Onur Hisarciklilar

Change prediction using interface data

Managing change can be challenging due to the high levels of interdependency in concurrent engineering processes. A key activity in engineering change management is propagation analysis, which can be supported using the change prediction method. In common with most other change prediction approaches, the change prediction method has three important limitations: L1: it depends on highly subjective input data; L2: it is capable of modelling ‘generalised cases’ only and cannot be; customised to assess specific changes; and L3: the input data are static, and thus, guidance does not reflect changes in the design. This article contributes to resolving these limitations by incorporating interface information into the change prediction method. The enhanced method is illustrated using an example based on a flight simulator.

A CONFLICT DETECTION APPROACH FOR COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT OF PRODUCT INTERFACES

In complex products, maintaining subsystem consistency throughout the design process is often a time-consuming process of document exchange among cooperating functions. This paper describes a conflict management approach that lead to the computer-aided management of the product specification conflicts that happen due to the integration of subsystems. In order to define a framework, a systematic interface representation which proposes building generic interface schemes for subsystem connectivity representation is described. Based on this methodology, a functional architecture of the proposed conflict management method, along with generic exception taxonomy of conflicts is developed. The applicability of the proposed concepts is discussed through illustrative examples. The proposed methodology is intended to allow automatic detection and handling of interface connectivity errors throughout collaborative design processes.Copyright

Using a semiotic classification to characterise objects involved in collaborative design

This paper addresses the problem of expression and sharing of domain-specific constraints and knowledge in engineering design. Pierce’s theory of signs allows understanding why purely graphical 3D CAD systems partially fail to support design teams during design review meetings and more generally during collaborative design episodes. This theory can help us to go further in analysing annotation systems as symbolic systems of signs and we draw a parallel with the 2D standard drawing system, as they have the same semiotic nature. We show that semantic annotations can be considered to improve the semiotic richness in 3D CAD representations. A case study illustrates the need for cooperation support to multidisciplinary design teams. In this paper, we support the idea that future design tools should integrate both symbolic and iconic types of representations so that the designers could freely build shared representations taking advantage of the whole symbolic-iconic spectrum. We propose future developments reconciling the graphical precision of 3D digital models with the semantic richness of symbolic systems of signs.

Appraisal of New Product Development Success Indicators in the Aerospace Industry

Assessing performance in developing new aerospace products is essential. However,choosing an accurate set of success indicators to measure the performance of complexproducts is a nontrivial task. Moreover, the most useful success indicators can changeover the life of the product; therefore, different metrics need to be used at different phasesof the product lifecycle (PLC). This paper describes the research undertaken to determinesuccess measurement metrics for new product development (NPD) processes. The goal ofthis research was to ascertain an appropriate set of metrics used by aerospace companiesfor assessing success during different phases of the PLC. Furthermore, an evaluation ofthe differences and similarities of NPD success measurement was carried out betweenaerospace companies and the nonaerospace companies practicing in the business-to-business (B2B) market. Practical case studies were carried out for 16 Canadian andDanish companies. Seven companies belong to the aerospace sector, while nine are non-aerospace companies that are in the B2B market. The data were gathered from relevantproduct managers at participating companies. The outcomes of this research indicatethat: (1) the measurement of success of aerospace NPD practices depends on thePLC phase being measured, (2) product and process management performance are themore important indicators of success in the early PLC phases with revenue and marketshare indicators being important during late phases, and (3) there are reasonablesimilarities in success measurement between aerospace and nonaerospace B2Bcompanies. Sets of metrics for measuring success during each PLC phase of aerospaceproducts are proposed, which can guide companies in determining their ideal practices.[DOI: 10.1115/1.4004974]Keywords: new product development (NPD), aerospace industry, business to business(B2B), success metrics, product lifecycle (PLC)

A study of overlapping and functional interaction mechanisms for concurrent engineering processes

This article reports the use of a stochastic computer model to study hybrid overlapping and functional interaction strategies, where, within a given process, different degrees of overlapping or gradually increasing or decreasing functional interaction were modeled. The study aims to understand the contribution of these strategies to process performance, that is, product development effort and span time. Simulation results of the hybrid models are discussed in comparison to a baseline model, where the baseline process was uniformly overlapped and functional interaction was constant throughout its execution. Research outcomes indicate that under high information uncertainty, sequential processes perform better than any model with overlap. When uncertainty is moderate or low, the baseline model outperforms the hybrid models. Under high sensitivity conditions, hybrid overlapping models perform equally well in comparison to the baseline model with complete overlap, and superiorly when information evolution is slow.

Challenges in expert user participation in design evaluation meetings

This paper explores the design collaboration between designers and expert users in the specific case of new surgical instrument design. To this end, two design evaluation meetings were studied. Decision and interaction analysis methods were applied to compare the effectiveness of the design team on discussing and solving design issues with and without active participation of the expert user. The observations showed that, in the absence of the user, the designers were unable to make decisions about technical solutions relating to usability issues, and the expert user’s comments during the subsequent meeting significantly altered their decisions. These two observations indicate that the use of a support tool could have a significant role to help asynchronous communication in such a design process.

The Monitoring of Information Transfers to Control Design Progress During Product Development

Uncertainty and complexity are inherent characteristics of a modern product development process. Concurrent engineering necessitates the use of interim information that may be incomplete, provisional, inconsistent and unreliable for the purpose of the tasks at hand. Mechanisms that allow actors in the design process to exchange interim information while being able to estimate the remaining risk of rework is of great importance to ensure robust decision making and to realize continuous progress. However, product development processes are traditionally managed through the use of milestone, or earned value methods without enabling the measurement as well as the capture of progress according to the state of progress of design tasks. The present paper presents a new methodology for monitoring interim information transfers. The approach supports design process planners by providing them with a monitoring system to control when interim information should be released, with which pace, and at which point of progress. This takes into account the criticality of information that is one of the main drivers of rework risk.© 2010 ASME

Sparse Data Estimation in Complex Design Processes

Process monitoring is one of the major components in any process management system. A process monitoring system is an essential set of tools for aiding individual(s) responsible for the process to understand and analyse performance, potential problems, and help continuous improvement of processes. An integrated process monitoring system is a combined tool kit in which various elements of a process monitoring system automatically interact with each other within a common framework. This reduces the necessity for human interaction, while improving information flow among various components of such a system. There have been efforts to design process control and monitoring systems; however, no integrated system has yet been developed as a “generic intelligent system shell” (Karsai et al., 1992).