Structural Awareness in Complex Product Design

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Structural Awareness in Complex Product Design Lehrstuhl für Produktentwicklung der Technischen Universität München Structural Awareness in Complex Product Design Maik S. Maurer Vollständiger Abdruck der von der Fakultät für Maschinenwesen der Technischen Universität München zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktor-Ingenieurs genehmigten Dissertation. Vorsitzender: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Boris Lohmann Prüfer der Dissertation: 1. Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Lindemann 2. Prof. Andrew Kusiak, Ph. D. University of Iowa/USA Die Dissertation wurde am 27.06.2007 bei der Technischen Universität München eingereicht und durch die Fakultät für Maschinenwesen am 11.10.2007 angenommen. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. ISBN 978-3-89963-632-1 © Verlag Dr. Hut, München 2007 Sternstr. 18, 80538 München Tel.: 089/66060798 www.dr.hut-verlag.de Die Informationen in diesem Buch wurden mit großer Sorgfalt erarbeitet. Dennoch können Fehler, z.B. bei der Beschreibung des Gefahrenpotentials von Versuchen, nicht vollständig ausgeschlossen werden. Verlag, Autoren und ggf. Übersetzer übernehmen keine juristische Verantwortung oder irgendeine Haftung für eventuell verbliebene fehlerhafte Angaben und deren Folgen. Alle Rechte, auch die des auszugsweisen Nachdrucks, der Vervielfältigung und Verbreitung in besonderen Verfahren wie fotomechanischer Nachdruck, Fotokopie, Mikrokopie, elektronische Datenaufzeichnung einschließlich Speicherung und Übertragung auf weitere Datenträger sowie Übersetzung in andere Sprachen, behält sich der Autor vor. 1. Auflage 2007 Druck und Bindung: fm-kopierbar, München (www.fm-kopierbar.de) FOREWORD OF THE EDITOR Problem Complexity in product design steadily increases and represents a major challenge for any enterprise’s sustainable market success. Hereby, complexity arises from different areas, e.g. markets, products, processes or organizations. Whereas already the amount of system elements and linkages represent a high complexity, especially the occurrence of system changes is difficult to handle. All mentioned areas are highly interconnected and e.g. the market request for product customization or an increased number of product variants can result in the need for extensive changes to the product program or the process of product creation. As changes originating from external areas as the market can hardly be avoided by enterprises, they have to handle change effects in their complex and highly interlinked products and processes. Considered from a system perspective, the structures emerging from system elements and their linkages largely contribute to the system characteristics and behavior. Thus, structural constellations in complex systems have to be considered and actively designed. This can improve the management and the specific design of such systems. So far, structural constellations are rarely used for managing complex systems and suitable methods and tools are not available in product design. However, the assessment and active creation of structural constellations can be a key to improved complexity management and can therefore provide competitive advantages for enterprises in the future. Objectives The described situation requires a methodical approach to analyze, to control, and to improve complex constellations in product development by focusing on the underlying structural dependencies. Furthermore, the approach allows for the consideration of multiple domains, as most complex situations and systems do not comprise single domains only. Such multiple domain consideration could enable the improvement of product development in spite of increasing complexity and can also be the basis for the implementation of upcoming business strategies that focus on enhanced product customization. Results New possibilities exceed the actual methods applied for complexity management in product design: the access of complex dependency networks by the Multiple-Domain Matrix closes the gap between available matrix-based methods and provides the so far missing generic model for the analysis, control and optimization of complex systems even if they comprise multiple aspects. The approach integrates established matrix-based methods and supports the definition of pertinent system aspects. The acquisition of information about complex systems is methodically supported and can be used for the extraction of experience knowledge. In addition, the possibilities of visualization complex networks have been systematically enhanced and assigned to specific tasks in complexity management. This helps to increase system understanding for designers and allows for user interaction. In order to interpret structural constellations in complex systems the analysis criteria actually available have been enhanced. Based on these analysis criteria methodical applications of structure consideration on design are provided. On the one hand, methods for the improved management of complex structures are provided. These methods can enable designers to better cope with required system changes. The methods meant for the improvement of system design help users to implement a structural design that contributes to the desired system behavior. The entire approach presented in the thesis facilitates users in the management of complexity in product design by focusing on structural constellations of system dependencies and the simultaneous consideration of all relevant aspects. Conclusions for industrial applications The increasing complexity in almost all aspects of product design turned out to be a considerable handicap for enterprises. However, an improved complexity management can provide competitive advantages as e.g. market offers can be improved and product changes become more flexible and faster. It is important to mention that the knowledge about controlling complexity can not be easily copied by competitors – this knowledge is not an integral part of sold products and does not leave the company. For this reason, successful complexity management can be a core competence for enterprises and contribute to sustained market success. Conclusions for scientific researches The Multiple-Domain Matrix represents the methodical superstructure of the matrix-based approaches on structure-based complexity management. Due to this standardization it becomes possible to transfer available methods of analysis or optimization from one specific matrix approach to several more application scenarios. The consequent integration of multiple domains extended possible considerations of structural constellations to more comprehensive use cases. The method of Multiple-Domain Mapping provides a mathematical description for deriving specific system views that have so far only been created intuitively. The explicit description can serve for future enhancement of system structures by quantification with attributes, e.g. cost information. The criteria that are available for the analysis of system structures have been traced back to their origins in graph theory. This allows for the subsequent supplementation of analysis criteria and the improvement of structure interpretation. In future steps the systematic compilation of criteria has to be examined for completeness and for possibly combined criteria application. An improved assignment of interpretation occurrence of analysis criteria in user-defined structures can further increase the potential of structure-based complexity management in product design. Garching, November 2007 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Lindemann Institute of Product Development Technische Universität München ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work results from my occupation as a scientific researcher at the Institute of Product Development at the Technische Universität München from December 2002 until November 2007. Special thanks go to my doctoral advisor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Lindemann for the intense support of my research and his confidence in my ideas. Especially, his provision of scientific freedom and supporting reviews provided the basis for the successful compilation of the present work. I want to thank Professor Andrew Kusiak for the acceptance of being the second advisor, his intense review and provision of numerous propositions of improvement. Also, I want to thank Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Boris Lohmann for accepting the chair of the examination board and for the organizational handling of the dissertation process. I want to thank all my colleagues at the Institute of Product Development for the successful and procreative collaboration in projects, research and teaching. Especially the collaboration with Dr.-Ing. Thomas Braun provided closer insights into the requirements of complexity management in product design and largely contributed to my research results. Frank Deubzer and Matthias Kreimeyer helped me with many discussions on the topic and provided important ideas and approaches during several projects. I want to thank all my student assistants as well as all the students who worked out semester theses and diploma theses under my supervision; the obtained insights and results mainly contributed to my research work. Wieland Biedermann, who participated in my work over a very long time and particularly helped me in various projects and research topics, deserves special mentioning. Special thanks go to my wife, who always encouraged me in my work and offered patience and comprehension in stressful times. Also,
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