Collaborative, Decentralized Engineering Design at the Edge of Rationality

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashwin Gurnani ◽  
Kemper Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Bounded Rationality ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Pareto Optimal ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Equilibrium Solutions ◽  
Decentralized Design

One perspective of a design process in the engineering design community is that it is largely a process marked and defined by a series of decisions. The fundamental assumption in most developed design decision support methodologies is that decision makers make rational choices; that is, choices that maximize the payoff for the predicted outcome. Decisions that do not maximize the predicted payoff are termed as mistakes or irrational choices and discarded. However, research in behavioral economics, psychology, and cognitive science has studied the human mind and suggested the notion of “bounded rationality” to explain decision errors. Bounded rationality refers to the intrinsic inability of human beings to accurately choose “rational” options prescribed by decision models such as expected utility. This paper extends the notion of bounded rationality within engineering design. Specifically, this paper studies the design of complex systems that require interaction among several different subsystems contributing to the overall product design. For convergent decentralized design problems, rational designers converge to equilibrium solutions that lie at the intersection of their individual rational reaction sets. These equilibrium solutions are usually not Pareto optimal and due to the dynamics of the designers’ interaction in collaborative design, it is rarely possible for them to converge to Pareto optimal solutions. However, when models for bounded rationality are introduced into individual designer behavior, it is seen that the converged solutions can improve the resulting solution. Bounded rational decisions within decentralized design are modeled, and the effects of propagating such decisions within a design process are studied.

Modeling Collaborative Engineering Design Process Using Petri-Net

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Zhao ◽  
Yan Jin
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Petri Net ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Process Model ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Collaborative Engineering ◽  
Routine Design ◽  
High Level

Abstract Collaborative engineering involves multiple engineers and managers working together to develop engineering products. As the engineering problems become more and more complicated, new technologies are required to achieve better effectiveness and efficiency. While process models management and technologies have been developed to support engineering design, most of them apply only to routine design tasks and do not explicitly deal with the change of processes during execution. Our research proposes a process-driven framework to support collaborative engineering. The framework is composed of a process model that captures both high level and low level activity dependencies, an agent network that monitors process execution and facilitates coordination among engineers, and a Petri-net based modeling tool to represent and analyze process features and predict the performance of engineering processes. In this paper, we first describe a simple collaborative design problem and our proposed ActivePROCESS collaborative engineering framework. After that we present our Petri-net based analytical model of collaborative design process and discuss the model along with a case example.

A Perspective for Evaluating Wikis as a Medium for Communication Within Engineering Design Teams

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolynn J. Walthall ◽  
Srikanth Devanathan ◽  
Lorraine Kisselburgh ◽  
Karthik Ramani ◽  
E. Daniel Hirleman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Design Collaboration

Wikis, freely editable collections of web pages, are showing potential for a flexible documentation and communication tool for collaborative design tasks. They also provide a medium that can be further transformed by properly understanding both the need for flexibility as well as support for design thinking early in the design process. The purpose of this work is to analyze the different dimensions of the wiki from a communication perspective as applicable to design. With a focus on communication in design, we will explore the advantages and disadvantages of using wikis in student engineering design teams. Our ultimate goal is to better support the design process while exploiting the potential for increasing the shared understanding among teams using a wiki. By introducing a wiki in a globally distributed product development course, students gain hands-on experience in using wikis as a design tool. Feedback from students will be collected through questionnaires and used to improve and transform the wiki as a support tool for communication during early design collaboration.

Version Management in a CAD Paradigm

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karthik Krishnamurthy ◽  
Kincho H. Law
Keyword(s):  
Change Management ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Management Model ◽  
Version Management ◽  
Independent Evolution ◽  
Support Engineering ◽  
Management Capabilities

Abstract This paper describes the change management capabilities of a data management model to support engineering design. Specifically, it addresses the problem of detecting changes made to a design during a CAD session and efficiently maintains an evolving description of a primitive entity through the design process. We propose a hierarchical versioning model to support the independent evolution of alternative deigns for a primitive entity and provide operators to store and manage changes among versions in a particular derivation hierarchy. In addition, we present a scheme to represent the version model in a CAD paradigm. The version model presented in this paper is a component of a larger data management model of versions, assemblies, configurations to address the change management needs of collaborative design.

A Pilot Study of Engineering Design-Decision Methods in Practice

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Nichols ◽  
Andrew Olewnik
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Decision Method ◽  
Decision Methods ◽  
Future Work

Numerous engineering design-decision methods have been developed to assist groups of engineers in making choices within a design problem. However, while there are a variety of methods to choose from, there is no empirical data that exhibits which decision-method is best for specific phases of the design process, or that designers are willing to adopt particular decision methods. Due to this lack of empirical data, industry may not use certain engineering design methods since they do not have the resources or time to investigate which method would work best for them. This work presents the development of a framework to examine various engineering design-decision methods in practice. The framework is used in a pilot study with undergraduate engineering students which compares usage of Pugh’s Controlled Convergence (PuCC) and the Group Hypothetical Equivalent and Inequivalent Method (G-HEIM) to the results of an “informal” method (a group decision that is made without a formalized decision method). Results of the pilot study include documenting the emergence of decision “traps” within each group, assessing student perceptions about using formalized design-decision methods through interviews and surveys (critical to understanding potential barriers to adoption of formal methods), and insight into where formal decision methods are most appropriate within a design process. Finally, a number of changes and additions to the framework and study protocol are identified for future work focused on repeating the study with more participants and potentially in industrial settings.

A User-Engineering Design Interaction Supporting Rational Product Cooperative Design

2012 ◽  
Vol 155-156 ◽  
pp. 51-55
Author(s):  
Jian Jun Qin ◽  
Yan An Yao ◽  
Jian Wei Yang
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Market Analysis ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Target Market ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Customer Requirements ◽  
Design Quality ◽  
Cooperative Design ◽  
Computing Platform

To input rational customer requirements into engineering design process more effectively and improve product design quality and market response efficiency, this paper focuses on the interaction between market analysis and engineering design decision for the modular product. While many researchers have successful evaluated and optimized the design schemes, few, if any, have provided a bridge the customer selection and firms product development decision. After a review of the literature we introduce the flow of user-engineering design interaction including both maximize the utility of customer and the profit of the firm. On the user and market analysis flow, customer requirements are defined according to the target market, then the customer selection possibility link to the product attributes by utility function. Accordingly, the alternatives are corresponding to the module different product, and then using decision support problem method to search the optimal design parameters. Two design domains can share the design information and realize the cooperative design process by computer computing platform.

Streamlining ‘environment in design' decision-making – from concept to operations in major development projects

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 679
Author(s):  
Janine M. Barrow
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Hazard Identification ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Major Development

As the engineering design process for a major development project advances from concept through to ready for start up, many key decisions are made and controls formulated that ultimately influence environmental, social (and safety) outcomes. These decisions are often made based on sound technical grounds with key decision logs, hazard identification or hazard and operability studies or similar used to record the process, but with limited recognition of environmental outcomes. Many of the onshore and offshore regulations in Australia (most notably, the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas (Environment) Regulations 2009) require environmental risks and impacts to be reduced to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). Additionally, justifiable assessment of controls and decisions are presented in the environment plans (EP) that are typically prepared later on in the design process. Challenges can often arise when geographically disparate design contractors lack ALARP assessment processes to evaluate decisions and controls from an environmental perspective and record outcomes for future use in regulatory documentation. This can be particularly pronounced for operations EPs. Janine shares her practical experience in environmental integration in engineering design to showcase methods that tangibly demonstrate robust decision-making, inclusive of delivering environmental outcomes, to regulators.

A Knowledge Base Data Representation for Collaborative Mechanical Design

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Nagy ◽  
David G. Ullman ◽  
Thomas G. Dietterich
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Data Representation ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Base System ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Design Information ◽  
Final Design

Abstract Collaborative design projects place additional burdens on current design documentation practices. The literature on group design has repeatedly documented the existence of problems in design decision making due to the unavailability of design information. This paper describes a data representation developed for collaborative mechanical design information. The data representation is used to record the history of the design as a sequence of design decisions. The resulting knowledge base records the final specifications, the alternatives which were considered during the design process, and the designers’ rationale for choosing the final design parameters. It is currently used in a computerized knowledge base system under development by the Design Process Research Group (DPRG), at the authors’ institution (OSU).

A Context-Based Approach to Engineering Design Negotiation

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Geslin ◽  
Yan Jin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Distributed Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Context Model ◽  
Engineering Design Problems

Complex and large-scale engineering design problems require a collaborative approach in order to be completed in a timely manner. Designers involved in such work are making collaborative design decision, and often have to negotiate to address intricate problems and resolve their discrepancies while exploring the design space, generating new ideas and compromising for agreement. Advances in negotiation research have been made in social psychology, distributed artificial intelligence, and decision theory, but few have been applied to design. We advocate that design context information is of paramount importance in the decision-making process. In this paper, an argumentation-based negotiation model is introduced to support collaborative design decision-making. This model relies on clear design context model, argument model, negotiation protocol and strategies. In this paper, we successively detail each of these components and conclude with a discussion on a real-world case example and our future research direction.

A Model of Collaborative Design Decision Making Using Timed Petri-Net

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqiang Chen ◽  
Zahed Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Petri Net ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Design Variables ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Improved Design

This paper presents a Petri-net process model that captures the dependency relationships of design decision making and information exchanges among multiple design problems in a distributed environment. The Model of Distributed Design (MDD) allows quantitative representation of a collaborative design process in which designers from multiple disciplines can effectively work together. The MDD is developed based on the Petri-net graph, which allows various performance analysis to be performed to evaluate and improve a collaborative design process. In this paper, the compromise Decision Support Problem (c-DSP) formulation is used to describe the design problems and the Petri-net is utilized to explicitly describe the propagation of shared design variables and the interactions. The applicability of the model is demonstrated through an example design problem that requires collaboration among four design disciplines. The design processes based on the example are modeled and then analyzed to obtain process features and performance evaluations. Based on the analysis results, an improved design process is given which shortens the design time.

Are We There Yet? Investigating the Role of Design Process Architecture in Convergence Time

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich Devendorf ◽  
Kemper Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Parallel Architecture ◽  
Convergence Time ◽  
Distributed Design ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Equilibrium Solutions ◽  
Design Variables ◽  
Decentralized Design ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Process Architecture

In distributed design individual designers have local control over design variables and seek to minimize their own individual objectives. The amount of time required to reach equilibrium solutions in decentralized design can vary based on the design process architecture chosen. There are two primary design process architectures, sequential and parallel, and a number of possible combinations of these architectures. In this paper a game theoretic approach is developed to determine the time required for a parallel and sequential architecture to converge to a solution for a two designer case. The equations derived solve for the time required to converge to a solution in closed form without any objective function evaluations. This result is validated by analyzing a distributed design case study. In this study the equations accurately predict the convergence time for a sequential and parallel architecture. A second validation is performed by analyzing a large number of randomly generated two designer systems. The approach in this case successfully predicts convergence within 3 iterations for nearly 98% of the systems analyzed. The remaining 2% highlight one of the approach’s weaknesses; it is susceptible to numerically ill conditioned problems. Understanding the rate at which distributed design problems converge is of key importance when determining design architectures. This work begins the investigation with a two designer case and lays the groundwork to expand to larger design systems with multiple design variables.

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