Design Automation State of Practice - Potential and Opportunities

Rigger, Eugen; Vosgien, Thomas

doi:10.21278/idc.2018.0537

Cited by 11 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…On the other hand, the generation of several solutions using the optimization was highly appreciated among the participants, as it supports ideation of problem solving. This is contrary to the answers given to the acceptance and usage assessment from a general perspective, where engineers were still most interested in automating repetitive tasks, and also contrary to the results of the study in Rigger and Vosgien (2018), where obtaining alternative solutions was ranked as a minor driver for implementing DA. This discrepancy can be explained by the fact that only regarding the former part the engineers have seen an approach for finding several solutions before answering the questions.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 87%

“…(III) By comparing as-is and to-be processes and by using quantitative and/or qualitative assessments, the potential and expected benefits of DA solution are elaborated. For the quantitative assessment, metrics, such as lead-time reduction, can be derived from a list of DA drivers defined in Rigger and Vosgien (2018). Similarly, qualitative evaluation with end-users, e.g.…”

Section: Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potential identification and industrial evaluation of an integrated design automation workflow

Entner¹,

Prante²,

Vosgien³

et al. 2019

JEDT

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Purpose The paper aims to raise awareness in the industry of design automation tools, especially in early design phases, by demonstrating along a case study the seamless integration of a prototypically implemented optimization, supporting design space exploration in the early design phase and an in operational use product configurator, supporting the drafting and detailing of the solution predominantly in the later design phase. Design/methodology/approach Based on the comparison of modeled as-is and to-be processes of ascent assembly designs with and without design automation tools, an automation roadmap is developed. Using qualitative and quantitative assessments, the potentials and benefits, as well as acceptance and usage aspects, are evaluated. Findings Engineers tend to consider design automation for routine tasks. Yet, prototypical implementations support the communication and identification of the potential for the early stages of the design process to explore solution spaces. In this context, choosing from and interactively working with automatically generated alternative solutions emerged as a particular focus. Translators, enabling automatic downstream propagation of changes and thus ensuring consistency as to change management were also evaluated to be of major value. Research limitations/implications A systematic validation of design automation in design practice is presented. For generalization, more case studies are needed. Further, the derivation of appropriate metrics needs to be investigated to normalize validation of design automation in future research. Practical implications Integration of design automation in early design phases has great potential for reducing costs in the market launch. Prototypical implementations are an important ingredient for potential evaluation of actual usage and acceptance before implementing a live system. Originality/value There is a lack of systematic validation of design automation tools supporting early design phases. In this context, this work contributes a systematically validated industrial case study. Early design-phases-support technology transfer is important because of high leverage potential.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 87%

Section: Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential identification and industrial evaluation of an integrated design automation workflow

Entner¹,

Prante²,

Vosgien³

et al. 2019

JEDT

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Given the fact that designers are knowledgeable about design automation opportunities for the early phase, they also see the potential for design automation application as indicated by the metrics rating. This is contradictory to previous findings of survey that showed that designers do not consider design automation relevant for the early stages of the design process (Rigger and Vosgien, 2018). Most likely, this is linked to the lack of knowledge about the opportunities.…”

Section: Implications and Future Workcontrasting

confidence: 87%

“…Current practice for potential estimation of design automation, which accounts for the assessment of the impact of design automation on design performance, relies on qualitative estimation of the value of design automation based on high-level design automation drivers. These drivers account for motivational aspects for design automation implementation in practice (Amen et al, 1999;Cederfeldt et al, 2005;Rigger and Vosgien, 2018) and most often, only estimations of potential time savings for repetitive tasks in product development are reported, e.g. Frank et al (2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, even if a set of metrics is available, metrics need to be rated based on estimations of the impact. Since the majority of designers have no experience with design automation (Rigger and Vosgien, 2018), this estimation is subject to uncertainties. The purpose of this paper is to systematically investigate these uncertainties when estimating the impact of design automation on design performance based on a prevalent set of metrics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimating the Impact of Design Automation: The Influence of Knowledge on Potential Estimation

Rigger

Lutz

Shea

et al. 2019

Proc. Int. Conf. Eng. Des.

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Assessing the impact of design automation on design practice prior to its implementation is difficult and subject to uncertainties. One reason for this is the designers' lack of knowledge about design automation. In this work, an industrial case study focusing on conceptual design of hydraulic circuits is conducted to assess the impact of the designers' knowledge on design automation potential estimation. In particular, the impact of demonstrating a prototypical implementation of a design automation application is investigated as a means to enhance the designers' knowledge about design automation. In this respect, a given set of metrics is rated twice to enable a comparative study: prior to and after introducing the design automation prototype. The yielded results show that the knowledge impacts the rating and supports reliability of potential estimation. Further, it is shown that designers acknowledge design automation potential for the early stages of design given sufficient knowledge about design automation. Yet, the results also indicate that careful attention needs to be put on the aspects covered by the prototype in order to avoid biasing participants.

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