Integrating knowledge maps in design process configurations for concurrently engineered product development

Abstract

Concurrently engineered product development requires effective inter-functional communication and knowledge sharing across multidisciplinary teams and heterogeneous processes. This paper presents a semantics-enabled approach to the integration of knowledge maps with design process configurations to support more meaningful communication and seamless collaboration between cross-functional teams and concurrent workflows in new product introduction (NPI) processes. The proposed approach focuses on: explicit and formalized process description and configuration of NPI activities; process knowledge capture and reuse through knowledge maps; integration of knowledge maps into design process configurations; and ontology-based process model mapping and knowledge sharing to support seamless process collaboration. It thereby contributes to the development of the next generation concurrent engineering methodologies in order to achieve NPI process advances for meaningful inter-functional communication and collaboration. The approach has been implemented in a software prototype to provide the concurrently engineered product development with the capabilities of semantic process description and configuration, knowledge reuse, and process collaboration.

Monitoring intellectual capital: a case study of a large company during the recent economic crisis

“…Figure 2.1. Intellectual capital flow coming from knowledge assets (Schenker-Wicki at al., 2009;Eliasson, 2005;Yang et a., 2007;Rudez, 2006;Castro and Lopez, 2008;Bornemann, 2007;Stahle and Bounfour, 2008;Marr and Adams, 2004;Mourtisen et al, 2001, Jennewein, 2004, Lee et al, 2003 With these elements, the person can generate knowledge maps (Andriessen, 2004) coming from ideas to solve work problems or to execute a research project. When those ideas are exteriorized coming from their mind into a solution to the normal job, then that knowledge can be classified as knowledge asset (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995).…”

“…Herein, the person makes decisions based on the current context of the organization as well as on the job basis. Thus far and for example, the knowledge are part of the human capital, because it is from the people head and then people rent this capital to the organization; but depending on its final destination, it is turned into structural or relational capital (Yang et a., 2007;Rudez, 2006;Castro and Lopez, 2008;Bornemann, 2007;Stahle and Bounfour, 2008;Marr and Adams, 2004;Mourtisen et al, 2001, Jennewein, 2004, Lee et al, 2003. Furthermore, if the intangible asset turns into a selling product such as a patent, trademark or best practice, subsequently it means that the intangible asset could be measured while giving an economy value and then it could be grouped into the intellectual capital of the organization, as mentioned previously during the relationship between intangible assets and intellectual capital.…”

A process model and method of idea generation for conceptual design

“…'Attention' is the control message sent by the central executive (10), which makes the working memory take information closely related to the design task. Under the control of the central executive (11), chunkings, instance elements, and connections of design knowledge and experience (which are explained in detail in section 3) are retrieved and copied to the cognition passage of the working memory (4), or are returned to long-term storage (5). Through the central executive's processing, external information and design knowledge retrieved from long-term storage generate a conceptual design idea in the cognition passage (6), which is outputted as a candidate idea (7).…”

“…However, most of this work concerns product design or redesign carried out through capturing and organizing previous design knowledge so as to reduce the error rate in new designs and improve design efficiency. This approach is often used in mundane new product design, the redesign of an existing product, or the creation of a product development strategy, including project planning (scheduling, budgeting, resource loading, and risk management), and even detailed design as discussed in [9][10][11][12]. However, the design of innovative products or even the generation of the ideas for these products is not adequately covered in this approach.…”

Research on knowledge support technology for product innovation design based on quality function knowledge deployment

“…Many domestic and foreign scholars have conducted massive researches on product design based on knowledge to make effective use of knowledge in product innovation design process. These studies mainly focused on knowledge organization and retrieval based on ontology, 3,4 knowledge driving and navigation based on context, 5,6 case-based knowledge acquisition of product design, 7 computeraided innovation design based on patent knowledge, 8 functional case modeling for knowledge-driven conceptual design, 9 product development based on knowledge maps, 10 the knowledge management for process, 11 and so on. These studies raise the efficiency of product design in some extent.…”