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Engineering Design Re-use refers to the utilisation of any knowledge gained from the design activity to support future design. As such, Engineering Design Re-use approaches are concerned with the support, exploration and enhancement of design knowledge prior, during and after a design activity. Modular Design is a product structuring principle whereby products are developed with distinct modules for rapid product development, efficient upgrades, and possible re-use (of the physical modules). The benefits of Modular Design centre of a greater capacity for structuring component parts to better manage the relation between market requirements and the designed product. This work explores the capabilities of Modular Design principles to provide improved support for the Engineering Design Reuse concept. The Modular Design principle is extended to structure not only the artefact's components but also their associated knowledge, to support, explore and enhance the knowledge genera ted during the evolution of the design process. A novel modular design approach, termed a Multi-Viewpoint Modular Design Methodology, is developed to address identified requirements including; support for evolutionary design knowledge, exploration and identification of inherent modularity and maintenance of the modular solution. The overall concept of the Methodology is to support the designer in evolving a modular artefact whilst utilising the principles of modularity to structure the artefact knowledge to enhance its potential applicability for re-use, the concept is termed knowledge modularity. Based on the results of a state of the art review deficiencies of existing approaches are identified including; insufficient support of evolutionary design knowledge, insufficiencies in the modelling, exploration, identification and representation of knowledge modularity, limitations in the module identification process. Declarative and procedural knowledge is developed to define a novel Modular Design Methodology to address these deficiencies. As such, the Methodology presents a formalised approach to support the modelling, optimisation and identification of modularity, both within and across viewpoints (function, working principle and structure) of the product structure, and evolutionary design knowledge. The core phenomena of a knowledge module is formalised in terms of the knowledge of design concepts and their dependencies. The formalism supports the identification of inherent modularity. An alternative model, termed the Modular Structure Matrix is developed as part of the Methodology to represent this inherent modularity. In addition, the Methodology has been developed, through a 12-month industrial residency, to address the requirements of practising designers. The Methodology is applied throughout a design activity to formalise and represent (in a matrix formalism) knowledge of the concepts embodied by a design artefact. The resulting model provides the basis to determine and represent interdependency knowledge between design concepts. The modelled concept and dependency knowledge can be utilised to support a modular analysis of the product structure both within and across design viewpoints. An optimisation and module identification mechanism can then be applied to the model and, based on the dependency data, identify inherent modularity within individual viewpoints of the product structure. Further, a mapping methodology has been developed to support the maintenance of the modular solution, and its associated artefact knowledge, across multiple viewpoints of design. The new methodology can be applied in a cyclic and iterative manner to support modularisation of the artefact design knowledge through the evolution of the design. A computational implementation has been developed to aid the evaluation of the Methodology. The functionality ofthe Methodology has been illustrated through two literature based case studies and two industrial implementation evaluations. An implementation and evaluation methodology was formalised through the rationalisation of the activities carried out during the first, and further utilised as the basis to support the second, industrial implementation. The two literature based studies evaluate the functionality of the methodologies optimisation and module identification mechanisms. These evaluations result in the identification of modular hierarchies that were not evident in the findings of the original publications. In addition, both industrial implementations result in the identification of potential improvements in the design. The evaluations illustrate the functionality of the Methodology in identifying and maintaining modularity, structuring design knowledge, supporting decision-making, learning, and improving design understanding. In addition, the evaluators outlined further potential Methodology application fields such as team design, manufacturing design and technology life-cycle management. Further the strengths and weaknesses of the Methodology, the computational implementation, and the research methodology utilised to facilitate the work presented in this thesis, are discussed. Finally, future work required to enhance the capabilities of the Multi- Viewpoint MD methodology and the functionality of the computational implementation have been identified, including; the development of more advanced modular clustering criterions, the introduction of constraints and constraint management, and the development of module costing mechanisms/metrics.

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Cette recherche porte sur les dispositifs de discussion sur le travail. Dans un contexte de développement de ces dispositifs au sein des entreprises et dans la littérature, l’objectif de cette thèse est d’approfondir la réflexion quant à leurs conditions d’utilisation et de pérennité, quant aux méthodologies d’intervention pour les concevoir et quant à leurs implications en termes de management, de participation et de prise de décision.La thèse s’inscrit dans le courant de l’ergonomie constructive qu’elle fait dialoguer avec les sciences de gestion. L’ergonomie constructive vise le développement d’organisations « capacitantes », c’est-à-dire d’organisations capables de se développer par un débat sur le travail, afin de créer les conditions du développement des individus et des collectifs. En sciences de gestion, la proposition d’un modèle d’entreprise « délibérée » prône l’ouverture d’espaces de discussion sur le travail à tous les niveaux hiérarchiques, afin d’organiser la subsidiarité (i.e. la prise de décision au plus bas niveau hiérarchique pertinent). La thèse défend alors l’idée qu’intervenir pour développer une discussion sur le travail pérenne dans les organisations nécessite d’appréhender les dispositifs de discussion dans une logique de l’activité, selon une dynamique remontante, tout en favorisant le soutien institutionnel de la discussion, dans une dynamique plus descendante.Pour ce faire, quatre situations d’usage d’espaces de discussion sur le travail ont été étudiées, dans deux organismes de protection sociale, dans une institution bancaire et à La Poste. Les dispositifs de discussion qui y ont été mis en place ont été considérés comme des artefacts, conçus pour l’usage par des concepteurs et pouvant être adaptés dans l’usage par ses utilisateurs. Leur évolution a alors été retracée à deux échelles temporelles : d’une entreprise à l’autre et au sein de deux entreprises, afin d’identifier les différentes formes qui leur ont été données et qu’ils ont prises dans l’usage.Les résultats mettent en lumière des appropriations variées selon les contextes, soulignant la nécessaire adaptabilité des modalités de la discussion aux spécificités locales. Les dispositifs de discussion étudiés ont favorisé la régulation de situations de travail et ont interpelé des cultures managériales traditionnellement descendantes, initiant une évolution vers un management plus participatif et subsidiaire. Pour favoriser leur pérennité, il apparaît nécessaire à la fois d’aménager « l’espace de la discussion », notamment en organisant la subsidiarité, et de partir de l’activité des acteurs concernés, dans une approche coconstruite et volontariste. / This research deals with “Work Discussion Spaces”. Work Discussion Spaces (WDSs) are currently developed, both in practice and in theory. This thesis further reflects upon the design of these spaces, the methodology of their implementation, their conditions of use and their sustainability over time. It also examines their implications for management, participation and decision-making.The thesis builds upon the constructive ergonomics approach, aiming to open it to the management approach. The aspiration of constructive ergonomics is to develop “enabling organizations”, that is to say organizations which are able to develop themselves by creating a space for work discussions, thus permitting the growth of both the individual and the collectives. Management science develops the idea of a governance model “open to discussion” at every level of the hierarchy, thus permitting subsidiarity (i.e. decision-making at the lowest relevant level of the hierarchy). This thesis then defends the idea that enabling a sustainable debate in the workplace requires to apprehend Work Discussion Spaces in the light of activity issues, following bottom-up dynamics, while promoting institutional support for the discussion, with a more top-down logic.To that end, four situations of use of Work Discussion Spaces were studied in two social protection organizations, in a bank institute and at “La Poste”. The Work Discussion Spaces that were implemented were considered as “artifacts”, designed for use by designers and adapted in use by its users. In order to identify the various forms given to and taken by them, their evolution was studied following two different temporal scales: from one company to the other, and within two companies.Results show that, according to situations, Work Discussion Spaces were accommodated in different ways, emphasizing the importance of adapting modalities of discussion to local specificities. WDSs enabled regulation of work situations and have challenged some traditionally top-down managerial cultures, initiating an evolution towards a more participatory and subsidiary management style. In order to guarantee their sustainability, the Work Discussion Spaces need both to organize the “discussion space”, in particular by organizing subsidiarity, and to rely on an intervention that takes into account the specificity of each activity, following a participatory and voluntarist design approach.

The prevalence and use of medical devices in the home environment continues to grow in the United Kingdom (UK) and Worldwide. It is recognised that such devices offer significant benefits to both patients and the National Health Service in the UK. The design of home use medical devices however represents a considerable challenge to designers and manufacturers alike. Developing devices that are usable and understandable by inexperienced, lay or dexterity impaired users requires an understanding across a breadth of disciplines. Previous research in this field has explored these challenges in attempt to offer support for developers of home use medical devices. There have been very few studies however that have explored whether the design community actually need, want or use such guidance, before considering whether this literature is adopted correctly. Through case studies, an online survey and in depth interviews this thesis suggests that industry practitioners are sceptical of the value of design guidance towards user involvement in home use medical device design. Consequently the practitioners in this research make little or no use of the formal design methods and supportive guidance documents available to them. More typically, practitioners in the home use medical device field use their own personal experiences and knowledge from working in the industry to adapt their own approaches to design. This thesis reports that the greatest challenge to involving users in the design of home use medical devices are the internal corporate and traditionally hierarchical barriers between stakeholders within the design process. In contrast to previous research offering support for designers and developers of home use medical devices this thesis calls for a wider change in design practice to facilitate the application of usability principles. As a conclusion to this thesis, recommendations for further research to address these changes in practice are proposed to industry professionals in the medical device industry. This thesis is submitted as part of the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Loughborough University.

In this thesis it is argued that the use and design of computer artefacts can be fruitfully studied by focusing on use problems and design contradictions, defined as problems and contradictions in relation to organisational improvements planned by the IT-practitioner. The position taken in this thesis is that the important thing with computer artefacts and systems design is their contributions to human organisations at large. The purpose is to contribute to the design of contributing computer artefacts by studying, first, use problems and design contradictions, and second, the importance of IT-perspectives held by the practitioner. That is, the practitioner's tacit assumptions about what computers really are. Based on Action Science three case studies are made. What was found in these cases were use problems such as context dependency, discriminating information systems, misinterpretations and misuse. Among design contradictions were observed narrow design domains, unimaginative and pointless staff trainings, too fixed positions concerning goals and problems, and an assumption concerning relevant knowledge that effectively was excluding important knowledge related to the organisation at large. In all of these cases a tool perspective was interpreted as the dominating IT-perspective. In order to find out whether or not a tool perspective can be regarded as causing the use problems and design contradictions observed, the thesis examines this IT-perspective more closely. The conclusion made from this examination is that the tool perspective can be causing the problems and contradictions observed. In an attempt to formulate an alternative to this tool perspective theoretical studies into systems thinking and reflective practice were made, ending up in a framework labeled contextual IT-understanding. It is a framework built on principles such as a systems view, purposefulness, product-producer perspective, and constructivism. It is also built on assumptions such as that practitioners have a capacity to make sense out of a situation that initially makes no sense, that their actions are formed through a reflective conversation with the materials of the situation, that design is a matter of reflection, both in and on the actual action, and that in training it is important to make the trainee start to reflect on the tacit assumptions guiding her actions. According to a contextual IT-understanding an information system is a systemic and culturally dynamic artefact and as such, an artefact that will serve certain interests at the expense of others, will be ambiguous, will be misinterpreted, will be misused, etcetera. An information system should also be considered as part of a larger value creating process under the constant influence of a tacit dimension, implying that the relation between an information system and organisational improvements is not causal, that a lot of important design will take place in use, etcetera. More radically though, every information system can be seen as having a tacit dimension acting like an intellectual superstructure, and this tacit dimension can be fruitfully utilized in design. On the overall level a conclusion is drawn that both researchers and practitioners should emphasis the IT-perspectives held by IT-practitioners and the tacit dimensions influencing practice. / digitalisering@umu

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Submitted by Patricia Figuti Venturini (pfiguti@anhembi.br) on 2018-10-17T12:32:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvia Bahia Monteiro.pdf: 20152089 bytes, checksum: dbf21866cbdf4e4066140a9e90e940ab (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Patricia Figuti Venturini (pfiguti@anhembi.br) on 2018-10-17T18:27:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvia Bahia Monteiro.pdf: 20152089 bytes, checksum: dbf21866cbdf4e4066140a9e90e940ab (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Patricia Figuti Venturini (pfiguti@anhembi.br) on 2018-10-17T18:29:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvia Bahia Monteiro.pdf: 20152089 bytes, checksum: dbf21866cbdf4e4066140a9e90e940ab (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-17T18:29:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvia Bahia Monteiro.pdf: 20152089 bytes, checksum: dbf21866cbdf4e4066140a9e90e940ab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research aims to analyze the beginning of the process of residential verticalization in the city of São Paulo, since its origin in the mid-1920s until the 1940s. The choice of this period was determined by the changes in legislation regarding constructions in the city, articulated to the dissemination of the modernist culture in Brazil. Three different aspects were considered: a geographic point of view, in which we mapped the origins of the vertical development of the city in these decades; the point of view of the agents that enabled not only the verticalization but also the interior design of these spaces; and the study of mixed use buildings of the period, with their façades, floor plans and interiors. The apartment plants analyzed here were found in the archives of the Acropolis Magazine, as well as in the Iconographic Materials Section, both belonging to the Library of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo; these plants were then compared to the possible uses of these spaces. / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar o início do processo de verticalização residencial na cidade de São Paulo, desde sua origem, em meados dos anos 1920, até a década de 1940. A escolha desse período foi determinada em razão das alterações na legislação relativa às construções na cidade, articuladas à história da disseminação da cultura modernista no Brasil. Foram considerados três pontos de vista distintos: um geográfico, em que mapeamos as origens do desenvolvimento vertical da cidade nessas décadas; o ponto de vista dos agentes que possibilitaram tanto a verticalização como o design de interiores desses espaços; e o estudo de edifícios mistos da época, com suas fachadas, plantas e interiores. Foram analisadas plantas de apartamentos desse período encontradas nos arquivos da revista Acrópole, bem como na Seção de Materiais Iconográficos, ambos pertencentes à Biblioteca da Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo, plantas estas que foram confrontadas com os possíveis usos desses espaços.

The study examines how a select automobile company implement sustainablepractices in their supply chain management to achieve environmental sustainability.The focus of the study is on the two (2) most important aspects of the supply chainmanagement namely Supplier Selection and Product Design. Supplier selection isvital for 2 reasons; focal companies are increasingly being held account for theenvironmental impacts of their suppliers and more value is generated at the supplystage in the value chain. Product designs are vital because it helps reduce energyconsumption and emissions during the lifecycle (operational/use) of the vehicle.The study finds that the select automobile company has a robust procedure forsupplier selection & development using its Supplier code of conduct, SelfAssessment Questionnaires (SAQ) and a Sustainability Rating system for supplierselection and monitoring supplier compliance with environmental performancegoals.To achieve reduction in emissions from the company’s products in the use phase,the company has developed a range of products which focus on fuel efficiency,powertrains (engine) performance, renewable/alternative fuel sources andelectrified vehicles. These product designs are part of the company’sdecarbonization strategy to reduce emissions from its product use which accountsfor about 90% of the company’s carbon footprints (emissions). These products aredesigned with specific/set environmental goals/targets by working jointly with theScience Based Target Initiative (SBTi). An initiative (by WWF, CDP and WRI)which relies on the most recent climate science to help company achieve itsenvironmental goals while meeting its economic goals as well. The company’sdecarbonization strategy are directly linked to its supplier selection and productdesigns in order to achieve environmental sustainability.Overall, the study finds that the company’s practices are in line with existingliteratures on how to achieve environmental sustainability in Supply ChainManagement, for instance, the frameworks by Matthiavanan (2018) and Masoumi(2019) identified sustainable supplier selection & development, environmentalstandards, auditing suppliers, green/environmental purchasing, innovative productdesigns that reduce emissions & waste which are practices identified in the casecompany. Hence, the study reveals there is a strong link between theory and practicein the Case Company.This study has practical implications as insights provided can help other automobilecompanies address environmental sustainability challenges they face in theirsupplier selection process and product designs.