Which research in design creativity and innovation? Let us not forget the reality of companies

Studying design creativity and innovation from practical perspectives for companies requires both a good understanding of the company ecosystem and its inner processes contributing to delivered innovations and a rigorous design research methodology to provide effective design models, methods, platforms that are truly effective in the context of company. Working in an Industrial Engineering laboratory, we advocate a more systemic vision of design creativity and innovation in company ecosystems. We present in this paper an attempt to develop and make professional an innovation engineering. Our research works are illustrated along the different research topics of an innovation process. We start by a recent survey on innovation practice and organizational models led in 28 large companies. The lessons learned about this survey reinforce our belief that there is a need for a new method in agile management of radical innovation projects in company contexts. We currently develop, test and apply such a methodology named: Radical Innovation Design(RID). Its effectiveness has been evaluated through a large scale evaluation of the project outcomes for the company. Two extensions of RID have been proposed and deployed in company contexts: a selection procedure for innovation clusters and a value-driven process for airplane development projects

On the integration of engineering design and development process model - Part I: Elaborations on the generally accepted process models

Models of the engineering design process and of the development process nowadays present similar forms in the engineering design literature and interact in a similar way. These models are often presented as generic, in order to be used in a wide area of applications. This interaction is, however, not unproblematic, and in this publication we present some important issues and challenge the generic aspect of these models. In order to increase clarity we have divided the publication into two parts. In Part I, the generally accepted engineering design and development process models are presented. The fundaments of the development model and the motivations behind its current form are highlighted. In Part II, the consequences in the form of severe shortcomings resulting from the interaction of the engineering design and development process models are highlighted. These shortcomings do not disappear when the systematic design process model is applied with alternative development process models. The implications for the further development of methodologies supporting the design and development models are discussed

The specificities of radical innovation

In this paper, we investigate a special case of new product development (NDP), that of radical innovation. When a company desires to go outside a current saturated market, it is necessary to offer a new product which is radically different from the competition. If successful, the offering will create a new market that the company can expect to dominate a least for a while until the competition strikes back. A radical NPD has several characteristics that are quite unique and distinct from other types of NPD. This paper aims at making a synthesis of these specificities. From this set of specificities, the ability of the current methodologies to deal with radical innovation is discussed

Using evolutionary design to interactively sketch car silhouettes and stimulate designer's creativity

An Interactive Genetic Algorithm is proposed to progressively sketch the desired side-view of a car profile. It adopts a Fourier decomposition of a 2D profile as the genotype, and proposes a cross-over mechanism. In addition, a formula function of two genes' discrepancies is fitted to the perceived dissimilarity between two car profiles. This similarity index is intensively used, throughout a series of user tests, to highlight the added value of the IGA compared to a systematic car shape exploration, to prove its ability to create superior satisfactory designs and to stimulate designer's creativity. These tests have involved six designers with a design goal defined by a semantic attribute. The results reveal that if "friendly" is diversely interpreted in terms of car shapes, "sportive" denotes a very conventional representation which may be a limitation for shape renewal

ANALYZING RID METHODOLOGY THROUGH THE LENS OF INNOVATIVE ABDUCTION

The literature reports that abduction is inherent to design reasoning. The Radical Innovation Design methodology is analyzed using the lens of Kroll and Koskela's two-step innovative abduction. In the first phase (Problem Setting), the Knowledge Design process follows a two-step selective abduction and the Problem Design process comprises abduction followed by deduction. This illustrates the specific reasoning employed when identifying the right problem on which to innovate. In the second phase (Problem Solving), the reasoning follows two-step innovative abduction

On the interaction between the engineering design and the development process models - Part II: Shortcomings and limitations

Models of the engineering design process and of the development process nowadays present similar forms in the engineering design literature and interact in a similar way. These models are often presented as generic, in order to be used in a wide area of applications. This interaction is however not unproblematic, and in this publication we present some important issues and challenge the generic aspect of these models. In order to increase clarity, we have divided the publication into two parts. In Part I, the generally accepted engineering design and development process models are presented. The fundaments of the development model and the motivations behind its current form are highlighted. In Part II, the consequences in the form of severe shortcomings resulting from the interaction of the engineering design and development process models are highlighted. These shortcomings do not disappear when the systematic design process model is applied with alternative development process models. The implications for the further development of methodologies supporting design and development models are discussed

Eco-design implementation for complex industrial system (From scenario-based LCA to the definition of an eco-innovative R&D projects portfolio)

Face à l émergence des problématiques environnementales issues des activités humaines, l écoconception s attache à offrir une réponse satisfaisante dans le domaine de la conception de produits et services. Cependant, lorsque les produits considérés deviennent des systèmes industriels complexes, caractérisés entre autres par un grand nombre de composants et sous-systèmes, un cycle de vie extrêmement long et incertain, ou des interactions complexes avec leur environnement géographique et industriel, un manque évident de méthodologies et d outils se fait ressentir. Ce changement d échelle apporte en effet des contraintes différentes aussi bien dans l évaluation des impacts environnementaux générés au cours du cycle de vie du système (gestion et qualité des données, niveau de détail de l étude par rapport aux ressources disponibles ) que dans l identification de réponses adaptées (gestion de la multidisciplinarité et des ressources disponibles, formation des acteurs, inclusion dans un contexte de R&D très amont ). Cette thèse vise donc à développer une méthodologie de mise en œuvre d une démarche d éco-conception de systèmes industriels complexes. Une méthodologie générale est tout d abord proposée, basée sur un processus DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control). Cette méthodologie permet de définir de manière formalisée le cadre de la démarche (objectifs, ressources, périmètre, phasage ) et d accompagner rigoureusement l approche d écoconception sur le système considéré. Une première étape d évaluation environnementale basée sur l Analyse du Cycle de Vie (ACV) à haut niveau systémique est ainsi réalisée. Etant donnée la complexité du cycle de vie considéré et la variabilité d exploitation d un système industriel d un site à l autre, une approche par scénario est proposée afin d appréhender rapidement l étendue possible des impacts environnementaux. Les scénarios d exploitation sont définis à l aide de la matrice SRI (Stranford Research Institute) et intègrent de nombreux éléments rarement abordés en ACV, comme la maintenance préventive et corrective, la mise à niveau des sous-systèmes ou encore la modulation de la durée de vie du système en fonction du contexte économique. A l issue de cette ACV les principaux postes impactants du cycle de vie du système sont connus et permettent d entreprendre la seconde partie de la démarche d éco-conception centrée sur l amélioration environnementale. Un groupe de travail multidisciplinaire est réuni lors d une séance de créativité centrée autour de la roue de la stratégie d éco-conception (ou roue de Brezet), un outil d éco-innovation peu consommateur de ressources et ne nécessitant qu une faible expertise environnementale. Les idées générées en créativité sont alors traitées par trois filtres successifs, qui permettent : (1) de présélectionner les meilleurs projets et de les approfondir ; (2) de constituer un portefeuille de projets de R&D par une approche multicritère évaluant leur performance environnementale, mais également technique, économique et de création de valeurs pour les clients ; (3) de contrôler l équilibre du portefeuille constitué en fonction de la stratégie de l entreprise et de la diversité des projets considérés (aspects court/moyen/long terme, niveau systémique considéré ). L ensemble des travaux a été appliqué et validé chez Alstom Grid sur des sous-stations de conversion électrique utilisées dans l industrie de l aluminium primaire. Le déploiement de la méthodologie a permis d initier une démarche solide d écoconception reconnue par l entreprise et de générer au final un portefeuille de 9 projets de R&D écoinnovants qui seront mis en œuvre dans les prochains mois.Face to the growing awareness of environmental concerns issued from human activities, eco-design aims at offering a satisfying answer in the products and services development field. However when the considered products become complex industrial systems, there is a lack of adapted methodologies and tools. These systems are among others characterised by a large number of components and subsystems, an extremely long and uncertain life cycle, or complex interactions with their geographical and industrial environment. This change of scale actually brings different constraints, as well in the evaluation of environmental impacts generated all along the system life cycle (data management and quality, detail level according to available resources ) as in the identification of adapted answers (management of multidisciplinary aspects and available resources, players training, inclusion in an upstream R&D context ). So this dissertation aims at developing a methodology to implement ecodesign of complex industrial systems. A general methodology is first proposed, based on a DMAIC process (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control). This methodology allows defining in a structured way the framework (objectives, resources, perimeter, phasing ) and rigorously supporting the ecodesign approach applied on the system. A first step of environmental evaluation based on Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is thus performed at a high systemic level. Given the complexity of the system life cycle as well as the exploitation variability that may exist from one site to another, a scenario-based approach is proposed to quickly consider the space of possible environmental impacts. Scenarios of exploitation are defined thanks to the SRI (Stanford Research Institute) matrix and they include numerous elements that are rarely considered in LCA, like preventive and corrective maintenance, subsystems upgrading or lifetime modulation according to the economic context. At the conclusion of this LCA the main impacting elements of the system life cycle are known and they permit to initiate the second step of the eco-design approach centred on environmental improvement. A multidisciplinary working group perform a creativity session centred on the eco-design strategy wheel (or Brezet wheel), a resource-efficient eco-innovation tool that requires only a basic environmental knowledge. Ideas generated during creativity are then analysed through three successive filters allowing: (1) to pre-select and to refine the best projects; (2) to build a R&D projects portfolio thanks to a multi-criteria approach assessing not only their environmental performance, but also their technical, economic and customers value creation performance; (3) to control the portfolio balance according to the company strategy and the projects diversity (short/middle/long term aspect, systemic level ). All this work was applied and validated at Alstom Grid on electrical conversion substations used in the primary aluminium industry. The methodology deployment has allowed initiating a robust eco-design approach recognized by the company and finally generating a portfolio composed of 9 eco-innovative R&D projects that will be started in the coming months.CHATENAY MALABRY-Ecole centrale (920192301) / SudocSudocFranceF

A usage coverage based approach for assessing product family design

En adoptant un point de vue utilitariste du consommateur sur certains produits orientés service, nous avons d'abord contribué à la proposition d un modèle de contextes d usage que se doit de couvrir au mieux un produit. Le modèle conduit à une meilleure intégration des analyses de marketing et d ingénierie de la conception amenant à une optimisation d'un produit paramétré plus orientée vers les besoins du marché ou à un meilleur étagement d'une famille de produits. Nous proposons une série d'indices qui révèlent l'adéquation entre les usages couverts par un produit de dimensions données ou une famille de produits donnée avec un espace d'usages cible qu il s agit de couvrir dans sa totalité ou en partie mais d'une manière suffisamment dominante par rapport à la concurrence. En premier lieu, l'indice de couverture d usage (UCI) pour un produit unique est introduit par la cartographie du produit relativement à un ensemble d utilisateurs représentatifs définis par des usages attendus. Sur cette base, l'UCI pour une famille de produits est construite pour évaluer la composition de la famille et la redondance des produits qui la composent. Les avantages par rapport à la traditionnelle estimation de la demande en marketing sont de réduire la complexité de l'enquête et de l'analyse des données et de pouvoir estimer le niveau de compétitivité d une offre innovante sans nécessiter de retour d expérience du marché. Nous expérimentons nos propositions sur un problème de reconception d une famille de scies sauteuses. L'approche proposée permet d'évaluer l'adaptabilité, pour une famille de produits de tailles croissantes, à divers scénarios dans le contexte d'usage d'un marché cible. Les concepteurs peuvent s'appuyer sur les résultats pour éliminer les produits redondants au sein d'une famille. Des configurations de produits de tailles croissantes peuvent aussi être rapidement simulées et comparées de manière à aboutir à une famille minimale de produits idéalement étagée.Adopting a utilitarian viewpoint of consumers on some service-oriented goods, we have first contributed to the proposal of a usage contexts model that a product should cover at most. The model leads to a higher integration of design engineering and marketing analyses which results in a more market-oriented optimization of a parameterized product or a better sampling of a product family. We propose a series of usage coverage indices that reveal the adequacy of a dimensioned product or a given product family to a targeted usage space to cover in its whole or for a part but sufficiently in a dominant way compared to competing products. First, the Usage Coverage Index (UCI) for single product is introduced by mapping the given product with a set of representative users defined by expected usages. On that basis, the UCI for a product family is constructed to evaluate the composition and redundancy of the family. The advantage compared to traditional demand estimation in marketing research is to reduce the complexity of survey and data analysis and to assess the competitiveness level of an innovative service offer without needing any return of experience from the market. We experiment our proposals on a jigsaw product family redesign problem. The proposed analysis approach helps to evaluate the adaptability, for a given scale-based product family, to diverse usage context scenarios in a target market. Designers can rely on the results to filter out redundant products within a family. Scale-based configurations of the products can also be rapidly simulated and compared to find out an appropriate sampled series of products.CHATENAY MALABRY-Ecole centrale (920192301) / SudocSudocFranceF

Preventing and resolving design conflicts for a collaborative convergence in distributed set-based design

En conception distribuée, dans la phase du dimensionnement du produit, des incohérences peuvent émerger entre les objectifs de conception et entre les procédures de travail des sous-systèmes hétérogènes. Dans cette phase, les acteurs de conception doivent collaborer d une manière concourante, car leurs tâches sont reliées les unes aux autres par les couplages de dimensionnement entre leurs sous-problèmes. Les incohérences peuvent provoquer des conflits de conception en raison de ces couplages. La question est de savoir comment obtenir une convergence collaborative pour satisfaire les objectifs globaux et individuels des acteurs de conception lorsque ces acteurs prennent des décisions de conception sous incertitude. L'objectif de cette thèse est de proposer un modèle pour empêcher et résoudre les conflits de conception, tout en surmontant le problème de l'incertitude de la conception avec l'approche de conception basée sur les ensembles (SBD). Pour cela, les attitudes de conception sont modélisées avec le paradigme Croyances-Désirs-Intentions afin d'explorer les incohérences et gérer les conflits dans les processus de conception. L'approche ascendante conventionnelle est ainsi étendue grâce à des techniques de modélisation multi-agents. Dans cette approche, les agents de conception peuvent fixer des exigences directement sur leurs indicateurs de bien-être . Ces indicateurs représentent la manière dont leurs objectifs de conception sont susceptibles d'être satisfaits à un moment donné du processus. Des simulations de Monte Carlo sont effectuées pour évaluer la performance de cette approche, offrant une variété d'attitudes de l'agent. Par rapport aux approches classiques de conception ascendante et descendante, les résultats révèlent moins de conflits de conception et une intensité des conflits réduite. Les techniques de problème de satisfaction de contraintes (CSP) et les attitudes de conception sont appliquées pour détecter et justifier des conflits de conception entre les agents hétérogènes. Une nouvelle forme du modèle Cooperative CSP (CoCSP) est ainsi mise au point afin de résoudre les conflits de conception en détectant le compromis entre les contraintes. Le système de résolution des conflits peut être adopté grâce à différentes stratégies proposées qui prennent en compte l'architecture de solidarité des agents. Les résultats des simulations montrent que l'intensité des conflits en conception distribuée est réduite par la promotion de la solidarité qui déclenche une aide aux agents en souffrance.In the product dimensioning phase of a distributed design, inconsistencies can emerge among design objectives as well as among working procedures of heterogeneous subsystems. In this phase, design actors which compose subsystems must collaborate concurrently, since their works are linked to each other through dimensioning couplings among their sub-problems. Inconsistencies through these couplings yield thus to design conflicts. The issue is how to obtain a collaborative convergence to satisfy the global and individual objectives of design actors when making design decisions under uncertainty. The objective of this dissertation is to propose a model for preventing and resolving design conflicts in order to obtain a collaborative convergence, while overcoming the design uncertainty through Set-based Design (SBD). Design attitudes are modeled with Belief-Desire-Intention paradigm to explore inconsistencies and manage conflicts in design processes. The conventional bottom-up approach is thus extended through agent-based attitude modeling techniques. In this approach, design agents can set requirements directly on their wellbeing values that represent how their design targets are likely to be met at a given moment of the design process. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of this approach, providing a variety of agent attitudes. Compared to conventional bottom-up and top-down design approaches, the results reveal a fewer number of design conflicts and a reduced aggregated conflict intensity. Constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) techniques and design attitudes are both applied to detect and justify design conflicts of heterogeneous design agents. A novel cooperative CSP (CoCSP) is developed in order to resolve design conflicts through compromising constraint restriction. The conflict resolution system can be adopted for different proposed strategies which take into account the solidarity architecture of design agents. The simulation results show that while promoting solidarity in distributed design by helping agents that suffer, the conflict intensity is reduced, and better design results are obtained.CHATENAY MALABRY-Ecole centrale (920192301) / SudocSudocFranceF