Configuration-design problem solving

Wielinga, B.J.; Schreiber, G.

doi:10.1109/64.585104

Cited by 107 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Up to now, however, management literature studies product configurators as tools supporting the technical office in processing product technical information [see Schmidt and Nourain, 1986;Wielinga and Schreiber, 1997]. Indeed, product configurators do not only affect the activities performed within the technical office, as they impact also the sales and manufacturing processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Product configuration and inter-firm co-ordination: an innovative solution from a small manufacturing enterprise

Forza

Salvador

2002

Computers in Industry

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In order to survive, a great number of small companies are forced to offer a wide product variety and often to respond to the market with customised solutions. At the same time, fast delivery is often a key to win orders. As a result, a vital challenge for these companies is to overcome the trade-off between product variety and delivery time, without compromising cost structure. Recent developments in Information Technology made available also for small companies a class of software tools -called product configurators -that promise to reduce this trade-off. This paper reports a case study of the implementation of a product configuration software in a small manufacturing enterprise. The paper highlights that the company enjoyed significant benefits from the implementation of the software, especially in terms of delivery time. Moreover, the case evidences that product configuration software can be proactively used as a tool for improving interfirm coordination.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Product configuration and inter-firm co-ordination: an innovative solution from a small manufacturing enterprise

Forza

Salvador

2002

Computers in Industry

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“…Participants were made aware of this limitation at the beginning of the study, and the computer interface communicated the number of operations remaining. The cooling system design problem is also a case of full configuration design since components are parameterized (sensor/cooler location, cooler flow/power), the problem lacks a predefined arrangement, and global requirements and constraints are implemented (cost, temperature) [5]. A short example sequence of operations for this problem is provided in Figure 3, with shading indicating temperature.…”

Section: Data From Home Cooling System Behavioral Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A short example operation sequence is provided in Figure 2. The truss design problem constitutes a full configuration design problem, per the guidelines provided by Wielinga and Schreiber [5]. This type of problem is characterized by parametrized components (e.g., size…”

Section: Data From Truss Behavioral Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This method begins with an initial solution (propose), evaluates the solution against constraints and objectives (critique), and changes the solution to reduce constraint violations or improve objectives (modify). Propose-critique-modify and other methods [5] provide a structured approach to searching the solution space associated with a given configuration problem. However, the solution space of configuration design problems branches polynomially [1], meaning that it tends to be both complex and large.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mining Process Heuristics from Designer Action Data via Hidden Markov Models

McComb¹,

Kotovsky²,

Cagan³

2018

Preprint

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Configuration design problems, characterized by the assembly of components into a final desired solution, are common in engineering design. Various theoretical approaches have been offered for solving configuration type problems, but few studies have examined the approach that humans naturally use to solve such problems. This work applies data-mining techniques to quantitatively study the processes that designers use to solve configuration design problems. The guiding goal is to extract beneficial design process heuristics that are generalizable to the entire class of problems. The extraction of these human problem-solving heuristics is automated through the application of hidden Markov models to the data from two behavioral studies.Results show that designers proceed through four procedural states in solving configuration design problems, roughly transitioning from topology design to shape and parameter design.2 High-performing designers are distinguished by their opportunistic tuning of parameters early in the process, enabling a more effective and nuanced search for solutions.

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“…A proliferation of terms from the design literature seek to describe ways of responding to the challenge of configuring and designing to customer order. Examples include modular design [30], platform designs [31], and configuration design [32]. Jiao et al [33] show the considerable range of terms that have emerged.…”

Section: Engineer-to-ordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing a maturity model for design automation in sales-delivery processes of ETO products

Willner

Gosling

Schönsleben

2016

Computers in Industry

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Short delivery times are considered a competitive advantage in the engineer-to-order (ETO) sector. Design-related tasks contribute to a substantial amount of delivery times and costs since ETO products have to be either fully developed or adapted to customer specifications within tendering or order fulfillment. Approaches aiming at a computerised automation of tasks related to the design process, often termed design automation or knowledge-based engineering, are generally regarded as an effective means to achieve lead time and cost reductions while maintaining, or even improving product quality. In this study we propose a maturity model as a framework for analyzing and improving such activities in ETO companies.We contribute to the literature in being the first to investigate design automation in the ETO sector from a maturity perspective. Beyond that, we extend the extant literature on design automation, which is of a highly technical nature, by providing a framework considering organizational and managerial aspects. The findings indicate that five different levels of maturity can be achieved across the dimensions strategies, processes, systems, and people.Empirical cases give insight into these different levels. Our investigation draws from extant literature and a comparative case study involving four companies over two years.

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Configuration-design problem solving

Cited by 107 publications

References 11 publications

Product configuration and inter-firm co-ordination: an innovative solution from a small manufacturing enterprise

Product configuration and inter-firm co-ordination: an innovative solution from a small manufacturing enterprise

Mining Process Heuristics from Designer Action Data via Hidden Markov Models

Establishing a maturity model for design automation in sales-delivery processes of ETO products

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