The Design Productivity Debate

Over the past decade, with greater emphasis being placed upon shorter lead times, better quality products, reduced product costs, and greater customer satisfaction, the topic of Engineering Design has received increased interest from the industrial and ac ademic communities. Considerable effort has been directed at developing design process methodologies and building computer tools that focus upon relatively narrow aspects of design, but many key problems in Engineering Design research and practice remain unanswered. Resulting from the First International Engineering Design Debate held in Glasgow, UK in late 1996, this volume discusses the main issues concerning the improvement of design productivity. Covering design studies, design development, concurrent engineering and design knowledge and information, it attempts to derive a common understanding of the basic factors, problems and potential solutions involved.

Provides the reader with a review of the latest discussion in the ongoing process of Product Structuring. Even though the meeting was of academic nature, the papers include many practical examples of industrial applications.

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 The continual effort to improve performance in business processes attracts 4 increasing attention in research and industry alike. The impact of design 5 development performance on the overall business positions this area as an 6 important performance improvement opportunity. However, design devel- 7 opment is characterised by novelty, uniqueness and non-repeatability, which 8 provides particular challenges in de?ning, measuring and managing its 9 performance to achieve improvement. 2011 This book explores the support provided by both general research in busi- 1 ness process performance and design research for supporting performance 2 improvement in design development. The nature of design development in industrial practice is further revealed, and requirements for its modelling and 3 analysis to achieve improvement are highlighted. 4 A methodology for the modelling and analysis of performance in design 5 development that encapsulates a formalism of performance and an approach 6 for its analysis is established. The formalism is composed of three models, 7 which capture the nature of design development performance and support its 8 2 measurement and management. The E model formalises and relates the key 9 3011 elements of performance, i. e. , ef?ciency and effectiveness. The Design Activity 1 Management (DAM) model distinguishes design and design management 2 activities in terms of the knowledge processed, while the Performance 3 Measurement and Management (PMM) model describes how these activities 4 relate within a process of measuring and managing performance.

Modern product development means problem solving by teams in complex working environments. Thereby, the design process is influenced by factors from various fields, the task, the individual, the team, and the organisational context. This complex network of influences turns product development into a challenge with requirements for the designers aside from technical problems. This book contains the proceedings of the international symposium Designers - The Key to Successful Product Development held in Darmstadt, Germany, December 1997. During this meeting exponents from different leading research groups in engineering design came together to present and discuss their results. Within this volume different aims, issues and methods of design research are addressed in 23 contributions by different research groups. Structured in six sections according to the main fields of influence, it provides a survey of the state of scientifically-based knowledge and the trends of engineering design research on the influences leading to successful product development.

Efficient design management solutions for today's new challenges Design Management: Process and Information Issues is a collection of papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Engineering Design in Glasgow, Scotland. One of four volumes, this book highlights the newest developments in design management and the solutions that facilitate innovation. Focused on common challenges within the design process, these papers provide insight gleaned from current and ongoing work to help design and engineering teams meet the increasing demands of the modern product development environment.

vi The process is important! I learned this lesson the hard way during my previous existence working as a design engineer with PA Consulting Group's Cambridge Technology Centre. One of my earliest assignments involved the development of a piece of labo- tory automation equipment for a major European pharmaceutical manufacturer.Two things stick in my mind from those early days – first, that the equipment was always to be ready for delivery in three weeks and,second,that being able to write well structured Pascal was not sufficient to deliver reliable software performance. Delivery was ultimately six months late,the project ran some sixty percent over budget and I gained my first promotion to Senior Engineer. At the time it puzzled me that I had been unable to predict the John Clarkson real effort required to complete the automation project – I had Reader in Engineering Design, genuinely believed that the project would be finished in three Director, Cambridge Engineering weeks.It was some years later that I discovered Kenneth Cooper's Design Centre papers describing the Rework Cycle and realised that I had been the victim of “undiscovered rework”.I quickly learned that project plans were not just inaccurate,as most project managers would attest,but often grossly misleading,bearing little resemblance to actual development practice.

Maximising reader insights into the theory, models, methods and fundamental reasoning of design, this book addresses design activities in industrial settings, as well as the actors involved. This approach offers readers a new understanding of design activities and related functions, properties and dispositions. Presenting a ‘design mindset’ that seeks to empower students, researchers, and practitioners alike, it features a strong focus on how designers create new concepts to be developed into products, and how they generate new business and satisfy human needs. Employing a multi-faceted perspective, the book supplies the reader with a comprehensive worldview of design in the form of a proposed model that will empower their activities as student, researcher or practitioner. We draw the reader into the core role of design conceptualisation for society, for the development of industry, for users and buyers of products, and for citizens in relation to public systems. The book also features original contributions related to exploration, conceptualisation and product synthesis. Exploring both the power and limitations of formal design process models, methods, and tools viewed in the light of human ingenuity and cognition, the book develops a unique design mindset that adds human understanding to the list of methods and tools essential to design. This insight is distilled into useful mindset heuristics included throughout the book.

This handbook charts the new engineering paradigm of engineering systems. It brings together contributions from leading thinkers in the field and discusses the design, management and enabling policy of engineering systems. It contains explorations of core themes including technical and (socio-) organisational complexity, human behaviour and uncertainty. The text includes chapters on the education of future engineers, the way in which interventions can be designed, and presents a look to the future. This book follows the emergence of engineering systems, a new engineering paradigm that will help solve truly global challenges. This global approach is characterised by complex sociotechnical systems that are now co-dependent and highly integrated both functionally and technically as well as by a realisation that we all share the same: climate, natural resources, a highly integrated economical system and a responsibility for global sustainability goals. The new paradigm and approach requires the (re)designing of engineering systems that take into account the shifting dynamics of human behaviour, the influence of global stakeholders, and the need for system integration. The text is a reference point for scholars, engineers and policy leaders who are interested in broadening their current perspective on engineering systems design and in devising interventions to help shape societal futures.