A METHOD FOR SUPPORTING THE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY INCREMENTAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Majority of product developments in industry are made to existing products e.g. improvements or adaptive designs. Different methods and tools for creativeness and idea generation have been presented widely in literature. However, many of these methods arc context-free and do not include any specific means to direct the development of the technical system. The development and design processes are typically separated into technological disciplines, which may become a hindrance for understanding the integrated impacts and connections of a system. The objective of this study is to search and analyse successful innovative multi-discipline solutions and to recognise similar patterns in the development process. This paper presents a multi-discipline product model to support innovative solution finding.