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  • Using embedded design structures to unravel a complex decision in a product development system

Ahmed-Kristensen, Saeema, McKay, Alison, Sammonds, George, Irnazarow, Aleksandra and Robinson, Mark, 2017, Book Section, Using embedded design structures to unravel a complex decision in a product development system In: Anja Maier, at el, (ed.) Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 17) : Human Behaviour in Design. Design Society, pp. 149-158. ISBN 978-1-904670-96-4

Abstract or Description:

Early design decisions have an impact on downstream product development processes. Poor decisions can reduce efficiency and effectiveness, and have a detrimental effect on product quality, delivery time, and cost. However, the range of tools suitable for use in early design is limited, in part because of ambiguity in available design definitions. This paper reports research that investigated the role of complex decision making in a quality incident that occurred in the development of a complex product system. A case study approach with document analysis and semi-structured interviews was used. Data were analysed using lenses from both social sciences and engineering design. In this paper, we report the use of embedded design structures to gain insights into the downstream consequences of design decisions. Results indicate that embedded product, process and supply network structures have the potential to underpin a new generation of design tools for considering downstream complexities arising from early design choices. Such tools could both improve the quality of design decisions and support improved management of development processes by highlighting areas of future risk.

Official URL: https://www.designsociety.org/multimedia/publicati...
Subjects: Creative Arts and Design > W200 Design studies
School or Centre: School of Design
Date Deposited: 19 Mar 2018 16:17
Last Modified: 09 Nov 2018 14:31
URI: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/3320
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