Design project planning, monitoring and re-planning through process simulation

Effective management of design schedules is a major concern in industry, since timely project delivery can have a significant influence on a company’s profitability. Based on insights gained through a case study of planning practice in aero-engine component design, this paper examines how task network simulation models can be deployed in a new way to support design process planning. Our method shows how simulation can be used to reconcile a description of design activities and information flows with project targets such as milestone delivery dates. It also shows how monitoring and re-planning can be supported using the non-ideal metrics which the case study revealed are used to monitor processes in practice. The approach is presented as a theoretical contribution which requires further work to implement and evaluate in practice

Simulating intertwined design processes that have similar structures: A case study of a small company that creates made-to-order fashion products

The authors use simulation to analyse the resource-driven dependencies between concurrent processes used to create customised products in a company. Such processes are uncertain and unique according to the design changes required. However, they have similar structures. For simulation, a level of abstraction is chosen such that all possible processes are represented by the same activity network. Differences between processes are determined by the customisations that they implement. The approach is illustrated through application to a small business that creates customised fashion products. We suggest that similar techniques could be applied to study intertwined design processes in more complex domains.The case study was carried out as part of Considerate Design for Personalised Fashion funded by the EPSRC/AHRC Design in the 21st century programme. The context of a multi-project environment was analysed as part of the EU Framework 7 CONVERGE project CP-FP 228746-2.Post-prin

Design of robust service operations using cybernetic principles and simulation

Information flows in a service organisation allow business units to co-ordinate their response to changes in the operating environment. Processes and interactions can be designed so that the right information flows to the right people, at the right time to make effective decisions regarding job priorities and allocation of limited resource. This paper develops an analysis framework and simulation approach to identify the internal information flows an organisation needs to “tune itself” for changing conditions, thus making itself more robust to uncertainties. The ideas are developed and illustrated through a case study with a major telecoms company.International Design Conference - DESIGN 201

CAN CHANGE PREDICTION HELP PRIORITISE REDESIGN WORK IN FUTURE ENGINEERING SYSTEMS?

Future design environments will necessitate improved management of the propagation and impacts of changes. To ascertain whether change prediction can assist in making better work prioritisation decisions, this paper develops a new simulation approach and applies it to a model of a complex aerospace product, which was elicited from industry. We use an accepted technique to generate potential change propagation trees and apply Monte Carlo methods to generate a sample space within which multiple scheduling policies could be evaluated and compared. The experiments reveal that poor coordination of change activity can result in significant process inefficiencies, that the potential for inefficiency increases for larger change networks, and that a modest ability to accurately predict change propagation in the specific case at hand could have a dramatic effect in reducing unnecessary rework. The experiments also suggest that the capability of predicting multiple steps of change propagation would provide only minimal additional improvement.International Design Conference - DESIGN 201

The P3 platform: an approach and software system for developing diagrammatic model-based methods in design research

Many issues in design and design management have been explored by building models which capture the relationships between different aspects of the problem at hand. These models require computer support to construct and analyse. However, appropriate modelling tools can be time-consuming to develop in a research environment. Reflecting upon five design research projects, this paper proposes that such projects can be facilitated by recognising the iterative and tightly-coupled nature of research and tool development, and by attempting to minimise the effort of solution prototyping within this process. Our approach is enabled by a software platform which can be rapidly configured to implement many conceivable modelling approaches. This configurability is complemented by an emerging library of modelling and analysis approaches tailored to explore design process systems. The platform-based approach enables any mix of modelling concepts to be easily created. We propose it could thus help researchers to explore a wide range of questions without being constrained to existing conventions for modelling – or for model integration

HOW CAN PD PROCESS MODELLING BE MADE MORE USEFUL? AN EXPLORATION OF FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE MODELLING UTILITY

In what sense is PD process modelling useful? and how can the utility of modelling be improved? In this paper, we approach these questions through an analysis of PD process modelling ‘utility’ – which in broad terms we consider to be the degree to which a model-based approach or modelling intervention benefits practice. We view the utility of modelling as a composite characteristic which depends both on the properties of models and on the way they are applied. The paper draws upon established principles of cybernetic systems in an attempt to explain the role played by process modelling in operating and improving PD processes. We use this framework to identify eight key factors which influence the utility of modelling in the context of use. Further, we indicate how these factors can be interpreted to identify opportunities to improve modelling utility.International Design Conference - DESIGN 201

Modelling iteration in engineering design

This paper examines design iteration and its modelling in the simulation of New Product Development (NPD) processes. A framework comprising six perspectives of iteration is proposed and it is argued that the importance of each perspective depends upon domain-specific factors. Key challenges of modelling iteration in process simulation frameworks such as the Design Structure Matrix are discussed, and we argue that no single model or framework can fully capture the iterative dynamics of an NPD process. To conclude, we propose that consideration of iteration and its representation could help identify the most appropriate modelling framework for a given process and modelling objective, thereby improving the fidelity of design process simulation models and increasing their utility

Model-based approaches to support process improvement in complex product development

The performance of product development processes is important to the commercial success of new products. The improvement of these processes is thus a strategic imperative for many engineering companies — the aero-engine is one example of a complex product for which market pressures necessitate ever-shorter development times. This thesis argues that process modelling and simulation can support the improvement of complex product development processes. A literature review identified that design process modelling is a well-established research area encompassing a diverse range of approaches. However, most existing tools and methods are not widely applied in industry. An extended case study was therefore conducted to explore the pragmatic utility of process modelling and simulation. It is argued that iteration is a key driver of design process behaviour which cannot be fully reflected in a mechanistic model. Understanding iteration can help select an appropriate representation for a given process domain and modelling objective. A model-based approach to improve the management of iterative design processes was developed. This approach shows that design process simulation models can support practice despite their limited fidelity. The modelling and simulation framework resulting from this work was enhanced for application to a wider range of process improvement activities. A robust and extensible software platform was also developed. The framework and software tool have made significant contribution to research projects investigating process redesign, process robustness and process optimisation. These projects are discussed to validate the framework and tool and to highlight their applicability beyond the original approach. The research results were disseminated in academia and industry — 72 copies of the software were distributed following requests in the first three months of its release

An introduction to the Cambridge advanced modeller

Complex products and their development processes may be viewed as systems, whose different aspects can be modelled as networks of interactions between elements in different domains. Many approaches have been proposed to explore, support or improve engineering processes by building such models. Developing these approaches, and applying them to problems of realistic complexity, often requires specialised computer software suitable for manipulating large data sets. However, creating suitable tools can be difficult–because software development is time-consuming and requires skills that many researchers and practitioners do not possess. We developed an approach which aims to address this problem by recognising the iterative nature of modelling research and its often tight coupling with prototype software development, and by reducing the effort of software prototyping and revision within this process. The approach is enabled by, and embodied in, the Cambridge Advanced Modeller (CAM)–a configurable software platform we have developed, refined and applied over several years and through a number of research projects

Process models in design and development

© 2017 The Author(s) Many models of the design and development process have been published over the years, representing it for different purposes and from different points of view. This article contributes an organising framework that clarifies the topology of the literature on these models and thereby relates the main perspectives that have been developed. The main categories of model are introduced. Their contexts, advantages, and limitations are considered through discussion of selected examples. It is demonstrated that the framework integrates coverage of earlier reviews and as such provides a new perspective on the literature. Finally, key characteristics of design and development process models are discussed considering their applications in practice, and opportunities for further research are suggested. Overall, the article should aid researchers in positioning new models and new modelling approaches in relation to state-of-the-art. It may also be of interest to practitioners and educators seeking an overview of developments in this area