Papers by David Wynn
Research in Engineering Design, 2022
Feedback is essential in the design and development process, occurring in the generation of new d... more Feedback is essential in the design and development process, occurring in the generation of new designs, in the adaptation of development projects to emerging information, and in coordination and collaboration of project participants-among many other aspects. Feedback also contributes to development project complexity and may cause resistance to desirable changes. But despite the importance of feedback in the design and development process (DDP), relatively few publications have examined this topic in an integrated way. This article makes two contributions towards addressing the gap. First, a conceptual framework is developed to organise perspectives on feedback in the DDP literature. The framework shows how feedback occurs at different levels of the design and development process and how it affects important DDP behaviours, namely goal-seeking, learning and emergence. Second, a system-theoretic model of feedback situations in the design and development process is introduced to synthesise key ideas. We provide concrete examples to show how this new model can be used to frame DDP situations and draw out feedback-related insight.
Research in Engineering Design, 2023
When a product variant offers functionality that is high in demand, firms may decide to leverage ... more When a product variant offers functionality that is high in demand, firms may decide to leverage that design to enhance other variants in their product line. This can be achieved by extracting functions and their realisations from one product variant and integrating them into another variant, resulting in a third product variant that has a new combination of functions and physical features. This article introduces a systematic approach called the Adaptive Redesign Method (ARM) to support this function integration process. The ARM is based on a new product model called the Detailed Design Model (DDM). In comparison to existing approaches, the DDM allows the architecture of an existing product to be modelled on a sufficiently detailed level to identify geometric features and parts that realise particular operating functions of a product. This detailed information provides a basis for systematic determination of the redesign activities needed to derive a new variant design, down to the detailed level of adding, removing and integrating specific parts and features. The main benefit is to assist with planning the redesign process while ensuring nothing is overlooked, which might be especially useful if the task is to be divided among several designers or if designers are not fully familiar with the designs at hand. A secondary benefit is to show how this type of redesign process can be decomposed into systematic steps, which could potentially reveal opportunities for computer support. The new approach has been developed and tested through reverse engineering studies of consumer products, confirming its applicability.
Research in Engineering Design, 2024
Companies with established product families can meet emerging market needs by extending their pro... more Companies with established product families can meet emerging market needs by extending their product families over time, that is, by introducing new product variants sequentially. Starting points for each new design can be generated by integrating design solutions from existing products in the same family. This article introduces an automated systematic approach to derive all possible ways of combining existing designs to produce a new variant with a desired new combination of functionality, based on algorithmic analysis of product models. The approach considers the functions in existing products and how they are realised in specific CAD parts and the geometric features defining them. By automatically generating and evaluating all the options, the new approach helps identify the most efficient way to combine existing parts and features from a product family to generate a new product variant with distinct functionality. The approach has been applied to product families of mechanical and mechatronic consumer products. It was evaluated by manually implementing the automatically-generated redesign instructions in CAD for several product variants, which built confidence in the approach's accuracy and performance. From the evaluation, opportunities for further work are suggested.
Engineering design and development projects involve a multitude of plans in various formats. Such... more Engineering design and development projects involve a multitude of plans in various formats. Such documents are created, used and updated throughout a project. We argue that the interactions among plan documents, their content, their stakeholders and the planning processes can be usefully perceived as a planning system. The planning system is instrumental in coordinating a design and development project and thus strongly influences how it unfolds. In this article, a survey tool is developed to assess a planning system from its stakeholders’ perspective. Results from the survey are analysed using Multiple-Domain Matrix (MDM) methodology to derive insights and suggestions for improvement. The approach is developed and demonstrated through a case study in a company that develops advanced electronic scientific instruments.
Many models of the design and development process have been published over the years, representin... more Many models of the design and development process have been published over the years, representing it for different purposes and from different points of view. This article contributes an organising framework that clarifies the topology of the literature on these models and thereby relates the main perspectives that have been developed. The main categories of model are introduced. Their contexts, advantages, and limitations are considered through discussion of selected examples. It is demonstrated that the framework integrates coverage of earlier reviews and as such provides a new perspective on the literature. Finally, key characteristics of design and development process models are discussed considering their applications in practice, and opportunities for further research are suggested. Overall, the article should aid researchers in positioning new models and new modelling approaches in relation to state-of-the-art. It may also be of interest to practitioners and educators seeking an overview of developments in this area.
Design, development, and other projects inevitably involve iteration. Iteration has positive effe... more Design, development, and other projects inevitably involve iteration. Iteration has positive effects, such as enabling progressive generation of knowledge, enabling concurrency, and integrating necessary changes, but it also increases duration and cost of a project. Managing iteration is thus an important issue in practice, but can be challenging due in part to a profusion of issues and terminologies. This article contributes a literature summary and integrating taxonomy to clarify the different perspectives on iteration. It brings together insights into iteration gained from different research communities (mainly design and product development, alongside selected work in construction management and software project management) and different research approaches (including conceptual frameworks, mathematical and simulation models, case studies and surveys, and protocol studies). By differentiating the issues and providing a uniform terminology, the article maps insights developed to date and may help situate future analyses of iterative processes.
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED11), Vol. 1, 2011
abstract: Introducing" Cheaper, Faster, Better" product in today's highly competit... more abstract: Introducing" Cheaper, Faster, Better" product in today's highly competitive market is a challenging target. Therefore, for organizations to improve their performance, they need to adopt methods, such as process modeling, risk mitigation, and value lean principles. Recently, several industries and researchers focused efforts in transferring value concept to other phases of the Product Life Cycle (PLC), such as Product Development (PD), after its evident success in manufacturing.
Conference papers by David Wynn
Book chapters by David Wynn
Lean product development has been developed and deployed in an effort to enhance company operatio... more Lean product development has been developed and deployed in an effort to enhance company operations. Understanding value is the first step to becoming 'Lean'. However, the mere translation of value from its conventional interpretation in lean production as``something the customer will pay for`` does not equate to an effective value orientation in product development (PD). In order to better understand the theoretical context of PD value in research, as well as the potential application of a value orientation in practice, further study is necessary. This paper aims to broaden the understanding of PD value by discussing by linking roles in value creation and delivery to different contexts and phases of the product life cycle.
Book by David Wynn
Springer, 2024
This book explores a process perspective on design and development, grounded in research in desig... more This book explores a process perspective on design and development, grounded in research in design studies, engineering design and systems design. The design and development process is important---it creates all artificial products and systems and determines how well they address human needs. The process perspective set out in this book has value for design and development practice and education, and is in its own right a fascinating topic of investigation. This book expands on the foundations of a process perspective and discusses its realisation in many process models, theories and approaches that have been developed over the years. The chapters provide connected overviews of key concepts and introduce new conceptual frameworks to clarify relationships between the contributions discussed. Practical considerations and competencies required to realise the tangible benefits of a process perspective are also discussed. A unique aspect of this book is that it brings together many perspectives on the design and development process: those that focus on individual design activity through to those that focus on large-scale development projects; those of research interest and those of practical interest; and those of relevance to design contexts ranging from human-centered design to engineering design and systems design. The chapter bibliographies collect carefully-selected recommendations for further reading on each topic discussed. The book additionally contains many figures presented in colour, visually reflecting each topic's relationship to the new organising frameworks that are introduced.
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Papers by David Wynn
Conference papers by David Wynn
Book chapters by David Wynn
Book by David Wynn