"Concurrent Engineering (CE) has already initiated a cultural change in the design and manufacturing of new products. It is expected to lead to better engineered and faster built products. But, in order for a company to take advantage of the power of CE, the members of product development teams have to be educated in the CE method of product development and how decisions made about one aspect of a design can affect other aspects. They also have to be educated in the usefulness of the tools that can be used for CE. Those tools include intelligent agents which can be used to offer design suggestions and criticisms. The goal of this project is to build a computer system which will simulate a design environment and demonstrate the essential aspects of CE, in a way that they can be intuitively understood. It is supported by a grant from the Competitive Product Development Institute at the Digital Equipment Corporation."

På Saab Dynamics genomförs metodikprojektet MBD ILS & 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 & 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.

In many products a compromise between ground clearance and the required space to store the product has to be made. This problem attracted the attention of the authors of this thesis.The objective of this project is to develop a functioning solution to a foldable wheel. The solution should be applicable to several types of product groups. A limitation for this work has been made so that the work only covers solutions for lighter vehicles.The purpose is to drive this project forward, so that a solution can be found. Furthermore the purpose of the report is to clarify how the authors proceeded to design and construct the wheel according to a fixed specification. The authors of this project also wishes to develop their knowledge within the field of product development.Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) has been used as the underlying method on which this work was based. The work started with a preliminary study. Relevant specifications was established using the results from the study. The specifications was given a rang by the use of pairwise weighting, then a QFD was made using said requirements.The wheel was divided into three different areas. Solutions was developed to problems within each area, independently of one another. The project underwent three concept stages and three screening stages. During the third screening a final concept was chosen for further development.Strength simulations was performed in Solid Works, by using the results from the simulations adjustments to the design could be made.The authors succeeded in developing a wheel capable of a volume reduction by 70 %. When the wheel is dimensioned to fit an ordinary bike it weighs about 2.5kg and can take a radial load of over 1 000N. The final concept is called Arcas and is made up of four sections of a specially developed flexible arc-solution. The arc-solution enables the wheels curved surfaces to be straightened out when the wheel is about be stored.The authors consider that they have developed the knowledge in product development and also improved their ability to handle loose defined projects. It should be possible to further reduce the volume up to levels around 80 %. A detailed FEM analysis of the components should be of use. / Hos många produkter måste en kompromiss göras mellan markfrigång och krävt förvaringsutrymme. Detta problem uppmärksammades av författarna till denna uppsats.Målet med detta projekt är att är att ta fram en fungerande hjullösning på ett hoppfällbart hjul. Lösningen ska gå att applicera inom olika produktgrupper, dock har arbetet begränsats till att endast omfatta lösningar till lättare fordon.Syftet är att driva projektet framåt så att en lösning på problemet hittas. Vidare är syftet med rapporten att redogöra för hur författarna gått tillväga för att designa och konstruera hjulet enligt satta kriterier. Författarna vill även fördjupa sina kunskaper inom produktutveckling.Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) har använts som övergripande metod i detta arbete. Arbetsprocessen började med en förstudie. Relevanta krav på produkten upprättades baserade på genomförd förstudie. Kraven viktades genom parvis viktning och en QFD upprättades med dessa krav. Hjulet delades upp i tre olika områden. Lösningar togs fram på problem inom de tre områdena oberoende av varandra. Projektet genomgick tre stycken konceptfaser och tre stycken sållningar. Vid den tredje sållningen valdes ett slutkoncept att arbeta vidare emot.Hållfasthetssimuleringar utfördes sedan i Solid Works, med hjälp av resultaten på dessa kunde justeringar av designen utföras.Författarna lyckades att ta fram ett hjul kapabelt av en volymminskning med 70 %. Då hjulet är dimensionerat för att passa en vanlig cykel väger det ca 2.5kg och klarar av en radiell last på över 1 000N. Det slutgiltiga konceptet heter Arcas och består av fyra sektioner av en speciellt utvecklad flexibel båglösning. Båglösningen tillåter hjulets krökta ytor att rätas ut när hjulet skall förvaras.Författarna anser sig ha fördjupat sina kunskaper inom produktutveckling och framförallt förbättrat förmågan att hantera projekt med lösa ramar. Det borde vara möjligt att öka graden av hoppfällning så att volymminskningen kommer upp i nivåer kring 80 %. En ingående FEM-analys på ingående komponenter skulle vara användbar.

I en projektering är det många aktörer som behöver samarbeta och tillsammans med att ta fram handlingar för att producera en byggnad. Det är en komplicerad process med många infallsvinklar och åsikter som behövs ta med i beaktning innan ett välfungerande resultat kan nås. Under de senaste åren har det uppmärksammats i tidigare studier hur kommunikationen under denna process inte alltid är så välfungerande som det hade önskats. I denna studie har en undersökning genomförts för att undersöka vid vilka tillfällen kommunikationen brister under projekteringen samt alternativa lösningar angående hur en förbättrad kommunikation kan ske mellan de berörda aktörerna. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur väl kommunikationen fungerar i dagsläget. Detta uppnås genom att studera under vilka tillfällen kommunikationen anses vara bättre i jämförelse när det anses finnas rum för förbättringar. Studiens mål var att lämna över ett antal förslag som en entreprenad ska kunna implementera i projekteringen för att få en mer sammanhållen projekteringsgrupp med färre missförstånd och irritationer.   Av kvalitativ karaktär har denna studie genomförts med en nulägesanalys, insamlad teori samt datainsamling i form av intervjuer. I nulägesanalysen studerades hur projekteringen fungerade i dagsläget och vad för kommunikationsverktyg som används för stunden. Den inkluderande teorin i denna studie har tagits med i avseende av att antingen bidra till datainsamlingen eller diskussionen i avlutningen för att stötta de förslag som rekommenderas i slutsatsen. Datainsamlingen har skett via genomförandet av intervjuer i samarbete med entreprenadföretaget In3prenör samt projektörer som har varit underentreprenörer till In3prenör i minst ett projekt. Personerna som deltog i intervjustudien har alla varit eller är aktiva inom projekteringen i någon roll. Resultaten delas upp i tre olika stycken dagens situation, kommunikation och förbättringsförslag. Dagens situation fokuserar på att hitta aktiviteter eller tillfällen då respondenterna anser att kommunikationen fungerar väl och när det finns förbättringsmöjligheter. Här var det tydligt att just kommunikationen inom projekteringsteamet samt med beställaren var en utmaning för många och där finns det behov för förbättring. Fortsättningsvis i avsnittet kommunikation jämförs de olika kommunikationsverktygen som används i dagsläget för att höra tankar och åsikter om deras olika för- och nackdelar. Fysiska möten ansågs då som det bästa alternativet medan mejl har en tendens att försvinna och telefonsamtal saknar spårbarhet. I förbättringsförslagen valdes fyra olika kommunikationsmetoder ut Big Room, I.C.E, Scrum och Kanban. Respondenterna föredrog Big Room och I.C.E över Scrum och Kanban med anledning att man utnyttjar alla inom projekteringsteamets kunskaper och skapar mer samarbete inom gruppen. Arbetet resulterade i 3 förslag en entreprenad möjligtvis skulle kunna implementera: Spelregler i ett tidigt stadie: Sätta sig ner med hela projekteringsteamet för att från ett tidigt skede sätta spelgregler angåend kommunikation och andra relevanta ärenden tillsammans. Projektstudio: Införskaffa en projektstudio för de större disciplinerna som exempelvis arkitekten och konstruktören. Skaffa en förståelse för den gemensamma portalen: Spendera en tid att skaffa förståelse och strukturera upp portalen för enklare kommunikation. / In a construction design process, many participators need to collaborate and together produce documents to construct a building. It is a complicated process with many angles and opinions that need to be considered before a well-functioning result can be reached. In recent years, attention has been drawn in previous studies to how communication during this process is not always as well-functioning as would have been desired. This study has been carried out to investigate at what times the communication is lacking during the design process as well as alternative solutions regarding how improved communication can take place between the actors involved. The purpose of this study was to investigate how well communication is dealt with in the present. This is achieved by studying the occasions when communication is considered to be better in comparison when there is room for improvement. The study aimed to submit several proposals that a contractor should be able to implement in the design to have a more cohesive design group with fewer misunderstandings and irritations. Of a qualitative nature, this study has been conducted with a current situation analysis, reveiwed theory and data collection in the form of interviews. The current situation analysis studied how the design process worked in the current situation and what communication tools that are currently used. The theory in this study has been included in terms of either contributing to the data collection or the discussion in the conclusion to support the recomenden proposals. The data collection has taken place through the conduct of interviews in collaboration with the construction company In3prenör and designers who have been subcontractors to In3prenör in at least one project. The people who participated in the interview study have all been or are active in the design process in some role. The results are divided into three different sections, the current situation, communication and improvement proposals. Today's situation focuses on finding activities when respondents believe that communication works well and when there are opportunities for improvement. Here it was clear that communication within the design team and with the client was a challenge for many and there is a need for improvement. The section on communication continues to compare the different communication tools that are currently used to hear thoughts and opinions about their various advantages and disadvantages. Physical meetings were then considered the best option, while emails tend to disappear and telephone calls lack traceability. In the improvement proposals, four different communication methods were presented Big Room, I.C.E, Scrum and Kanban. The respondents preferred Big Room and I.C.E over Scrum and Kanban since they utilize the knowledge from everyone within the design team and create more collaboration within the group.   The work resulted in 3 proposals a contractor could implement: Set rules within the design team at an early stage: In an early stage decide on communication rules and other relevant preferences for the design team.  Project studio: Acquire a project studio for the major disciplines sucha as the architect and the constructor.  Gain an understanding of the common portal: Spend time understanding and structuring the portal for easier communication.

Engineering design may be viewed as a decision making process that supports design tradeoffs. The designer makes decisions based on information available and engineering judgment. The designer determines the direction in which the design must proceed, the procedures that need to be adopted, and develops a strategy to perform successive decisions. The design is only as good as the decisions made, which is in turn dependent on the information available. Information is time and process dependent. This thesis work focuses on developing a coherent bottom-up framework and methodology to improve information transfer and decision making while designing complex systems. The rotorcraft drive system is used as a test system for this methodology. The traditional serial design approach required the information from one discipline and/or process in order to proceed with the subsequent design phase. The Systems Engineering (SE) implementation of Concurrent Engineering (CE) and Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) processes tries to alleviate this problem by allowing design processes to be performed in parallel and collaboratively. The biggest challenge in implementing Concurrent Engineering is the availability of information when dealing with complex systems such as aerospace systems. The information is often incomplete, with large amounts of uncertainties around the requirements, constraints and system objectives. As complexity increases, the design process starts trending back towards a serial design approach. The gap in information can be overcome by either “softening” the requirements to be adaptable to variation in information or to delay the decision. Delayed decisions lead to expensive modifications and longer product design lifecycle. Digitization of IPPD tools for complex system enables the system to be more adaptable to changing requirements. Design can proceed with “soft” information and decisions adapted as information becomes available even at early stages. The advent of modern day computing has made digitization and automation possible and feasible in engineering. Automation has demonstrated superior capability in design cycle efficiency [1]. When a digitized framework is enhanced through automation, design can be made adaptable without the requirement for human interaction. This can increase productivity, and reduce design time and associated cost. An important aspect in making digitization feasible is having the availability of parameterized Computer Aided Design (CAD) geometry [2]. The CAD geometry gives the design a physical form that can interact with other disciplines and geometries. Central common CAD database allows other disciplines to access information and extract requirements; this feature is of immense importance while performing systems syntheses. Through database management using a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system, Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) can exchange information between disciplines and develop new designs more efficiently by collaborating more and from far [3]. This thesis focuses on the challenges associated with automation and digitization of design. Making more information available earlier goes jointly with making the design adaptable to new information. Using digitized sizing, synthesis, cost analysis and integration, the drive system design is brought in to early design. With modularity as the objective, information transfer is made streamlined through the use of a software integration suite. Using parametric CAD tools, a novel ‘Fully-Relational Design’ framework is developed where geometry and design are adaptable to related geometry and requirement changes. During conceptual and preliminary design stages, the airframe goes through many stages of modifications and refinement; these changes affect the sub-system requirements and its design optimum. A fully-relational design framework takes this into account to create interfaces between disciplines. A novel aspect of the fully-relational design methodology is to include geometry, spacing and volume requirements in the system design process. Enabling fully-relational design has certain challenges, requiring suitable optimization and analysis automation. Also it is important to ensure that the process does not get overly complicated. So the method is required to possess the capability to intelligently propagate change. There is a need for suitable optimization techniques to approach gear train type design problems, where the design variables are discrete in nature and the values a variables can assume is a result of cascading effects of other variables. A heuristic optimization method is developed to analyze this multimodal problem. Experiments are setup to study constraint dependencies, constraint-handling penalty methods, algorithm tuning factors and innovative techniques to improve the performance of the algorithm. Inclusion of higher fidelity analysis in early design is an important element of this research. Higher fidelity analyses such as nonlinear contact Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are useful in defining true implied stresses and developing rating modification factors. The use of Topology Optimization (TO) using Finite Element Methods (FEM) is proposed here to study excess material removal in the gear web region.

In recent years, customers demand for new products has increased in line with a rapid technological change. This has put pressure on industrial companies regarding New Product Development (NPD) in order to continuously develop and produce products at or above the customers’ expectations. Furthermore, products need to be profitable throughout the whole product lifecycle.In order to consider the whole product lifecycle in NPD, inputs with information, as well as, involvement from/of downstream functions are considered as two critical factors to ensure that profitable products are developed. Information from other functions with a wide range of perspectives, knowledge and experiences from previous products are vital.This thesis uses the above mentioned notion while examining a large multinational company, Company X. Product Development in the Company X Group follows the Gateway process which was released group-wide in 2009. This process consists of gateways which cannot be passed if not all requirements are satisfied in each step. This ensures that all areas are covered and that products are developed in an effective matter.Interviews, observations and archive analysis are methods utilized to define the current state at CXDY. The current workways and processes are compared to the outspoken ones by the company. Also, the workways and processes are compared to the theory of project management, product development, Design for X methodology and management of knowledge. In the analysis, gaps are identified and the authors present their solutions to improve the NPD process at the Company XThe major findings in the proposed solution were a new approach of the Gateway process that; takes the Internal Customer into consideration, has clear definitions of roles and responsibilities and has a cross-functional team that represent the Internal Customer in order to encourage concurrent engineering.Due to confidentiality reasons some parts of this report are hidden.Keywords: New product development, Project management, Product Lifecycle, Concurrent engineering, Design for X, Management of knowledge. / Under senare år har kundernas efterfrågan på nya produkter ökat i takt med en snabb teknologisk utveckling. Detta har ställt krav på tillverkande företag att fokusera på produktutvecklingprojekt för att kontinuerligt leverera produkter som uppnår eller överträffar kunders förväntningar. Vidare måste produkterna vara lönsamma genom hela produktlivscykeln.För att kunna beakta hela produktlivscykeln i produktutvecklingsprojekt anses input med information och involvering från/av nedströmsfunktioner vara två kritiska faktorer för att säkerställa att lönsamma produkter utvecklas. I detta är informationen från andra funktioner med olika perspektiv, kunskaper och erfarenheter från tidigare produkter avgörande.Denna avhandling behandlar ovanstående tankar när ett stort multinationellt företag, Företag X. Produktutveckling i Företag X-koncernen följer Gateway-processen som släpptes på grupp-nivå under 2009. Denna process består av Gateways som inte kan godkännas om inte alla krav är uppfyllda i varje steg. Detta säkerställer att alla områden har behandlats och att produkter utvecklas effektivt.Intervjuer, observationer och arkivanalys är metoder som applicerats för att definiera det aktuella läget vid CXDY. De nuvarande arbetssätten och processerna jämförs med företagets uttalade. Arbetssätten och processerna jämförs vidare med teorin om projektledning, produktutveckling, Design för X-metodik och kunskapsförvaltning. I analysen identifieras luckor och författarna presenterar sina lösningar för att förbättra produktutvecklingsprojekten på CXDY.De viktigaste resultaten i den föreslagna lösningen var ett nytt tillvägagångssätt av Gateway-processen som; tar hänsyn till interna kunder, har tydliga definitioner av roller och ansvar och har ett tvärfunktionellt team som representerar den interna kunden för att främja Concurrent engineering.På grund av sekretesskäl har vissa delar av denna rapport gömts.Nyckelord: Produktutveckling, Projektledning, Produktlivscykel, Concurrent engineering, Design för X, Kunskapsförvaltning.

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Construction Project Management

In the last fifty years, process improvements in service and product based organizations have greatly improvement quality, decreased development time and reduced scrap by improving process efficiency. Terms such as Lean Engineering, Just in Time, Total Quality Management and certifications such as ISO 9000 have become commonplace. In support of these process improvements, Engineering Data Management is a toolkit for achieving a truly integrated environment within a technical business by allowing teams to work more closely together, improving speed and efficiencies within the organization. This report was created to introduce the reader to basic principles of EDM and how it can improve an organization’s ability to compete. / text

The research reported in this thesis is focused on the creation of a CAE system to support Reverse Engineering. It is centred around the computational representation of products (Product Model) and manufacturing capabilities (Manufacturing Model). These models are essential for modem and future software systems aimed to assist the design process, enabling data sharing among the participants who use various computational tools. Reverse Engineering is employed as a particular context and motivation for exploring the application of the models. The research builds on the achievements of the recently finished Model Oriented Simultaneous Engineering System (MOSES) project, undertaken jointly by Leeds University and the Department of Manufacturing Engineering of Loughborough University. MOSES' work on information modelling was analysed and combined together with the original proposals of the author to elaborate a suitable support to Reverse Engineering, applicable to redesign in general. A process for Reverse Engineering is proposed and documented and a data model driven CAE system to support it is specified. The CAE system includes a Product Model, a Manufacturing Model and two software application environments. The Product Model of the system is based on the information requirements of the Reverse Engineering process and is suitable for representing multi-component products, from different perspectives through its life cycle. The applications assist the characteristic activities of Reverse Engineering. In particular, the system is used for exploring the application of Product and Manufacturing Models in supporting Design for Manufacture. The theoretical research is tested by the use of a case study which explores the Reverse Engineering of a component. This work is supported by a prototype software instance of the CAE system. The case study component is an axle which forms part of a product designed and manufactured by a collaborating company.

This PhD project aims to develop a cost modelling system to support lean product and process development. The system enables the designers to assess the design along with associated manufacturing processes and provides decision support at an early development stage. Design assessment at early development stage can help designers to take proactive decisions, eliminate mistakes and enhance product value. The developed cost modelling system to support lean product and process development incorporates three lean product and process development enablers, namely set-based concurrent engineering, knowledge-based engineering, and mistake-proofing (poka-yoke). To facilitate above explained lean enablers, the system architecture contains six modules, six separate groups of database, a CAD modelling system, and a user interface. The system modules are: (i) value identification; (ii) manufacturing process/machines selection; (iii) material selection; (iv) geometric features specification; (v) geometric features and manufacturability assessment; and (vi) manufacturing time and cost estimation. The group of database includes: (i) geometric features database, (ii) material database, (iii) machine database, (iv) geometric features assessment database, (v) manufacturability assessment database, and (vi) previous projects cost database. A number of activities have been accomplished to develop the cost modelling system. Firstly, an extensive literature review related to cost estimation, and lean product and process development was performed. Secondly, a field study in European industry and a case study analysis were carried out to identify current industrial practices and challenges. Thirdly, a cost modelling system to support lean product and process development was developed. Finally, validation of the system was carried out using real life industrial case studies. The system provides a number of benefits, as it enables designers to incorporate lean thinking in cost estimation. It takes into consideration downstream manufacturable process information at an early upstream stage of the design and as a result the designer performs the process concurrently and makes decisions quickly. Moreover, the system helps to avoid mistakes during product features design, material and manufacturing process selection, and process parameters generation; hence it guides toward a mistake-proof product development. The main feature of the system, in addition to manufacturing cost estimation, is set-based concurrent engineering support; because the system provides a number of design values for alternative design concepts to identify the feasible design region. The major contribution of the developed system is the identification and incorporation of three major lean product and process development enablers, namely set-based concurrent engineering, knowledge-based engineering and poka-yoke (mistake-proofing) in the cost modelling system. A quantification method has been proposed to eliminate the weaker solution among several alternatives; therefore only the feasible or strong solution is selected. In addition, a new cost estimation process to support lean product and process development has been developed which assists above explained three lean product and process development enablers.