Interactive model-based decision-making tools in early product platform design
Paper in proceeding, 2020

Integrating new technologies in existing product platforms presents challenges not only when the decision of going ahead with the integration is taken, but also in the earlier design of the platform structure to accommodate hypothetical changes in the future. Common heuristics do no guarantee that the optimum solution can be found to these kinds of problems, and biases lead to systematic distortions in decision-making. Additionally with the global zeitgeist around sustainable development, decision makers will increasingly ask for paths to many different versions of success, not just the traditional profit maximization one. A set of common models that accompanies the product platform all through its lifecycle to support decision makers can enable better fulfilment of the expectations of all stakeholders. But it is difficult to unify and objectively gather the views of multiple stakeholder simultaneously. An interactive modelbased decision making support system is proposed as a tool to solve the mentioned challenges. In this paper we describe and experiment with the main technological foundations of such a tool. These include an web-based front end, and a real-Time NoSQL database in the back end. The client web application (webapp) enables user inputs, runs quantitative models, and visualizes results. The database records results and enables the use of common inputs and common visualization of the results. The models that run directly in the client are developed offline and can be continuously deployed with no downtime for concurrent users. The technology stack used demonstrates that rapid prototyping of tools using state-of-The-Art web technologies provides quick results and enables researchers to make quick iterations that can be easily deployed in industrial use cases. The presented method is a new approach to providing digital support to the design process, by enabling better informed decisions during the product development process early phases. In this paper, an introduction and background to the problem and current state of the art is summarized, a method to approaching the topic is described, an experiment performed in front of a life audience is presented, and hints for future developments are considered in the discussion and conclusion sections.

design support system

decision making

model based engineering

digital design

Author

Iñigo Alonso Fernandez

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Product Development

Massimo Panarotto

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Product Development

Ola Isaksson

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Product Development

Proceedings of the NordDesign 2020 Conference, NordDesign 2020


978-191225408-8 (ISBN)

NordDesign 2020
Lyngby, Denmark,

VISP - Value and flexibility Impact analysis for Sustainable Production

VINNOVA (2018-02692), 2018-10-01 -- 2022-09-30.

FFI - Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation (2018-02692), 2018-10-01 -- 2022-09-30.

Subject Categories

Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics

Software Engineering

Information Science

Areas of Advance

Information and Communication Technology

Transport

Production

DOI

10.35199/NORDDESIGN2020.15

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1/3/2024 9