Parametric design adaptation for competitive products

Abstract

Very often product development is seen as a process where designers iterate through several design cycles until they converge upon a design that satisfies all of the necessary requirements-design within a single generation. If one takes the view that products change (i.e. adapt and evolve), a broader view must be adopted to capture the drivers of design adaptation across multiple product generations. This paper offers a new multi-generation conceptual framework of parametric design adaptation for consumer products, called the Artisan-Patron (AP) framework, and a complementary computational model. The AP framework captures the interaction between manufacturers (the Artisan) and consumers (the Patron) by structuring the various relevant information (e.g., consumer taste, government policy, cost of raw materials, etc.). Additionally, based on this framework, a corresponding computational model is developed, which allows engineers to find optimal settings for the design variables in a dynamic multi-generation environment. The utility of the conceptual framework and the computational model is demonstrated by considering the parametric design adaptation of the automobile with respect to two design parameters-engine horsepower and weight-based on historical automotive industry data. List of symbols NTotal number of competitive products (or manufacturers) within a given productFuel economy at 0-60 mph acceleration time sfMeasure of safety which is related to the fatality rate in two-car crashes hpVehicle aggregate horsepower wVehicle weight A Set of critical-to-value attributes (CVA) in a productperformance z a,I Ideal attribute setting where the consumer is unwilling to pay for further improvement z a,C Critical setting for attributes where the consumer is unwilling to purchase the product even if all other attributes are at an ideal setting z a,0 Baseline attribute settings (i.e. for the baseline product) z f e t Estimated average fuel economy (fe) at time t z at t Estimated average acceleration time (at) at time t z s f t Estimated average safety (sf) at time t z C AF E t Sales-weighted (car & truck) adjusted fuel economy standard for the manufacturer's product mix at time t R z A i,t Reward value based on z A i,t 123 542 J Intell Manuf (2012) 23:541-559 R z A i,t Estimate of R z A i,t B Set of decision/design variables in a product design b A single decision variable, b ∈ B x B i,tVector of design or decision variables for product i at time t:t ) Upper (and lower) bounds on design variables of product i at time t x hp t Vehicle aggregate horsepower at time t x w t Vehicle aggregate weight at time t ccost (estimate) for product i at time t c weight t Estimated cost as a function of overall automobile weight at time t (average for all manufacturers) c engine t Estimated cost associated with delivering engine horsepower at time t (average for all manufacturers) c C AF E t Estimated CAFE policy penalty formula at time t (average for all manufacturers) V 0 Baseline value (i.e. at reference point) V i,t Value of product i ...

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