CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF PRODUCTS AND PRODUCT FAMILIES
Year: 1998
Editor: Marcel Tichem, Delft University of Technology, Mogens Myrup Andreasen, Technical University of Denmark, Alex Duffy, University of Strathclyde
Author: Liedholm, Ulf
Page(s): 91 - 112
Abstract
The early phases during design are probably the most important ones. Concept development consists of at least three activities: the establishment of a design specification, functional decomposition and establishment of concepts. The establishment of a design specification is not treated in the paper. Hubka's procedure bas been used successfully at Linkoping University for some years, however not exactly as proposed by Hubka. An enhanced procedure for conceptual design is presented in the paper. The procedure is based on Hubka's General Procedural Model, complemented with theories and methods from Andreasen, Hansen & Svendsen, Roozenburg & Eekels, etc. How should we treat variance between the members of a product family when using the procedure? For some families, the process structure will vary depending on the family member we are focusing on. The function/means tree is a powerful tool for structuring the family. The variance can be created by letting the family members be composed of different functions, or by varying the means for realising functions. The final step is to compose into concepts based on selected means. This is not easy when designing a product; it is certainly not easier when designing a product family.
Keywords: Product structuring, Conceptual Design, Technical System, Synthesis, Product Variety