The relative significance of conceptual design to basic design or detail design is widely recognized, due to its influential roles in determining the product's fundamental features and development costs. Although there are some general methodologies dealing with functions in design, virtually no commercial CAD systems can support functional design, in particular so-called synthetic phase of design. Supporting the synthetic phase of conceptual design is one of the crucial issues of CAD systems with function modeling capabilities. In this paper, we propose a computer tool called a Function-Behavior-State (FBS) Modeler to support functional design not only in the analytical phase but also in the synthetic phase. To do so, the functional decomposition knowledge and physical features in the knowledge base of the modeler, and a subsystem Qualitative Process Abduction System (QPAS) play crucial roles. Modeling scheme of function in relation with behavior and structure and design process for conceptual design in the FBS Modeler are described. The advantages of the FBS Modeler are demonstrated by presenting two examples; namely, an experiment in which designers used this tool and the design of functionally redundant machines, which is a new design methodology for highly reliable machines, as its application.

In order to pursue sustainability, commercial activities between the supply and demand sides must be somehow changed. In the context of eco-design, producers must need a much bigger framework than is available in current eco-design techniques. This calls for establishing a new discipline. This paper aims at proposing a novel engineering discipline for producers toward sustainable production and consumption, Service Engineering (SE). For the sake of this, the scheme of SE is first explained. Second, a methodology of modeling and designing services, and a computer-aided design tool called Service Explorer, are presented. Third, they are proved to be effective through two applications. In SE, positive and negative changes of consumers are modelled as value and cost, respectively. In addition, the model to describe a target consumer is provided for grounding the identified value. A design methodology including the identification of value with realization structures is also provided. Furthermore, SE allows designing services in parallel with products. In the application to service redesign of an existing hotel in Italy, it was demonstrated that the presented methods and tools facilitate designers adding new value like the view of outside through a window in energy-saving structure. It was also proven to deal with both products and services through generating a solution called “cash-back per non-wash” system for washing towels. The other smaller-scaled application to design of renting home appliances revealed that they support to determine a property of an adopted physical product like the size of a TV set depending on target customers’ properties effectively.

Original Publication: Tomohiko Sakao and Yoshiki Shimomura, Service Engineering: a novel engineering discipline for producers to increase value combining service and product, 2007, Journal of Cleaner Production, (15), 6, 590-604. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.05.015 Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. http://www.elsevier.com/

No abstract

Abstract:This paper proposes a new type of service CAD system utilized in Service/Product Engineering (SPE), a much-needed and novel engineering discipline within the background of servicification. In this research a design-object model was defined, and a prototype named Service Explorer was implemented. The model represents critical concepts such as value, costs, functions either of products or of service activities, and entities. Through its application to business cases such as selling washing machines, providing pay-per-wash service, and cleaning washing machines, the Service Explorer was proven to support designers as they describe and operate design objects. In the future we expect that the Service Explorer can help designers with generating new ideas.

No abstract