2003:06 LICENTIATE THESIS Selection and Use of Engineering Design Methods Using Creative Problem Solving Belinda López-Mesa Licentiate Thesis Department of Applied Physics and Mechanical Engineering Division of Computer Aided Design 2003:06 - ISSN: 1402-1757 - ISRN: LTU-LIC--03/06--SE ii Preface This thesis was submitted to Luleå University of Technology (LTU) in March 2003. The research has been carried out at the Division of Computer Aided Design (CAD) at LTU while located at Chassis department of Volvo Car Corporation (VCC) in Gothenburg and supervised by professor Graham Thompson, who has a visiting appointment at LTU and is head of the Applied Mechanics Division in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), UK. The work has been carried out within the Polhem Laboratory, a competence centre jointly funded by LTU, VINNOVA and the participating companies. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor professor Graham Thompson for his great supervision and support as an academic and as a person, and to my supervisor professor Lennart Karlsson for providing the means to carry out advanced research in the Division of CAD. I am also thankful to Caroline Stenbacka Nordström for her helpful inputs about research methodology. I sincerely appreciate the constructive comments and co-operative environment provided by the Ph.D. students from the CAD division of LTU, Magnus Löfstrand, Marcus Sandberg, etc., and by the group of Ph.D. students co-located with me at VCC, Mattias Nyström, Claes Olsson, Christian Grante, Nicklas Bylund. I would also like to thank the VCC engineers Mats Williander, Ahmed El- Bahrawy, Sören Eriksson and Johan Wedlin since they have provided valuable comments about the practice of design and research in industry and they have helped in transferring the results of this research into the company. I am thankful to my friends in Spain and Sweden and especially to my family that continues supporting me as always. Gothenburg, March 2003 Belinda López-Mesa iii iv Abstract Many modern products require the careful planning of a vast number of aspects of their life cycle to succeed in the market, such as, financing, functionality, quality, reliability, environmental impact, manufacturing process, relationship with suppliers, etc. Potentially, the numerous domain- independent design methods generated for decades in the fields of engineering design and creative problem solving (CPS) have much to offer in today’s complex multi-objective product design activity. However, the number of methods used in industry is relatively small. Of those that are used, the majority are practised with ad-hoc modifications or at the wrong stage. Incorrect selection of methods occurs often. It leads to poor results and to mistrust of design methods generally, and has been identified as one of the main causes for the lack of design methods in industry. This thesis deals with the development of a strategy to undertake correct selection and use of methods in industry. It covers design methods to explore problems, to generate ideas and to evaluate concepts. A selection principle has been generated that supports engineers in the selection of a method that suits the problem conditions. It aims to match the fundamental characteristics of the method with the problem conditions. For the successful implementation of methods in industry it is essential that knowledge about methods and their selection rules is stored in a system that allows engineers to learn to select and use methods through practice. The requirements for such a software tool have been explored. It aims to guide designers in the selection of the correct method and to serve as an integration environment that encompasses the methods that are more commonly used in industry. Keywords: multi-objective conceptual design, creative problem solving, engineering design, design methods selection and implementation v vi Thesis This thesis comprises an introductory part and the following papers: Paper A LÓPEZ-MESA, B., THOMPSON, G. & WILLIANDER, M. Managing uncertainty in the design and development process by appropriate methods selection. Proceedings of the International Design Conference – Design 2002, May 14-17 2002 (Dubrovnik: the Design Society), pp. 829-836. Paper B LÓPEZ-MESA, B. & THOMPSON, G. The application of the 4Ps model to the management of creativity & innovation in product development. Proceedings of the 9th International Product Development Management Conference, May 27-28 2002 (Sophia Antipolis: European Institute for Advanced studies in Management), pp. 587-601. Paper C LÓPEZ-MESA, B. & THOMPSON, G. Exploring the need for an interactive software tool for the appropriate selection of engineering design methods. Abstract accepted for the 14th International Conference on Engineering Design ICED03, August 19-21, 2003 (Stockholm: the Design Society). vii viii Contents 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................................1 1.1 AIM AND SCOPE OF RESEARCH................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 RESEARCH APPROACH............................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 EVOLUTION OF FOCUS............................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS.............................................................................................................................................. 2 2 KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS .......................................................................................................................................4 2.1 DESIGN SCIENCE ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 2.1.1 What is the aim of designing? ......................................................................................................................4 2.1.2 Design models .................................................................................................................................................5 2.1.3 Design methods...............................................................................................................................................5 2.2 CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING.................................................................................................................................. 5 2.2.1 Creativity..........................................................................................................................................................6 2.2.2 Creative product.............................................................................................................................................6 2.2.3 Person: creative style.....................................................................................................................................7 2.2.4 CPS process.....................................................................................................................................................8 2.2.5 Creative press..................................................................................................................................................9 3 RESEARCH METHOD AND RESULTS............................................................................................................11 3.1 RESEARCH METHOD................................................................................................................................................. 11 3.2 WHAT DESIGN METHODS EXIST ALREADY?.......................................................................................................... 12 3.3 WHICH DESIGN METHODS ARE USED IN INDUSTRY? ........................................................................................... 12 3.4 ARE DESIGN METHODS OF VALUE TO INDUSTRY? ............................................................................................... 12 3.5 WHY ARE DESIGN METHODS DIFFICULT TO IMPLEMENT IN INDUSTRY?........................................................... 13 3.6 ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION..................................................................................................................................... 13 3.7 HOW SHOULD DESIGN METHODS BE SELECTED? ................................................................................................. 14 3.8 INDUSTRIAL RELEVANCE ........................................................................................................................................ 17 4 DISCUSSION OF APPENDED PAPERS............................................................................................................19 4.1 PAPER A .................................................................................................................................................................... 19 4.2 PAPER B..................................................................................................................................................................... 19 4.3 PAPER C....................................................................................................................................................................