<p>Quality Function Deployment is an extremely useful tool which can be applied within the Systems Engineering Process, to optimize product design and the design process. The use of cross functional teams to analyze customer needs; translate them into design attributes; and subsequently deploy them through every facet of product design, development, and production, can significantly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the entire process. Unfortunately the few examples of Quality Function Deployment application, in the academic literature, are generally simplistic and lack any significant depth.</p> <p> The objective of this report is to investigate the application of Quality Function Deployment to a relatively complex product design requirement in an actual manufacturing environment. Specifically, the design and production of engine main bearings at the Federal Mogul plant in Blacksburg, Virginia, are considered.</p> <p> The report examines the use of Quality Function Deployment, as a general design tool; the functional requirements and design constraints of engine main bearings; and the application of one variation of Quality Function Deployment to the evaluation of proposed changes to a bearing's design configuration and the bearing production process.</p> <p> The report concludes with recommendations concerning the implementation of Quality Function Deployment at Federal Mogul, the conduct of Quality Function Deployment instruction at Virginia Tech and a possible avenue for future research.</p> / Master of Science

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The military community has considerable experience in the areas of procuring and managing large systems. These systems are often expected to perform their intended function over a period of several years and as a result, they will require an extensive support structure consisting of personnel, equipment and spare assets. For this reason, Logistics Management has always been an important field within the military and is gaining recognition within private industry as well. The evolutionary process which starts with the identification of a need and continues through design, production and retirement is known as a product's life cycle. Studies have shown that the decisions which are made initially, during the design of the product, will determine 80% of the total system costs. Several efforts have been initiated to improve the product design process and emphasize the life cycle approach. These include; Concurrent Engineering, Logistics Support Analysis (LSA) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD). These efforts necessitate an overhaul of the decision-making methods used in the product design process. Consequently, within the military community and private industry, the time-honored sequential-hierarchical-decision approach to design is being replaced with concurrent decision-making. The sequential process of the hierarchical method can lead to suboptimal designs which significantly increase manufacturing and follow-on support costs. / Ph. D.

Concurrent engineering is a philosophy for improving design communication and aiding the process of recognizing and resolving design conflicts. Design economics is an integrated part of the concurrent engineering process, since cost-effective product design is at the root of many design conflicts. However, the bulk of research on concurrent engineering focuses on deriving better methods for coordinating both product and process designs with respect to functionality and manufacturability issues. The issue of implementing design economics via the concurrent engineering process at the conceptual design stage has not been adequately addressed. This research explores the development of a structural framework for incorporating concurrent engineering and design economics into a prototype decision support system that supports the conceptual phase of the product design process. The dissertation has three major tasks: (1) To formulate a concurrent engineering framework for use during the conceptual design stage, (2) To develop an activity-based cost estimation model for estimating product cost at the conceptual level of product design, and (3) To integrate and demonstrate the concurrent engineering framework and the activity-based cost estimation model together in a prototype decision support system. To accomplish the objective of this research, electronics manufacturing is used as an application setting. The design of printed circuit board assemblies is the domain for establishing a structural framework for incorporating concurrent engineering and activity-based cost estimation. / Ph. D.

Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) introducerades tidigt på 2000-talet för att främja ett arbete med datorbaserade modeller samt involvering av produktionsplanering i designfasen. VDC är ett koncept som idag har anammats inom många bygg- och konsultföretag för att utveckla arbetet med Building Information Model (BIM), innovationer och samverkan inom byggprojekt. Konceptet VDC förändras ständigt och omdefinieras av enskilda individer och företag. Det här resulterar i att det råder en begreppsförvirring hur VDC ska definieras och hur arbete med VDC ska genomföras. Vidare tenderar många byggprojekt att vara fragmenterade med projektmedlemmar som främst fokuserar på sitt eget teknikområde. För att minska fragmentering mellan projektmedlemmar kan integrerade arbetsmetoder tillämpas. Syftet med examensarbetet är därför dels att undersöka innebörden av VDC som koncept och även hur VDC kan stimulera integrerade arbetsmetoder. Ämnet utforskas kvalitativt med vetenskaplig litteratur och intervjustudie. Den vetenskapliga litteraturen definierar konceptuellt VDC och två integrerade arbetsmetoder Integrated Concurrent Engineering (ICE) och Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). Varvid intervjustudien inkluderar respondenter från byggsektorn vars reflektioner om det studerade ämnet presenteras. Studien är geografiskt avgränsad till Sverige.  I resultatet påvisas den rådande tvetydigheten huruvida VDC definieras. För att undvika begreppsförvirring kan det vara behövligt med en gemensam definition av VDC i byggbranschen och även nationella riktlinjer vilka beskriver hur arbete med VDC ska utföras. Vidare kan VDC stimulera ett integrerat arbetssätt genom en ökad samhörighet inom byggprojekt med bland annat gemensamma formuleringar av projektmål och gemensam problemlösning mellan projektmedlemmar. / Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) was introduced early in the 21st century in order to encourage work with computer based models and construction planning in the design phase. VDC is a concept that has been embraced by several construction and consulting companies in order to develop their work with Building Information Model (BIM), innovations and cooperation within construction projects. VDC is a concept that keeps evolving and is being redefined by individuals and companies. This has contributed to a conceptual confusion within the construction sector about the definition of VDC. Furthermore, construction projects tend to be fragmented with project members that are working in silos and primarily focusing on their own discipline. In order to decrease the fragmentation within construction projects integrated working methods can be applied. Therefor the purpose of this master thesis is to explore the concept VDC and how it can stimulate integrated working methods.  The study is examined using qualitative methods based on scientific literature and an interview study. The scientific literature is defining VDC conceptually and two integrated working methods Integrated Concurrent Engineering (ICE) and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). Furthermore, the interview study includes respondents from the construction industry whose reflections and thoughts about the subject are being presented. The study is geographically limited to Sweden.  The result shows the current ambiguity of how VDC is defined. In order to avoid a conceptual confusion a common definition should be formulated with national guidelines that describe how work with VDC should be conducted. Furthermore, VDC can stimulate an integrated approach through increased cohesion within construction projects, including common objectives within the project and joint problem solving between project members.

Developing high-end aerospace components is a complex and highly competitive business. Hence methods for decreasing lead-time, while still providing the same quality and at a lower cost, has to be developed. This thesis is conducted at Research &amp; Technology - GKN Aerospace in Trollhättan Sweden. A multidisciplinary analysis system known internally as Engineering Workbench, forms the base for implementation of the methods and tools developed in this thesis work. The system applies set-based engineering approach to develop new components. The evaluation of the design space is performed through parametric studies to find relations between the design parameters and performance metrics of the design. The engineering workbench allows GKN to define and evaluate a large design space within a limited timeframe. This thesis will look to improve the current producibility assessment system within the EWB by increasing the robustness and flexibility of the system. This is done by re-designing the producibility analysis part system and into a modular knowledge-based system that implements various techniques to increase the robustness and flexibility of the system. The re-designed system is automated, flexible and robust and is able to perform user defined weld assessments on a various designs and provides GKN with weld producibility data.

Ett av de företag som ligger i framkant vad gäller hållbar utveckling är WSP, vilket är ett av världens ledande analys- och teknikkonsultföretag. De har ett globalt innovations- och hållbarhetsprogram som ger stöd i ett arbete med att framtidssäkra sina uppdrag: Future Ready. Problemet är att det i dagsläget inte är helt självklart för en teknisk konsult att erbjuda ett kunderbjudande som även innehåller mjuka värden. Branschens företag ställs inför utmaningen att förflyttas från en traditionell domänexpertis till att vara den som även aktivt minskar den osäkerhet som finns hos kunder, partners och medarbetare vad gäller hållbarhetsfrågor. Därför är syftet med detta arbete att bidra till en ökad förståelse för drivkrafterna och hindren för att lyckas med denna typ av förändring och implementering. Detta arbete vilar på en konceptuell modell, bestående av olika teoriområden, vilken är en potentiell utvecklingsprocess för en teknisk konsult att gå från traditionell domänexpertis till ledande inom innovation. De tre övergripande teoriområdena är Concurrent Engineering (CE), Designdriven innovation (DI) och kulturförflyttning. CE är en metod som bygger på ett samverkande arbetssätt för att utvidga den kontextuella förmågan med avseende på värdeerbjudanden, DI bygger på ökandet av värdet av domänexpertisen vilket ökar den innovativa förmågan och kulturförflyttningen antas ske parallellt med dessa eftersom man i och med den här förflyttningen ändrar fokus från endast hårda värden till att även inkludera mjuka. För att genomföra detta arbete har en kvalitativ metod och Mode 2 i huvudsak tillämpats. Dessutom har en litteraturstudie genomförts och insamling av empiriskt material har skett genom en processkartläggning samt intervjustudie. Analysen för litteraturstudien genomfördes iterativt och intervjustudien utgick från en analysmodell som författaren själv tagit fram, baserat på ett antal nyckelord och teman. Den största drivkraften för att implementera ett arbete med Lead in innovation är tid. Tid är den gemensamma nämnaren vad gäller problematik i dagsläget som identifierades kopplat till de tre teoriområdena. Det största hindret för implementering av CE är det specifika arbetssättet som ”låser fast” medarbetarna till specifika projektdagar. För DI handlar det om det innovativa tankesättet som är svårt att påverka. Angående kulturförflyttningen handlar det om komplexiteten som finns i och med att den tillhör det dolda och därmed är svår att ta till sig. Även om det här arbetet kräver fortsatta studier för att vara genomförbart så belyser det många nya intressanta synvinklar och förslag på en möjlig utvecklingsprocess. Därmed bör detta arbete betraktas som ett bidrag till ett incitament att påbörja en resa för såväl WSP som andra företag eller organisationer att gå från traditionell domänexpertis till Lead in innovation. / One of the companies at the forefront of sustainable development is WSP, which is one of the world's leading analysis and engineering consulting companies. They have a global innovation and sustainability program with the aim to see and analyze the future more clearly: Future Ready. The problem is that it is not always obvious for a technical consultant how to offer and increase the soft values towards the customer. The industry's companies are faced with the challenge of moving from a traditional domain expertise to be the one who also actively reduces the uncertainty that exists among customers, partners and employees in terms of sustainability issues. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to contribute to an increased understanding of the driving forces and obstacles to succeed with this type of change and implementation. This work rests on a conceptual model, of different theory areas, which is a potential development process for a technical consultant to move from traditional domain expertise to leading innovation. The theory is based upon Concurrent Engineering (CE), Design-driven Innovation (DI) and cultural movement. CE is a method that is based on a collaborative approach to expand the contextual ability regarding value offering, DI is based on how to increase the domain expertise value, which increases the innovative ability and the cultural movement is assumed to be parallel to these because this movement changes focus from only hard to even soft values. To carry out this work, a qualitative method and Mode 2 have mainly been applied. In addition, a literature study has been conducted and the collection of empirical material has been done through a process mapping and interview study. The analysis for the literature study was carried out iteratively and the interview study was based on an analysis model which the author herself produced, based on several keywords and themes. The biggest driving force for implementing work with Lead in innovation is time. Time is the common denominator regarding the current problem areas and seen as an interlinkage between the three areas within this project. The biggest obstacle to implementing CE is the specific way of working that "locks in" the employees to specific project days. DI requires every employee to think innovative, which can be hard to achieve. Due to the fact that the culture is hidden, it is hard to grasp which indeed makes it hard to overcome. Although this work requires continued studies to be feasible, it highlights many new interesting perspectives and proposals for a possible development process. Thus, this work should be regarded as a contribution to an incentive to start a journey for both WSP and other companies or organizations to move from traditional domain expertise to Lead in innovation.

Um sistema composto por orientações de projeto e de processo, por um software CAD, mais especificamente, pelo PRO-ENGINEER (PRO-E) e um sistema de auxílio voltado para a manufatura (SEMF) foi desenvolvido como forma de auxílio ao engenheiro projetista no desenvolvimento do projeto de peças fundidas em areia. Este sistema integrado é capaz de analisar um desenho feito em sistema CAD (PRO-E), de um modelo de uma peça a ser fundida e fornecer um diagnóstico sobre possíveis violações quanto à sua manufatura. Isto é feito através de uma base de conhecimento que reúne informações de como minimizar possíveis defeitos com relação à geometria da peça a o processo de fundição. O desenho deve seguir um procedimento adequado para que as features criadas no PRO-E possam ser reconhecidas pelo sistema, para um possível diagnóstico de problemas existentes na geometria da peça e/ou no processo de fundição. / A computer system based on design and process guidelines and a CAD system has been developed in order to aid an engineer designer to develop cast parts free from defects. The proposed system can analyze and detect, automatically, problems that may happen during the casting process of a part. This is done through a built-in Knowledge Base that gather information on how to avoid defects related to part geometry and casting process. The parts must be designed using the CAD system, PRO-E, and the drawing of the part, must be done following a certain procedure, otherwise the system will not be able to check the part.

"Current approaches to design are often serial and iterative in nature, leading to poor quality of design and reduced productivity. Complex artifacts are designed by groups of experts, each with his/her own area of expertise. Hence design can be modeled as a cooperative multi-agent problem-solving task, where different agents possess different expertise and evaluation criteria. New techniques for Concurrent Design, which emphasize parallel interaction among design experts involved, are needed. During this concurrent design process, disagreements may arise among the expert agents as the design is being produced. The process by which these differences are resolve to arrive at a common set of design decisions is called Negotiation. The main issues associated with the negotiation process are, whether negotiation should be centralized or distributed, the language of communication and the negotiation strategy. The goals of this thesis are to study the work done by various researchers in this field, to do a comarative analysis of their work and to design and implement an approach to handle negotiation between expert agents in an existing Concurrent Engineering Design System."

På Saab Dynamics genomförs metodikprojektet MBD ILS &amp; Systemsäkerhet. Metodikprojektet genomförs för att skapa optimala förutsättningar för Concurrent Engineering (CE), som i stora drag handlar om att involvera fler funktioner redan tidigt i designfasen eller konstruktionsprocessen, även kallat integrerad produktutveckling, för att på så sätt inkludera livscykelperspektivet i större utsträckning under utvecklingsprocessen. Examensarbetet utfördes som en del av metodikprojektet och uppgiften var att utföra en nulägesanalys för att undersöka informationsutbytet, som är en förutsättning för CE, mellan disciplinerna Mekanik och ILS (Integrated Logistic Support). Nulägesanalysen genomfördes som en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervjuer med de anställda på Saab Dynamics för att få fram deras upplevelser och åsikter om det nuvarande informationsutbytet. Intervjumaterialet sammanställdes och analyserades i förhållande till CE, för att ta fram punkter som representerade det nuvarande informationsutbytet och förbättringsbehov. Informationsutbytet ansågs vara bristfälligt i förhållande till CE. De anställda upplevde en avsaknad av beskrivningar och riktlinjer för informationsutbytet i gränssnittet mellan Mekanik och ILS. De förbättringsbehov som identifierades rör behov av återkoppling, ansvarstagande, förståelse och insikt i varandras arbete, som är faktorer som har stor påverkan på CE. För vidare arbete anses en intressant aspekt vara att undersöka olika typer och storlekar av projekt för att se hur informationsutbytet varierar. Även intervjuer med projektledare anses kunna tillföra ett bredare perspektiv på nuläget. / Saab Dynamics is implementing the methodology project MBD ILS &amp; Systemssäkerhet. The project has the purpose of creating the optimum conditions required for Concurrent Engineering (CE). CE generally concerns the early involvement of all necessary functions during the product development process, which makes it possible to include the lifecycle perspective at a larger extent. CE is comparable to, the more common approach, integrated product development. The bachelor thesis was a part of the methodology project to analyse the exchange of information, which is a fundamental prerequisite for CE, between the disciplines Mechanics and ILS (Integrated Logistic Support). The analysis was characterized as a qualitative analysis. Interviews were carried out with the employees at Saab Dynamics to emphasize their opinions and point of view of the current information exchange. The data were collected and analysed relative CE to describe a representation of the current information exchange and the needs for improvement. The detected information exchange were considered to be lacking in compassion to CE. The employees experienced an absence of descriptions and guidelines for the information exchange in the interface between Mechanics and ILS. The need for improvements are concerning the need of feedback, accountability and insight in the other disciplines work, which are factors with great influence on the success of CE. For further studies, an interesting aspect would be to investigate different types and sizes of projects to be able to see how the information exchange varies. Also, interviews with project managers would add a broader perspective of the current information exchange and work flow.