This research aims to improve the effective utilisation of experiential design knowledge by supporting the extraction and subsequent use of knowledge from a store of design experiences. Current computational approaches that support the utilisation of experiential knowledge promote the regurgitation of knowledge from pre-defined viewpoints reflecting knowledge engineers' perspectives of designers' knowledge needs. However, from an investigation into the application of experiential knowledge, it is argued that designers can generate numerous viewpoints according to their own particular perspectives. Consequently, the perspectives imposed by current approaches may be of little use in design if they do not map onto those needed by a designer. A new approach, called 'customised viewpoint', is presented in this thesis as one that promotes the application of more relevant knowledge by generating appropriate viewpoints according to designers' perspectives. Numerical design is pre sented as a well-defined problem area within which this approach is developed, tested and evaluated. The PERSPECT system is the realisation of a 'customised viewpoint' tool developed by integrating and extending the functionality of three relevant existing systems: DESIGNER (a numerical design system), S-PLUS (an extensive data analysis package), and ECOBWEB (a concept formation system). PERSPECT provides valuable assistance; it supports a designer to (a) render new numerical domain models or check and update existing ones in the light of new design experiences, and (b) develop a design solution by (i) supporting the opportunistic utilisation of empirical equations and generalisations from generated customised viewpoints and (ii) reducing design complexity via the abstraction of an existing domain model. However, further work is required to improve PERSPECT's ability to support numerical design. The 'customised viewpoint' approach has been shown to compliment the CAD philosophy of "design assistance" but extensive work is still required to realise an ideal 'customised viewpoint' tool that fully supports the needs of practising designers.

In the context of knowledge management, the challenge for organizations is to convert individual human knowledge into structural capital so that the knowledge becomes persistent in the organization, making it more accessible and hence more usable. How to codify the knowledge of a workforce, including the tacit knowledge of experts, and how to apply that codified knowledge with success are unresolved issues. The conversion of individual knowledge into structural capital is of particular relevance in the field of design. Design is a complex activity that creates valuable knowledge. However, that knowledge is often implicit, unstructured, and embedded in procedures, methods, documentation, design artifacts, and of course in the minds of designers and other project stakeholders. In addition, design teams are often multidisciplinary and include experts who apply tacit knowledge to arrive at solutions. Design projects extend over time so that the risk of losing design knowledge increases. Information in itself is not knowledge for the purposes of structural capital. A user interface (UI) design specification for example, does not capture the knowledge used to create that design. The specification tells us what the artifact should be, but it does not tell us how the design came to be or why it is the way it is. Design rationale (DR) is a field of study surrounding the reasoning behind design decisions and the reasoning process that leads to the design of an artifact. The objective of creating a design rationale is to make the reasons for design decisions explicit. Design space analysis (DSA) is one perspective on design rationale that explores alternative design solutions and the assessment of each against design objectives. The rationale behind design decisions provides insight about the design knowledge that was applied and is therefore, of interest to the structural capital of organizations. Moreover, the process of making the rationale explicit is of interest to the domain of user interface design. The challenge for UI designers and the question addressed in this research is how to make the design rationale explicit and use it to effectively support the design process? The proposed solution is to conduct design space analysiS as part of the process of de.slgn. To. test this solution it is important to explore the implications of generating design rationale in practice and to explore whether DSA reflects the knowledge that expert deSigners apply. The "DSA study" demonstrated and examined the use of design space analysis by UI experts in a long-term, practical, design setting. The findings suggest that design space analysis supports communication and the reasoning process, and it provides context around past design decisions. It was also found that conducting design space analysis encourages designers to accumulate design ideas and develop an understanding of design problems in a systematic way. In addition, the study showed that designers are capable of producing and using the notation, but that the effort to conduct DSA is an obstacle to its use in practice. Conclusions are drawn that DSA can structure the reasoning aspect of design knowledge. The "design skills study" identified the skills that user interface experts apply in practice. The findings indicate that many of the skills of UI experts correspond to the skills that are emphasized by DSA. The study emphasized the pervasiveness and importance of the communication activity in design, as well as the role of reasoning in communication and decision making. The study also identified design activities that receive comparatively little attention from UI experts and design skills that may be comparatively poor. Conclusions are drawn that DSA reflects in part the knowledge that designers apply in practice. Findings from the above studies point to two approaches that maximize the positive effects of DSA and minimize the effort to conduct a design space analysis. I describe these approaches as coaching and heuristics. Informal evaluations indicate that coaching and heuristics warrant further investigation. The findings from each of the studies have implications for design space analysis. These are discussed around several themes: the tension between the processes of designing and structuring design knowledge, the trade-off in effort between structuring design knowledge and interpreting unstructured design knowledge, design knowledge and the complementary roles of communication and documentation, and DSA as it pertains to expert and novice designers. It is inevitable that where there are new findings and solutions there are also new questions to be explored. Several interesting questions raised by these investigations suggest an agenda for future work.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-146). Also available on the World Wide Web.

‘Lean’ or ‘lean thinking’ refers to an improvement philosophy which focuses on the fulfilment of customer value and the reduction of waste. This philosophy is credited with the extraordinary rise of Toyota, one of the largest and most profitable automotive companies in the world. This thesis presents a pioneering study investigating how lean thinking should be applied to product development (PD). The aim of the research was to construct an innovative model which supports the implementation of lean thinking in PD. This was achieved through progressive collaboration with practitioners from European manufacturing companies. The model provides a process for the conceptual development of an engineering project, and is composed of phases and activities for which methodologies have been defined. The construction of the lean PD model was preceded by a systematic literature review and an industrial field study, wherein 36 semi-structured interviews were conducted in five manufacturing companies in Europe. The constructed model was later implemented on two real-life case studies via action research. The two conducted case studies involved the product architecture design for a car audio head unit and the development of a helicopter engine. It was concluded that the lean PD model addresses various industrial challenges including customer value, communication, and innovation. Furthermore, by focusing on conceptual design, the lean PD model is expected to reduce design rework. As a result of the positive effects of the model, one of the companies involved intends to implement the lean PD model further, and wishes to extend the model to the rest of the organisation. This research makes four main contributions: (1) a novel lean PD model; (2) a number of tools developed to support the model; (3) a framework for lean PD enablers; and (4) a categorisation of challenges faced by PD in industry used to verify the relevance of the lean PD model.

Engineering design involves a series of activities to handle data, including capturing and storing data, retrieval and manipulation of data. This also applies throughout the entire product lifecycle (PLC). Unfortunately, a closed loop of knowledge and information management system has not been implemented for the PLC. As part of product lifecycle management (PLM) approaches, computer-aided design (CAD) systems are extensively used from embodiment and detail design stages in mechanical engineering. However, current CAD systems lack the ability to handle semantically-rich information, thus to represent, manage and use knowledge among multidisciplinary engineers, and to integrate various tools/services with distributed data and knowledge. To address these challenges, a general-purpose semantic annotation approach based on CAD systems in the mechanical engineering domain is proposed, which contributes to knowledge management and reuse, data interoperability and tool integration. In present-day PLM systems, annotation approaches are currently embedded in software applications and use diverse data and anchor representations, making them static, inflexible and difficult to incorporate with external systems. This research will argue that it is possible to take a generalised approach to annotation with formal annotation content structures and anchoring mechanisms described using general-purpose ontologies. In this way viewpoint-oriented annotation may readily be captured, represented and incorporated into PLM systems together with existing annotations in a common framework, and the knowledge collected or generated from multiple engineering viewpoints may be reasoned with to derive additional knowledge to enable downstream processes. Therefore, knowledge can be propagated and evolved through the PLC. Within this framework, a knowledge modelling methodology has also been proposed for developing knowledge models in various situations. In addition, a prototype system has been designed and developed in order to evaluate the core contributions of this proposed concept. According to an evaluation plan, cost estimation and finite element analysis as case studies have been used to validate the usefulness, feasibility and generality of the proposed framework. Discussion has been carried out based on this evaluation. As a conclusion, the presented research work has met the original aim and objectives, and can be improved further. At the end, some research directions have been suggested.

Throughout the life-cycle of a design project, architects rely heavily on their tacit design knowledge to support design decisions. Tacit knowledge is highly personal and implicit. As such, it encompasses expertise, intuitive understanding, and professional insight formed as a result of experience. Due to its implicit nature, tacit design knowledge is typically shared only among colleagues who work in the same office through face-toface interactions. With emerging Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies, designers face new opportunities for capturing and reusing tacit design knowledge. However, there is no accepted CMC strategy for sharing tacit design knowledge in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. This research investigates the impact of tacit design knowledge on design performance in a distributed design environment supported by CMC software. The software was developed and tested in three design studios in which design students sought advice from experts in remote locations. It provides tools for showing images, such as drawings and renderings, and for engaging in a written dialogue (chat session). The written and graphic artifacts of the conversation are stored in a Web-accessible database. The chat sessions included the identification, clarification, and explanation of real problems. Dialogue records provide evidence of a significant influence upon the students’ approach to conceptual design. Content analysis of the comments from the experts provides qualitative evidence for the software’s effectiveness. The participants shared past experience, professional recommendations, and intuitive expectations. In follow-up surveys, most participants reported that their experience with the software was very enjoyable and the software is well-designed to support sharing of design knowledge. This research also suggests that tacit design knowledge may be confidently captured and shared through careful strategic implementation of CMC technology in a distributed design environment. Demographic and attitudinal surveys of the participants suggest that enabling factors for sharing tacit design knowledge include knowledge sharing attitude, just-in-time expertise matching, and timing of the communication.

Printed electronics (PE) is a disruptive but growing technology that is beginning to integrate its way into viable applications for product design. However, the potential for future impact of the technology on product design and the designer s role and contribution to this has yet to be established. Interest is increasing in the potential for product designers to explore and exploit this technology. Technologies can be seen as being disruptive from both a business, and an adoption point of view. For a business, changing from one technology to another or incorporating a new technology and its production processes can be difficult if they already have their suppliers established and existing relationships in place. Understanding and adopting a new technology can be challenging for a business and individuals working within an established industry as it can cause many questions to be raised around its performance, and direct comparison with the technology they already have in place. However, there have been many technologies that could be seen as disruptive in the past, as they offered an alternative way of working or method of manufacture, such as Bluetooth, 3D printing, and automation (manufacturing/assembly/finishing), etc., and their success has been dictated by individual s perception and adoption of the technology, with their ability to see the worth and potential in the technology. Cost comparison is also an important aspect for a business to consider when choosing whether to change to a new technology or to remain with their existing technology, as changing can disrupt the manufacturing line assembly of a product, and direct cost comparisons of components themselves, such as the cost of buying silicon components in bulk verses printing the components. The new technology needs to offer something different to a product to be worth implementing it in a product, such as its flexible form or lightweight properties of printed electronics being of benefit to the product over what a silicon electronic component/circuit could offer (restricted to rigid circuit boards), the functionality/performance of the components themselves also need to be considered. Performance, availability and maturity of the technology are some of the essential aspects to consider when incorporating a new technology into a product and these can be evaluated using a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale. Interest in the stage of development for a technology lies not only with designers; industry and academia also contribute to knowledge by playing a central role in the process of determining a TRL scale that is universally recognised. However, a TRL separation issue occurs between academia (often the technology only reaching an experimental proof of concept stage, a lower number on the TRL scale indicating that the technology is at an early stage of development) and industry (not considering technology for commercialisation until it reaches a stage where there is a demonstration of pre-production capability validated on economic runs, a much higher number on the TRL scale - indicating that the technology is at a much more advanced stage of development). The aim of this doctoral research was to explore the contribution of PE to product design. The researcher experienced the scientific development of the technology first-hand, and undertook a literature review that covered three main topics: 1) printed electronics (the technology itself), 2) impact (approaches to assessing impact and methods of judging new technology) because together they will identify the state of the art of printed electronics technology, and 3) education - educational theories/methods for designers - studying how designers learn, explore different methods in educating them about new technologies, and start to find appropriate methods for educating them about printed electronics technology. A knowledge framework for PE technology was generated and utilised to produce a taxonomy and TRL scale for PE and confirmed by PE expert interview. Existing case studies in which PE technology had been presented to student designers were investigated through interviews with participants from academia and industry to solicit perception and opinions on approaches for the effective communication of PE knowledge to student designers within an educational environment. The findings were interpreted using thematic analysis and, after comparing the data, three main themes identified: technical constraints, designer s perspective, and what a designer is required to do. The findings from the research were combined to create an educational approach for knowledge transfer aimed specifically at meeting the needs of product designers. This resulted in the need for PE technology to be translated into both a visual and written format to create structure and direct links between the technological elements and their form and function in order to facilitate understanding by designers. Conclusions from the research indicate that the translation of this technology into an appropriate design language will equip designers with accessible fundamental knowledge on PE technology (i.e. electrical components: form, function, and area of the technology), which will allow informed decisions to be made about how PE can be used and to utilise its benefits in the design of products. The capabilities and properties of this technology, when paired with product design practice, has the capacity to transform the designs of future products in terms of form/functionality and prevailing/views towards design approaches with electronics. If exposed to a variety of PE elements ranging across different TRLs, designers have the capacity to bridge the TRL separation issue (the gap between academia and industry) through their ability to create design solutions for an end user and provide a commercial application for the technology.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the engine of economic growth and job creation. Governments have devoted considerable resources to increase their competitiveness in the market. Several design support programmes (DSPs) have emerged from this investment to promote design as a strategic resource for innovation and business growth. Although existing research indicates that an effective use of design can enhance the business performance, a lack of interest amongst SMEs to work with designers is cited in several studies. Despite the great amount of money, energy and time that has been spent on design support for SMEs, there is still a lack of knowledge about effective delivery and evaluation. This thesis focuses on the problem of finding better ways to assist SMEs with design for economic growth by evaluating the effectiveness of design support for SMEs. This research, therefore, has examined the activities of UK-based DSPs, investigated the expertise of design consultancies and inquired about the self-image of designers in order to expand the knowledge of design support for SMEs. The research applied an interpretive paradigm, where multiple realities are recognised as socially constructed. Data was gathered through interviews with individuals representing DSPs, SMEs, design consultancies and government support agencies assisting SMEs. Observation of business support events and publicly available documents were used as additional sources. A thematic analysis and a systematic metaphor analysis were employed to examine the resulting data. The research has highlighted a number of key issues that are pivotal to the success of design support for SMEs. This PhD research also proposes two explanatory frameworks to contribute to design theory and practice: a seven-step evaluation framework for planning and evaluating the outcomes of DSPs and a re-framing of the generalist-specialist dilemma that can inform the activities of design consultancies and DSPs and can guide designers to improve their expertise.

O projeto de produtos e sistemas técnicos complexos requer a compreensão em nível de sistemas e subsistemas para formular soluções eficientes e integradas ao seu contexto. Para auxiliar esta compreensão, o conhecimento de projeto deve ser representado utilizando níveis adequados de abstração de acordo com a fase do projeto. A fase de projeto conceitual requer tipos de representação capazes de atingir um alto nível de abstração para a exploração de conceitos que conduzam a soluções criativas. O paradigma da orientação a objetos, que é fundamentado pela abstração, faz parte da engenharia de software, mas também pode ser aplicado para o projeto de artefatos físicos porque permite a representação dos elementos do mundo real através de uma linguagem simples, acessível e com alto nível de abstração. Ademais, o paradigma da orientação a objetos permite a reutilização do conhecimento de projeto devido à sua capacidade de estruturar a informação em um formato adequado para isto. O presente trabalho propõe um framework para representar o conhecimento de projeto de produto aplicando o paradigma da orientação a objeto. Inicialmente, foram identificados os elementos conceituais da tese e suas relações, para na sequência definir o modelo do framework e o seu método de aplicação O framework utiliza uma linguagem de representação diagramática que pode evoluir desde um mapa mental, com elementos diversificados e pouco ordenados, até uma rede estruturada de classes e relacionamentos em um modelo de classes. Um modelo de classes pode concentrar conhecimento sobre o projeto, servindo como uma estrutura geral que conecta e relaciona diferentes blocos de informação associados aos produtos e sistemas que estão sendo elaborados. A verificação da aplicabilidade do framework foi realizada por especialistas da área de design mediante o desenvolvimento de um projeto de produto em nível conceitual e do preenchimento de questionário de avaliação. / The design of complex technical products requires understanding at the system and subsystem level to formulate efficient and integrated solutions to their context. To support this understanding, the project knowledge can be represented using appropriate levels of abstraction according to the project phase. The conceptual design phase requires types of representation that reach a high level of abstraction for the exploration of concepts that lead to creative solutions. The object-oriented paradigm is based on abstraction and is part of software engineering, but can also be applied to the design of physical artifacts because it allows the representation of realworld elements through simple, accessible and in high-level abstraction language. In addition, the object orientation paradigm supports the reusability of project knowledge due to its capacity to structure the information in patterns. The present work proposes a framework to represent product design knowledge using the objectoriented paradigm First, the conceptual elements of the thesis and their relationships were identified, after; the framework model and their method of application were constructed. The framework uses a diagrammatic representation language in which a mental map, with diversified and unordered elements, can progress into a structured network of classes and relationships in a class model. A class model can focus knowledge about the project, serving as a general structure that connects and relates different blocks of information associated with the products and systems being developed. The verification of the applicability of the framework was carried out by specialists in the design area through the development of a product design at conceptual level and the answering an evaluation questionnaire.

Determinar quais os efeitos dos subsistemas componentes da estrutura organizacional na geração e disseminação do conhecimento é o objetivo principal proposto nesta pesquisa. Para isto há necessidade de entender como o conhecimento e as informações circulam dentro das organizações, quais tipos de conhecimento são estes, quais processos são utilizados para disseminação dos novos conhecimentos adquiridos, como são gerados os conhecimentos nas organizações, como a empresa está estruturada, dentre outros temas relevantes para o estudo. Com os dados gerais obtidos através da aplicação das entrevistas, foi elaborada uma análise qualitativa para detecção de correlação efetiva entre questões e variáveis. O presente estudo permitiu concluir que a Estrutura Organizacional pode ter efeito substancialmente positivo sobre a Gestão do Conhecimento, principalmente quando adotadas as práticas de trabalho com equipes multidisciplinares para resolução de problemas ou projetos de melhoria e quando coexistirem sistemas de comunicação e ambiente propícios para o desenvolvimento de uma cultura de aprendizagem e compartilhamento do conhecimento através do contato pessoal, com adequado suporte de tecnologia. / The main goal of this research is to determinate how the Organizational Design Systems can impact the generation and dissemination of knowledge. It is necessary to understand how the information and knowledge flow within the organizations, which types of knowledge are that, which processes are used to disseminate the new generated knowledge, how the knowledge is generated within the organizations and how the organization is designed, among other relevant matters. The raw data obtained through interviews were analyzed in order to detect an effective correlation between questions and variables. The current study allows the conclusion that the Organizational Design have positive effect on Knowledge Management, mainly when practices of working with multidisciplinary teams are adopted to solve problems or to develop innovation projects and when suitable communication systems and environment for the development of a learning and knowledge sharing culture through face to face contacts – supported by appropriated technology – coexist.