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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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Design Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470124000374/type/journal_article |
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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 |