Development of a Tool for Assessing the Design Process: A step toward the creation of a Design Observatory

Gendron, Steve; Brousseau, Jean; Elouafi, Abderrazak; Urli, Bruno

doi:10.24908/pceea.v0i0.3626

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Indeed, the existence of a link between the product to be developed and its development was underscored by Clarkson and Eckert, who consider that product development should be tailored to the product under development (Clarkson and Eckert 2005). Furthermore, the necessity of processes, methods and tools to structure and support various aspects of product development has been acknowledged by several experts (Nijssen and Frambach 2000;Cagan and Vogel 2002;Lindemann 2003;Stetter and Lindemann 2005;Gendron et al 2011;Albers et al 2014). As products evolve, product development structure is expected to evolve.…”

Section: Reconsidering Product Development In the Fourth Industrial R...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizing the fragmented landscape of multidisciplinary product development: a mapping of approaches, processes, methods and tools from the scientific literature

et al. 2022

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The fourth industrial revolution is shaping a new industrial landscape. A variety of technologies related to software, information and communication technologies embody a ubiquitous digital and connectivity era. These technologies enable the creation of new products with the integration of connectivity, data collection and processing capacities which require combining engineering disciplines. Increasing product multidisciplinarity compels companies to adapt their product development practices. The scientific literature offers a variety of concepts and techniques to support multidisciplinary product development. This paper seeks to organize the landscape of concepts and techniques available for multidisciplinary product development. An extensive literature review was conducted, and 236 concepts and techniques were identified. Multidisciplinary products of interest deal with both software and hardware development and can be encountered through the denominations of cyber-physical systems, mechatronics and smart products and systems. An in-depth analysis led to the classification and mapping, for each product denomination, of the concepts and techniques available to support their development. The classification relies on a four-level model paired with a decision tree to thoroughly sort the variety of concepts and techniques into the approach, process, method, and tool levels. The mapping between the sorted concepts and techniques enabled the generation of graphical representations called cartographies. These cartographies serve to support companies’ transformation towards the fourth industrial revolution from the product development perspective by giving a general overview of the related literature, and guiding them in the identification of the most suitable approaches, processes, methods and tools.

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Section: Reconsidering Product Development In the Fourth Industrial R...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizing the fragmented landscape of multidisciplinary product development: a mapping of approaches, processes, methods and tools from the scientific literature

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…With regards to the methods of design, there was a gap between the fact of declaring the use of a structured design process (60% of respondents), while on the other hand, the use of design MTT (27% of respondents). Because a design process benefits from being complemented by MTT, these results seem to indicate that the design process used by a company is not as structured as it could or should be [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…To better understand the current design practices in SMEs, 31 companies located in Eastern Québec have participated in an exploratory study conducted in 2010 [5]. With regards to the methods of design, there was a gap between the fact of declaring the use of a structured design process (60% of respondents), while on the other hand, the use of design MTT (27% of respondents).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design System Assessment Tool

Gendron

Brousseau

Elouafi

et al. 2012

Product Lifecycle Management. Towards Knowledge-Rich Enterprises

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In 2010, an exploratory survey focused on design methods, tools and techniques, was conducted in order to understand what type of design practices are used in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMES) located in Eastern Quebec. This study reveals that most SMEs declared using a structured design process while very few are regular users of structured Methods, sophisticated Tools, or specialized design Techniques (MTT). Because the results suggest that the design process in SMEs is not as structured as could be expected a new research was launched. Specifically, the research objective consist to identify the most important determinants of design performance and to develop indicators for assessing the design process as well as the other dimensions of design projects. In this model, six dimensions describe what is called the design system: the environmental dimension, the human and techno-scientific axis, management, the design process and the product aspects. The Dimensions are evaluated using an assortment of variables (descriptors) to assess the "design system" of an organization. Each descriptor is related to the following issues: (i) the type of methods, tools and activities used by the organization, (ii) the importance of the descriptor according to the project success, (iii) the performance level of the organization in that matter and (iv) the involvement of the partners. The questionnaire has been tested and refined on a pilot basis by eight partners. In addition to the model and the questionnaire, the paper presents an overview of the survey results and it illustrates how the assessment tool can be used to identify the challenges that a company must face in order to improve its design practices. Finally, it exposes the strengths and weaknesses of the questionnaire and it identifies the improvements to be made before to use it as base of an observatory intended to measure and monitor the evolution of design practices of organizations.

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“…The project of a longitudinal study in order to develop performance indicators for design practices follows an exploratory study conducted in 2010 [5]. The results of this study show that a majority of respondents report using a structured design process (60%) while only 27% (including the largest companies) resort to methods, specialized tools and design techniques (MTT).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Questionnaire for Assessing Design Practices

Gendron

Brousseau

Elouafi

et al. 2012

PCEEA

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In 2010, an exploratory survey on methods, tools and design techniques (MTT) has led to a better understanding of design practices of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) located in Eastern Quebec. The results of this survey have shown that most companies report having a structured design process, while only some resort to MTT. Following this study, a new research was launched to develop performance indicators for the design process, but also, and more generally, for design projects. To do this, a tool was developed to characterize and evaluate the design practices of companies as a way to establish performance indicators following a longitudinal study. A questionnaire was developed as a tool based on a model of design system consisting of six dimensions (human, management, environment, product, process and techno-scientific). In the questionnaire, each dimension is characterized by different descriptors which are analyzed by four aspects that measure: i) if the descriptors are taken into consideration (the occurrence of the descriptors), ii) the importance of the descriptors according to the project success , iii) the company’s performance level related on the descriptors and iv) the involvement of partners. For validation purposes, the tool was tested on a pilot basis by eight companies. This paper introduces the questionnaire and the model that directed its construction and the types of analysis that can be conducted using the data collected.

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Development of a Tool for Assessing the Design Process: A step toward the creation of a Design Observatory

Abstract: SummaryAn exploratory survey, conducted in 2010, has

Cited by 3 publications

References 8 publications

Organizing the fragmented landscape of multidisciplinary product development: a mapping of approaches, processes, methods and tools from the scientific literature

Organizing the fragmented landscape of multidisciplinary product development: a mapping of approaches, processes, methods and tools from the scientific literature

Design System Assessment Tool

Questionnaire for Assessing Design Practices

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