Mass customization is promoted in manufacturing industry as a way to satisfy individual customer requirements in a flexible, efficient and cost effective way. However, mass customization within the specific sector of &lsquo / electronic consumer goods&rsquo / is relatively underdeveloped, whilst the contributions of industrial designers to mass customization remain quite unclear. This research redresses both of these issues, elaborating on the possibilities of mass-customization in the electronic consumer goods sector, and explaining how industrial designers can take a central role in implementation. Chapter 2 contains a literature review on key terms related to mass customization. A portfolio of mass customization case studies, from both within and outside electronic consumer goods, are presented and analyzed in Chapter 3, which also reports on a new classification system to define six discrete customization types. User needs research methods, including IDEO methods, are reviewed in Chapter 4 to determine those methods most applicable for use in the pilot (Chapter 5) and main (Chapter 7) &lsquo / research through design&rsquo / customization projects. The pilot project, conducted with METU industrial design undergraduates, explored opportunities and barriers for mass customization of electronic consumer goods / the main project, carried out by the Vestel ID Team under the SAN-TEZ scheme, resulted in a new mass customized all-in-one (AIO) PC for Vestel Electronics. In Chapter 6, results of interviews with Vestel staff are presented, uncovering the current situation within Vestel Electronics for implementing mass customization. Chapter 8 contains the research conclusions, including discussion of a proposed design-based mass customization design and development procedure.

Mass customization is promoted in manufacturing industry as a way to satisfy individual customer requirements in a flexible, efficient and cost effective way. However, mass customization within the specific sector of &lsquo / electronic consumer goods&rsquo / is relatively underdeveloped, whilst the contributions of industrial designers to mass customization remain quite unclear. This research redresses both of these issues, elaborating on the possibilities of mass-customization in the electronic consumer goods sector, and explaining how industrial designers can take a central role in implementation. Chapter 2 contains a literature review on key terms related to mass customization. A portfolio of mass customization case studies, from both within and outside electronic consumer goods, are presented and analyzed in Chapter 3, which also reports on a new classification system to define six discrete customization types. User needs research methods, including IDEO methods, are reviewed in Chapter 4 to determine those methods most applicable for use in the pilot (Chapter 5) and main (Chapter 7) &lsquo / research through design&rsquo / customization projects. The pilot project, conducted with METU industrial design undergraduates, explored opportunities and barriers for mass customization of electronic consumer goods / the main project, carried out by the Vestel ID Team under the SAN-TEZ scheme, resulted in a new mass customized all-in-one (AIO) PC for Vestel Electronics. In Chapter 6, results of interviews with Vestel staff are presented, uncovering the current situation within Vestel Electronics for implementing mass customization. Chapter 8 contains the research conclusions, including discussion of a proposed design-based mass customization design and development procedure.

In this study calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particles are surface modified by using plasma polymerized natural gas and effects of surface modification of CaCO3 filler on mechanical properties of CaCO3-PP composites are investigated. Different combination of plasma factors / RF power, natural gas flow rate, and plasma discharge durations, are investigated. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength and Young&rsquo / s Modulus are measured by tensile testing machine. Storage modulus and loss modulus measurements are done by DMA. Some information about structures generated by natural gas plasma surface modification is obtained by FTIR tests. The tensile fracture surfaces of prepared composites are investigated by using SEM micrographs. It is concluded that, despite some enhancement obtained in the moduli / the technique of natural gas plasma surface modification of CaCO3 particles did not introduce significant improvement in mechanical properties of composite as expected. This result may partially be attributed to selected plasma parameters (i.e., flow rate, RF power, and discharge duration).

The topic of this master thesis is the historical investigation of kitchen tools that evolved towards a multifunctional nature. The history of kitchen tools will be discussed with particular attention given to industrialization, technological developments and the effects of mechanization. Following this analysis, there will be a classification that could serve as a resource material for future studies, made according to the activity flow within the kitchen, in order to understand the interrelations within and between these products. This classification will be put forward in the form of a visual table that includes morphological analyses of specifically mixing and beating tools under the topic of food preparation, how they developed historically following the industrial revolution, and how they carry a tendency to become increasingly multifunctional. According to this table, the dispositions and interrelations of these products will be considered, concluding with a situational analysis and previsions for future designs and studies.

Design consultancy is a service that is given by professional designers to clients to respond to their design requirements. In Turkey, design consultancy services are given through design firms since the 1980s, mostly founded by the early graduates of industrial design. This thesis is carried to recognize the firms that give service in design consultancy sector, to identify the given services as design consultancy and to determine the conditions of design consultancy sector in Turkey through a survey made on the design consultancy firms in Turkey. A questionnaire is prepared to investigate the history of design consultancy firms, their profession fields, their client firms&rsquo / sector types, scope of services, the profession&rsquo / s advantages and disadvantages, the problems and opinions consultancy is carried out in Turkey. The survey also investigates the structure of design about the future of industrial design sector. This survey also inquires how design consultancy firms, given service types and sectors of client firms in detail. Twenty design consultancy firms responded to the questionnaire. The study indicates that, design consultancy service types by the firms are mostly product design, concept development, project drawing, project management, interface design and field tests.

In this thesis, we define a new problem area for assembly lines. In the literature, there are various studies on assembly line balancing, but none of them consider multi-manned tasks, task to which at least two operators have to be assigned. Two mathematical models and one constraint programming model are developed for both Type-I and Type-II ALB problems. The objective of Type-I problem is to minimize the number of stations whereas the objective of Type-II problem is to minimize the cycle time. In addition to this, valid inequalities are introduced to make models more efficient. Moreover, heuristic algorithms for both types are developed for large-sized problems. All formulations are applied to a real case study and then experimental analysis are conducted for all formulations to see the effects of problem parameters on performance measures. Exact models are compared each other and performance of heuristic algorithms are compared against the lower bounds.

Manufacturing of dies has been presenting greater requirements of geometrical accuracy, dimensional precision and surface quality as well as decrease in costs and manufacturing times. Although proper cutting parameter values are utilized to obtain high geometrical accuracy and surface quality, there may exist geometrical discrepancy between the designed and the manufactured surface profile of the die cavities. In milling process / cutting speed, step over and feed are the main cutting parameters and these parameters affect geometrical accuracy and surface quality of the forging die cavities. In this study, effects of the cutting parameters on geometrical error have been examined on a representative die cavity profile. To remove undesired volume in the die cavities, available cutting strategies are investigated. Feed rate optimization is performed to maintain the constant metal removal rate along the trajectory of the milling cutter during rough cutting process. In the finish cutting process of the die cavities, Design of Experiment Method has been employed to find out the effects of the cutting parameters on the geometrical accuracy of the manufactured cavity profile. Prediction formula is derived to estimate the geometrical error value in terms of the values of the cutting parameters. Validity of the prediction formula has been tested by conducting verification experiments for the representative die geometry and die cavity geometry of a forging part used in industry. Good agreement between the predicted error values and the measured error values has been observed.

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) results in ultra-fine grain sizes in metals and alloys. Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is one of the special SPD methods aiming to introduce high plastic strains into the bulk materials without changing their cross section. ECAP results in improvement in hardness and strength while still satisfying acceptable ductility level. The combined effects of ECAP and subsequent heat treatments, i.e. post-aging and post-annealing, on the microstructure and hardness of the 2024 aluminum alloy were investigated. An ECAP die with 120&amp / #730 / channel angle was constructed. Subgrain formation, increase in dislocation density and dislocation tangling were observed after ECAP, and subgrain growth was detected after post annealing. The specimens revealed higher hardness values after ECAP at room temperature, and further increase in hardness was observed following post-aging at 80&amp / #730 / C, 100&amp / #730 / C and 190&amp / #730 / C. Effect of the aging temperature on the deformed specimens was investigated, and the aging behaviors of the severely deformed and undeformed samples at 190&amp / #730 / C were compared.

The purpose of this study is to estimate the residual stress state in steel weldments by using Magnetic Barkhausen Noise (MBN) technique. For obtaining accurate, fast and continuous residual stress measurements a set up for single pass welded plates was designed and used. In order to convert the MBN values to residual stress values a calibration set up was also designed and a procedure for obtaining calibration curves was developed. After welding of low-C steel plates, residual stresses on heat affected zone (HAZ) and parent metal were measured by MBN technique. The results were verified by the hole drilling method. Microstructural investigation and hardness measurements were also conducted.

Product quality is regarded as one of the most important factors that consumers consider while purchasing products. However, contrary to objective quality, perceived product quality includes consumer&#039 / s judgment about the overall superiority or excellence of a product. This study mainly concentrates on the relationship between product appearance and perceived product quality especially for durable goods. The definitions of product quality and perceived product quality are reviewed to explain different dimensions of perceived product quality. Product appearance and the importance of product appearance are explained to reveal the relationship between the consumer and the appearance of the product. Four types of information communicated through the appearance are revealed: aesthetic information, symbolic information, functional information and ergonomic information. In the field study, how these four types of information communicated by the product appearance influence the consumers&rsquo / quality perception is questioned through a quantitative study. Conducted with 100 participants, the results of the questionnaire shows that the appearance influences quality perception in various stages of consumer/product context for durable goods. At the end of the study, it is observed that aesthetic, functional and ergonomic information directly influence consumer&rsquo / s quality perception / wheras, the influence of symbolic information on the perceived quality is found to be limited and indirect.