s and the original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM’s) development processes. ANalysis SYStem (ANSYS) was used as the FEA and simulation application in this case-study. An empirical study on how some previously executed practical TFHs development processes unfolded was carried out. Practical TFHs design and optimization tasks were analyzed, and a suitable workflow scheme was subsequently created, and its feasibility investigated. The derived workflow scheme is generic in the sense that it accommodates a wide range of FEA and simulation applications, and its applicability is not confined to the processes of development of TFH bassemblies only. The significance of the reported work also lies in the realization of a systematic approach for selecting FEA and simulation application whilst taking into consideration technical, business, and social factors. The overall benefits for a company resorting to using the derived workflow scheme to optimize its product development process include competitive advantage over its competitors, high-quality products at a lower development cost, and more flexibility for its customers.@en

Facilitating data analytics for effective prediction in complex products or systems development is the focus of the research described in this paper. The specific objective was to develop strategies and a data analytics pipeline with a view to supporting exploration of the design space of complex products or systems upfront. The underlying challenges tackled included how to acquire and store raw data gathered by using both the traditional methods and advanced Internet of Things (IoT) devices, how to preprocess and transform raw data into a form suited for data analytics, and how to deal with analytics. A pipeline for data analytics to support decision making in complex products or systems development is proposed and its applicability illustrated with a practical example. The incorporation of advanced analytics techniques into the proposed pipeline allows users to acquire data and to insightfully and intelligently predict aspects such as cost and assembly time early on, and to make decisions based on data that may otherwise deemed to be inaccessible or unusable. This work contributes to the efforts directed toward applying data analytics techniques in a way that can have a profound impact on an engineering product or system development process.@en

The primary challenge underscored and dealt with was how to represent the product’s or system’s use environment and processes and to communicate ideas and envisaged use contexts effectively at the fuzzy-front early stages of the design process. The work focused specifically on complex products or systems with physical, software and/or cyber components, and the question was how to represent, e.g., the operations of the product or system and the interactions between the user and the product or system betimes in the period between when an opportunity for a new product or system is first considered, and when the idea is judged to be ready to enter formal development. Several approaches are currently being used to express and to communicate ideas at the conceptualization, embodiment, and detail design stages of the design process, but none of them address the challenge described above. We therefore adapted and extended the abstract prototyping concept to allow for total representation of ideas, as well as of use environments and processes early on. Extended abstract prototyping (Ext-AP) entails using combinations of low and high-fidelity prototyping techniques to create cognitive virtual representations, which represent and help designers to express ideas and use contexts—namely, what complex product or system would be like, and how its users would interact with it. Real-world product development case studies have been used to demonstrate how the Ext-AP technique can be put into practice. One of the main observations from the application case studies is that the Ext-AP technique enabled the subjects to express ideas and use contexts more effectively early on. In addition, the extended abstract prototypes (Ext-APs) offered a low cost, yet effective solution for expressing ideas, representing concepts and using contexts, and allowed the subjects to think divergently, make associations, easily and quickly construct, combine, and evaluate alternatives, and work together on multiple ideas simultaneously. @en

This paper presents the findings of a study conducted to explore how structural design unfolds in industrial design engineering processes. The study focused specifically on structural design of engineering consumer products with physical constructions. The investigation conducted included questionnaire surveys, interviews, and observations. A total of 358 subjects participated in two rounds of the investigation. The study uncovered how structural design in the context of industrial design engineering progresses in practical settings and provided clues on how a formal structural design process model should be like. One of the main observations was that the subjects chose and strictly followed and adhered to their own preferred structured order of execution of structural design activities. Another cardinal observation was that, unlike analysis and concepts development activities, the structural design activities of materials selection, engineering analysis, and process selection were executed recursively and oftentimes concurrently by most of the subjects. Based on these observations and upon an analysis of the information gathered, a linearrecursive-linear (LRL) scheme for tracking, managing, and coordinating the execution of structural design activities has been formulated. Separate studies are, however, needed to investigate the validity, efficacy, and the applicability of this scheme.@en

Efficient computer support of product innovation processes has become an important issue of industrial competitiveness in the last forty years. As a consequence, there has been a growing demand for new computer-based tools and system. Various hardware, software and knowledge technologies have been used over the years as the basis of design support systems. With the appearance of network technologies, the conventional standalone workstation paradigm has been replaced by the paradigm of web-interconnected collaborative environments. Currently, the emerging and rapidly proliferating mobile and ubiquitous computing technologies create a technological push again. These technologies force us to reconsider not only the digital information processing devices and their interconnection, but also the way of obtaining, processing and communicating product design information. Many researches and laboratories are engaged with the development of novel concepts, architectures, tools and methods for next-generation design support environments. They will integrate many resources of the current collaborative design environments with pervasive computing functionality and large-scale mobility in a volatile manner. Part of the design support tools will have fixed location, but will be remotely accessible through wireless networks. Other part of the tools will be moving with the designers as portable, embedded, wearable and transferable devices, and will feature ad hoc connectivity. These not only offer new ways for aggregation, processing and presentation of design information, but also enable alternative ways of completing design activities. Our current research concentrates on three interrelated main issues: (i) studying workflow scenarios for future design support environment, (ii) investigation and integration of multiple technologies into an ad hoc interconnected heterogeneous infrastructure, and (iii) exploring efficient methods for utilizing new affordances in supporting product innovation. In this paper we report on the results of our recent technology study that analyzed the current results and trends of ubiquitous technology development, and tried to form a vision about the possible manifestation of future ubiquitous design support environments. Essentially, they have been conceptualized as ad hoc and volatile networks of fixed and mobile information collection, processing and communication units. This network functions as a complex service provider system, with special attention to the on-demand information management in the fuzzy front end of design projects.@en