Predicting and visualizing cost propagation due to engineering design changes
Year: 2017
Editor: Anja Maier, Stanko Škec, Harrison Kim, Michael Kokkolaras, Josef Oehmen, Georges Fadel, Filippo Salustri, Mike Van der Loos
Author: Georgiades, Alex; Sharma, Sanjiv; Kipouros, Timoleon; Savill, Mark
Series: ICED
Institution: 1: Cranfield University, United Kingdom; 2: Airbus, United Kingdom; 3: University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Section: Design Methods and Tools
Page(s): 249-258
ISBN: 978-1-904670-92-6
ISSN: 2220-4342
Abstract
During product development changes in the initial design are ubiquitous. The ability to predict such changes, along with the expected costs, is a challenge on its own. This challenge increases exponentially when a single design change on one element of the system propagates to other components. As change propagates, so does the cost associated with it; where cost is more than just financial. A number of knowledge-based methods have been developed in the past that assist in the prediction of how change propagates through a system, and the impact that it can have on other components. None of the methods developed, however, considers how cost propagates due to design changes. This paper presents a novel methodology for predicting, visualizing, and assessing the propagation of change and the cost associated with it. As part of the methodology, a new method, CP2, has been developed to calculate the propagated costs. The methodology has been applied to a conceptual example of a simple system to demonstrate the procedure and the use of the methods. The visualization of the results arising from this methodology is also demonstrated as a mechanism for design decision-making.
Keywords: Design methodology, Design methods, Design costing, Visualisation, Decision making