A quantitative model of hierarchical product design

Analysing hierarchical design processes is difficult due to the technical and organizational dependencies spanning over multiple levels. The V-Model of Systems Engineering considers multiple levels. It is, however, not quantitative. We propose a model for simulating hierarchical product design proce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDesign Science Vol. 11
Main Authors Wöhr, Ferdinand, Königs, Simon, Stanglmeier, Max, Zimmermann, Markus
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 07.02.2025
Subjects
Agent-based modelling
Decision making
Decomposition
Design engineering
Design optimization
Designers
Distributed design
Engineering
Human subjects
Information systems
Literature reviews
Process engineering
Process simulation
Product design
Product development
Product models
Product quality
Quantitative analysis
Systems engineering
Teams
Distributed design
Process simulation
Agent-based modelling
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Summary:Analysing hierarchical design processes is difficult due to the technical and organizational dependencies spanning over multiple levels. The V-Model of Systems Engineering considers multiple levels. It is, however, not quantitative. We propose a model for simulating hierarchical product design processes based on the V-Model. It includes, first, a product model which structures physical product properties in a hierarchical dependency graph; second, an organizational model which formalizes the assignment of stakeholder responsibility; third, a process model which describes the top-down and bottom-up flow of design information; fourth, an actor model which simulates the combination of product, organization and process by using computational agents. The quantitative model is applied to a simple design problem with three stakeholders and three separate areas of responsibility. The results show the following phenomena observed in real-world product design: design iterations occur naturally as a consequence of the designers’ individual behaviour; inconsistencies in designs emerge and are resolved. The simple design problem is used to compare point-based and interval-based requirement decomposition quantitatively. It is shown that development time can be reduced significantly by using interval-based requirements if requirements are always broken down immediately.
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ISSN:2053-4701
2053-4701
DOI:10.1017/dsj.2024.37