Structuring a Product Design Process for Optimizing the Scale of Derivative Development

In derivative development, by planning a reasonable design process in advance, the development scale can be suppressed. However, no systematic method to structure a process is established. This research proposes a method to structure a process so that the scale can be optimized. For this purpose, a hypothesis about the rationale of senior designers is made and implemented as a mathematical model on a computer to help designers structure a process. A process is described as sequences between tasks that are defined as functional measures and design parameters to achieve them, which are depicted in domain mapping matrix. Pareto optimal processes in three metrics depicting the rationale are suggested. The designer examines the contents of the processes among different scales and determines an appropriate process and thus the appropriate scale. Case studies on a continuously variable transmission confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.