Design Analysis by Means of Axonometric Hand–drawn Illustrations

Other conference contribution, 1992

This scientific contribution summarizes some of the research and development work carried out by the authors while we were engaged in the Volvo Automobile Company’s assembly plant in Uddevalla. It explains how we managed the illustrate the product architecture and product variation of the automobile model in question (the Volvo 700 model). 

Comment: Our clients (the project organisation at Volvo) allowed us to make scientific contributions reporting on e.g. principles and practises during the life of this assembly plant, but they were not keen letting us publish any hard information (many other scientists were far interested publishing just anything). For strategic reasons would, in fact, the principles be kept secret instead (however these principles, though practised by Volvo, were actually never officially/publically absorbed by the Volvo companies) (nowadays are all of the knowledgeable individuals etíher dead or retired). Most probably do similar efforts calling for an experimental workshop in connection with an industrial change, as well as access to similar competencies (various knowledgeable practitioners, as well as senior and junior research competencies, were inventible called for) (just to master the specific nomenclature at hand within the various Volvo companies was really difficult for us) (who will help an external scientist if this requires extra work just to understand what he or she wants?). This is a situation that is almost an impossibility today, with the ways research and development work are organised and financed today at Chalmers University of Technology (in fact, it was far more anarchistic earlier, as long as you were able to finance the efforts in question).