An investigation on a prototype customer-oriented information system for product concept development

Abstract In a competitive and globalised business environment, a company can never out-perform its competitors, if it depends solely on its products alone. As a result, customer needs become an important factor to consider in new product development. In this work, a customer-oriented information system (COIS) was investigated and employed to establish a closer link between product re-innovation and customer involvement in the context of product concept development. It is aimed at improving design efficiency through managing multilevel product information, and reducing time and cost. In order to expedite the implementation of such an information system, a so-called functional attributes hierarchy (FAH) was proposed and developed to elicit product concepts and relevant design specifications from both generic and specific viewpoints. The correlation between them in terms of individual customer requirements was also identified with the utilisation of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique. In addition, an object-oriented technique that enables information stored in a relational database (RDB) to be accessed was developed. The development is aimed at eliminating the semantic gaps between the data model and engineering designs. A case study on wood golf club design was carried out to validate the bespoke COIS for product concept development.

[1]  H. D Bradley,et al.  A relation-based product model for computer supported early design assessment , 1998 .

[2]  Hiroshi Kawakami,et al.  Knowledge acquisition method for conceptual design based on value engineering and axiomatic design theory , 1996, Artif. Intell. Eng..

[3]  Hiroshi Ishikawa.  Object-oriented database system - design and implementation for advanced applications , 1993, Computer science workbench.

[4]  Jami J. Shah,et al.  Database infrastructure for supporting engineering design histories , 1996, Comput. Aided Des..

[5]  George Q. Huang,et al.  Web-based Collaborative Conceptual Design , 1999 .

[6]  Shang Jyh Liu,et al.  Strategic planning for technology development with patent analysis , 1997 .

[7]  Douglas K. Barry.  The object database handbook - how to select, implement, and use object-oriented databases , 1996 .

[8]  Mitchell M. Tseng,et al.  A framework of virtual design for product customization , 1997, 1997 IEEE 6th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation Proceedings, EFTA '97.

[9]  Mitchell M. Tseng,et al.  Computer-Aided Requirement Management for Product Definition: A Methodology and Implementation , 1998 .

[10]  Nam P. Suh,et al.  principles in design , 1990 .

[11]  Kristin L. Wood,et al.  Product Evolution: A Reverse Engineering and Redesign Methodology , 1998 .

[12]  Xuehong Du,et al.  Design by Customers for Mass Customization Products , 1998 .

[13]  Chun-Hsien Chen,et al.  A knowledge sorting process for a product design expert system , 1999, Expert Syst. J. Knowl. Eng..

[14]  Kristin L. Wood,et al.  Functional Interdependence and Product Similarity Based on Customer Needs , 1999 .