Taking a look at the utilisation of function models in interdisciplinary design: insights from ten engineering companies

Abstract

Interdisciplinary system development requires the integration of diverse expertise to combine different engineering technologies and-increasingly often-services, in order to provide users with expected value and desired functionality in newly developed products. Failure to achieve integration of disciplines can result in design errors posing a direct threat to the users and to the company. Function modelling is expected to provide suitable means for the integration of disciplines early in the development process. However, a plethora of function models can be found within different disciplines or even across, and their divergence has proven to hamper shared, cross-disciplinary function modelling in design teams. This article presents research on function modelling in different disciplines in practice. Conducted research comprises empirical studies in ten companies developing mechatronic systems and/or Product-Service Systems in diverse market areas. The studies provide insights into the utilisation of different function models in different disciplines and across, as well as the specific needs and preferences of practicing designers regarding interdisciplinary function modelling. Finally, the obtained insights and their implications for supporting interdisciplinary function modelling are being discussed. Indications are derived which may guide future research endeavours pertaining to the development of support for collaborative, (cross-)disciplinary function modelling.

The integrated function modeling framework and its relation to function structures

“…Yet scholars have noted that function modeling has not been widely taken up in industry (see, e.g., Aurisicchio et al, 2012; Tomiyama et al, 2013). The very characteristic that makes it applicable across disciplinary barriers, that is, its abstract nature, seems to also raise doubts about its practical applicability, deterring companies or individual designers from adopting it in their daily practices (as suggested by Tomiyama et al, 2009; Booth et al, 2015; Eisenbart et al, 2016 b ). Moreover, existing function modeling approaches incorporate different levels of abstraction and viewpoints in their descriptions of functionality (see Erden et al, 2008; Crilly, 2010; Eisenbart et al, 2013 a , for an overview).…”

Research Series Review for Transdisciplinarity Assessment—Validation with Sustainable Consumption and Production Research

“…This comparison was then extended to "empirical studies in ten companies developing mechatronic systems and/or product-service systems" in Ref. [42], deriving "future research endeavours pertaining to the development of support for collaborative, (cross-)disciplinary function modelling. "…”

“…Ref. [42] concerns interdisciplinary issues, and Ref. [41] discusses "integration of functional modelling in interdisciplinary system development", and therefore may be regarded as interdisciplinary.…”

“…[41] and then Ref. [42] in Figure 5 indicates the potential for continuing research in providing a solution in a theoretical field, as they explicitly stated future research opportunities to develop design support (see Section 3.2.). This implies a possibility of research that would realize the pathway "closing" the loop originating from [34] in a figure eight as depicted by Figure 8.…”

“…In fact, outside the genealogy, a research work is found [57] citing Ref. [42], which proposed a method to explore function vulnerability and identify failure modes in complex systems and then applied it to a case from industry. This means that the authors of [57] developed the method first in a theoretical field and thereby the loop is nearly closed.…”