Observations on the Abilities of Design Methodologies to Produce Different Product Structures

The ways of working in the industry have changed within the last 20 years. The products delivered are increasingly collections of assemblies produced by different companies in the supplying network. The segmentation of the product emerges also the need of the division of the design work. How this effects to the design process is interesting topic for the design methodology research. In this paper the actual design processes in shipbuilding industry network were documented on the basis of an empirical study. The results are compared to existing design processes in the research field. Design methodologies with similar decision-making sequences are to be identified. It appears that a certain design methodology is most able in producing a product structure with certain properties. Because the properties of the product structure are linked to business goals, the choosing the design process has a strategic aspect, which should be taken in consideration. The results also raise the question about possible limitations of the use of the conventional systematic design process.