II. OVERVIEW AND CONTEXT

I. CHAPTER ROAD MAP

Figure 12.1 illustrates the roadmap for this chapter.

II. OVERVIEW AND CONTEXT

Concept embodiment is perhaps the task most identified with an engineer in the product development process. During this stage (as shown in Figure 12.2), the engineers (as the product function teams) carry out many activities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH9Y9tFCZ4M

Figure 12.3 illustrates various embodiment design methods as a function of a product's life cycle.

http://www.slideshare.net/ShinichiKudo5/robust-design-15552338

Each topic in Figure 12.3 is discussed in great detail in the subsequent chapters.

When studying this framework, it is important to understand the intrinsic complexity and nonlinearity of the process. Figure 12.4 provides a visual aid for this idea. In the figure, three stages of a natural-energy bilge pump product (Chapter 10) are captured in time. The first stage includes customer needs analysis, functional modeling, and product-architectural layout. At this stage, the physical embodiment of the product is very fuzzy. The product is understood as an input-output system that converts energy from the environment to water flow from a pleasure craft. The business-case opportunity and engineering specifications are investigated and documented. However, an actual physical concept has not been created in any concrete or tangible vision.

In the next stage of the process, concepts are developed as line drawings and high-level geometric descriptions. The focus is on the operational principles of the product. Detailed geometry, shape, material choices, and so forth are typically unknown. As illustrated in Figure 12.4, the mental picture of the product has become much more focused; yet, the specific elements remain fuzzy and unclear. The process applies to redesign situations, where a product's subsystems are being significantly evolved for a new product offering. Figure 12.5 illustrates this later case. As shown in the figure, the original concept of an electric wok product is evolved to a new concept that includes more advanced control of thermal heating, a new configuration to accommodate product cleaning and storage, and a new layout to emulate the historical development of authentic Chinese cooking.

III. BASIC METHODS: REFINING GEOMETRY AND LAYOUT

In the context of creating a robust product or family of products, two issues drive concept embodiment: (1) refining a product's geometry and architecture, and (2) systems modeling toward detail design. These two issues pertain to four design scenarios: original design, adaptive design where a significant new technology is introduced (the bifurcation of the s-curve in Figure 3.2), adaptive design where a simple subsystem is modified, or parametric (variant) design.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 842