Structural awareness in complex product design [Elektronische Ressource] / Maik S. Maurer

Maurer

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• Management

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• Publié par: technische_universitat_munchen
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 76
• Langue: Deutsch
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

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;
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http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.
ISBN 978-3-89963-632-1
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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 <