Customer optimised design analysis : a metric based methodology for conceptual design analysis, selection and optimisation within new product development

• Main Author: Woolley, Max
• Published: University of the West of England, Bristol 2008
• Subjects: 338.0068
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.486297

The systematic creation of product designs that meet specification and are fit-forpurpose has resulted from intensive research investigation undertaken by Western European engineering design theorists, who define design science as four fundamental elements: Technical systems versus design processes and descriptive versus prescriptive statements. It is argued, through a comparison of the parallel emergent design process methodologies of Western European and Eastern Japanese industry, that a fifth element has evolved which should be included within the boundaries of design science - Quality. . The measure of how well new or variant product designs meet customer requirements is critical to the success of a product in a marketplace for which it is intended to compete. As the level of meeting or exceeding customer requirements defines the perceived quality of a design to the customer, it is paramount that design-quality is optimised to ensure maximum customer satisfaction. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a dominant, established methodology which translates customer requirements into engineering characteristics. Although the approach is attributed to many well known successes, it also possesses some widely known limitations (subjective in nature; difficult to systematically compare concept design variants; difficult to consider complex design inter-relationships and design' conflicts; complexity of analysis increases proportionally with the size of the matrix; interpretation of matrix information requires high level of experience). Furthermore, although the richness of design information held within a QFD matrix provides a detailed record of design status, this information is' essentially static. To address these limitations, a design hypothesis is presented in which a metric-based theory of coupleddynamic- mapping of information held within the QFD design matrix provides a more sophisticated method of quality-by-design analysis. The hypothesis is tested through the creation of a novel hybrid design methodology- termed CODA (Customer Optimised Design Analysis). CODA methodology simultaneously provides an objective function of overall design merit that denotes optimal design attribute values that represents best design trade-off and optimal customer satisfaction (design quality). Finally, it is' deliberated how CODA is not meant to displace QFD, but to provide the design fraternity with a more sophisticated tool to resolve design conflict and aid decisionmaking within the conceptual design phase.