Process Interoperability Framework Based on PSL for Collaborative Product Design

Product design tends to be more complex and needs the effective cooperation among multidisciplinary designers and engineers. An ideal product design environment, which is both collaborative and intelligent, will be much appreciated. Agent technology is an innovative and promising approach to implementing distributed systems and is becoming popular in various areas of computing in recent years. In this paper, the dynamic nature of collaborative design process and the representation of collaborative design knowledge are presented. In order to model constantly evolving design process and the rationales resulted from collaboration, a Collaborative Product Data Model (CPDM), which extends traditional Product Data Model (PDM), and a constraint-based Collaborative Design Process Model (CDPM) are proposed. These are intended to facilitate the management and coordination of collaborative product design process and knowledge management. A design example is used to illustrate CDPM. While the system is being implemented, the architecture of our agent-based collaborative product design environment based on CPDM and CDPM is described.

In order to solve the consistency and integration about process and process data that is produced in digital product collaborative development, digital collaborative design process model is presented, by detailed analyzing the integration requirement of collaborative design process and data. Based on this model, the CAX/DFX tools which are used in collaborative design are distributed and granule encapsulated by Federal Intelligent Product EnviRonment(FIPER); collaborative design process data produced by CAX/DFX tools is encapsulated based on the logic of Product Data Management (PDM) system’s workflow and is published as Webservice. FIPER is used to realize the collaborative design process flow that uses data Webservice to data exchange between PDM and uses encapsulated CAX/DFX tools to realize the design function. An example which realizes the integration of process design flow of a part is presented at the end of this paper. The collaborative design process flow is used to organize the collaborative process planning and to encapsulate the collaborative design data with Webservice in this example. The realization of this example manifested that the digital collaborative design product model has good practicability and the method of encapsulation for CAX/DFX tools and data Webservice is feasibility.

<p>Urban development and densification are increasing rapidly; this fact has been globally reported. According to a 2014 United Nations report, the world population will increase by 25% in the next three decades. This significant growth means urban density will also increase drastically, creating an increase in high-rise apartment living quarters to cater for the population growth. Subsequently, the development of housing has been advancing - especially around construction techniques which are becoming more efficient to meet the demand of fast-growing urban populations. This thesis proposes that simply supplying housing is no longer sufficient to address the requirements of citizens. Denser living environments result in increased dissatisfaction, especially among those living in high-density housing. This research looks specifically into enabling homebuyers to voice their needs and design their living space. In this context, the social paradigm of high-density housing has not progressed much. There is still more a notion of supplying the needed quantity and homebuyers accepting the housing without question. Homebuyers, the main users of the housing, are often absent from both the planning and design process. Recent studies have shown that participation in their community is one of the key themes towards social sustainability. Many public participatory projects and platforms only allow participation in large scale urban developments and planning processes. There is a significant lack of initiatives that include homebuyers in the context of high-rise, high-density housing. The aim of this research is to explore how a computational tool within a virtual environment can facilitate and support design collaboration and interactions – not only between architects and homebuyers, but among individual and collective homebuyers too. The methodology of the research includes using focus groups to examine how digital tools can support and contribute to the collaborative design process of high-rise, high-density housing. The study is then tested with the public to determine if such design tools facilitate and support design collaborations. Three studies were undertaken: The first is a pre-tool development study. It uses a focus group to understand the factors necessary to engage homebuyers, and those factors that hinder such process. A digital tool for collaboration was then developed, based on analysis of the focus group results. A second study determines if the factors identified are sufficient for design collaboration within a digital environment. Based on this analysis, the tool was enhanced and integrated with third party visualisation software to enable the desired digital collaboration. A final study involves the public, examining whether such a design tool facilitates and supports their design collaborations. Throughout the research development, gamification techniques were introduced and adopted to further explore driving factors and to enhance design interactions. The target audience of this research is homebuyers, who are laypersons in architectural design processes and techniques. Gamification is, therefore, an effective technique to simplify the design process and enable homebuyers to immerse themselves in a collaborative design process. Virtual Reality is used at the final stage to immerse homebuyers further into the design environment and give them clearer feedback about their design decisions. The findings of the research confirm the benefits this novel collaborative design process has on the overall outcome of high-rise, high-dense buildings. It demonstrates how a virtual design tool can influence the process of consultation and procurement for homebuyers. A metadesign framework has been developed to provide a guide to the decision-making support necessary for such a collaborative design process. Finally, the research explains how such an enhanced communicative design operation can achieve the kind of synergies that break out of the current housing paradigm and take a major step forward in urban development.</p>

Ontology-based assembly design and information sharing for collaborative product development

Purpose To describe the process and outcome of a user and theory informed online intervention for speech pathologists targeting the implementation of intensive and comprehensive aphasia services. Methods The design process followed the eight steps outlined by the Behaviour Change Wheel and incorporated the principles of Integrated Knowledge Translation (IKT). Eight speech pathology researchers and clinicians from four countries (Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland) contributed to three focus groups via videoconference. Results The online platform, Aphasia Nexus: Connecting Evidence to Practice, provides resources, guidance and support for speech pathologists seeking to improve the intensity and comprehensiveness of their aphasia service. A collaborative and iterative design process facilitated the creation of an intervention envisioned by participants. Conclusions The website contains both interactive elements and resource links which have been arranged under the three headings of resources, action and support. The inclusion of multi-national researchers and clinicians benefitted a design process to make implementation more likely. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Theoretically informed implementation interventions aim to change the everyday clinical practice of health workers. An online platform has been developed to support speech pathologists’ implementation of intensive and comprehensive aphasia services. A collaborative design process can be beneficial in creating an intervention that is relevant to research-users and is more likely to be implemented.

Due to the increasing complexity of technologies and products, the search for new know-how as well as the shortening of development cycle times a lot of companies collaborate in (new) product design. But only as little as fifty percent of these ventures are successful for both partners. One explanation for this lies in the lack of consideration of the strategic aspects of collaboration. This paper explains which aspects of strategy influence the process and outcome of collaborative product design, gives some advice on what project managers can do and shows some results of a survey conducted in Swiss industry.

This study proposes to construct a product development model through using knowledge management system. This model aims to help the design engineers and their upstream and downstream partners in the supply chains to develop products synchronously and simultaneously through the computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) tools. The collaborative design in this model consists of three layers: data layer, information layer, and knowledge layer, which separately deals with product data exchange, information sharing and collaborative decision-making in the design process. Based on the principle of product design, the study had integrated the innovation method of theory of invention problem solving (TRIZ) with the methods of knowledge management to develop this collaborative design model. This model includes knowledge management platform and integrating the design notions of innovation, environment protection and manufacturability; it can also serve as a feasible reference for products collaborative design and development process. Key words: Knowledge management system, collaborative design, computer supported cooperative work.

Collaborative product design is a typical complex problem-solving process where designers' knowledge and expertise are always tactic and implicit. This paper depicts the concept of design scenario and the scenario-based design knowledge acquiring in a cognitive approach. Through a cognitive experiment based on protocol analysis and sketch analysis in terms of scenario-based collaborative product design, a model of scenario-based knowledge acquiring in product design is proposed. The model includes two types of spontaneous design knowledge acquiring method - concept-driven knowledge acquiring and data-driven knowledge acquiring, which indicates that design knowledge acquiring is a process of scenario moving. On the basis of the model, a scenario-based computer aided product design system CBID is developed to improve the ability and quality of collaborative product design of seven Chinese corporations.

The demand for collaboration between specialties is proposed in order to improve the efficiency of electronic products development. As for the structural design of radar system, a concept of TOP-DOWN collaborative design based on PDS platform is employed to realize coordinative development among various specialties and different departments. This paper mainly presents key points about procedures and specifications during 3D collaborative design by means of CREO 2.0 software on PDS platform. The discussion involves aspects of coordination system, framework model and process of collaborative product design.

Team member composition is an important factor in collaborative design. The purpose of this study was to explore the behavioral differences in the collaborative design process with different team members’ thinking style composition. A design process of nine design teams with three different thinking style composition types was selected from a previous study. The material was transcribed and coded according to behavior, discussion, drawing, and writing. The numbers of concepts, sketches, and consensus were also calculated. The results illustrated different behaviors with different thinking style compositions.

Our Faculty has embarked on an ambitious multi-year project aimed at taking advantage of lessons learned during emergency COVID online learning and teaching, to develop a set of Faculty principles and implement a transformation of unit offerings into a suite of integrated hybrid experiences supporting and connecting students both on campus and online. The challenge we faced was around the traditional way of delivering content and building knowledge as well as how we assess students. To support the transformation process, the teaching staff and the design staff involved, we have developed and continue to refine a collaborative and non-linear design process template in Miro. The template is designed to guide conversations with academic staff about proposed changes to the unit design. It allows entry into the design process at any point that suits the academic and supports an iterative design thinking approach. Additionally, it enables rapid ‘paper’ prototyping of ideas and establishes a common design language amongst teaching and design staff. This template helps rapidly explain current development thinking to others. The fundamental difference of this template and commonly used design processes is the visualisation of connections between learning outcomes, assessments and sequencing of learning activities. This approach to learning design uses digital mediating artefact in facilitating unit design. The template currently shows the design of a unit from its place within a course or courses, all the way down to the finer details of lesson planning. At every turn, it unobtrusively buttresses the design process with reference to selected design and educational theory, and university policy, subtly reinforcing good teaching practice. The following are currently included in the template, and there are plans to incorporate frames that support the development of assessment rubrics, lesson plans and the conceptual development of new units and courses. Curriculum Mapping - places the unit within its course context. Course and unit learning outcomes are mapped to unit assessments. Enables a simple and clear visualisation of unit place in multiple courses where applicable. Unit Delivery Mode - enables integration of face-to-face and remote learning activities, enables visualisation of connections between activities, and helps track unit student workload. Assessment Design - links assessment design to assessment theory - assessment by, for and of learning (Voinea, 2018), enables visualisation of connections between assessments and sequencing of learning activities, marking and feedback. It tracks student workload in assessment preparation. Refining Learning & Defining Content - links to Blooms and Solo and University learning outcome writing guide to guide crafting of unit learning outcomes if they need to change Class Lesson Plan - Enables the visualisation of in-class plans and implementation of University active learning guidelines (4As) (Vella & Ashworth, 2007) Semester Map - lays the entire unit out across a semester timeline. It enables a bird-eye view of the sequence of all unit-related activities. It can be used to compare student learning experience and workload over multiple units in any given semester timeframe.

With the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, professionals in the design field are facing unprecedented transformation. On one hand, AI integration into design can significantly enhance workflow efficiency. On the other hand, AI has profoundly altered the design process, signifying a critical shift in human-machine collaboration. However, no research has yet explored how these changes in the design process impact the final design outcomes, nor how designers leverage their professional expertise to engage with AI during collaborative design processes. This study aims to clarify the respective roles of designers and AI by proposing an AI-enabled product design (AIPD) paradigm grounded in designers’ tacit knowledge. We divide AIPD into four phases: design preparation, large language model training, collaborative design, and knowledge base establishment. Subsequently, the research vessel design was developed based on this paradigm, with the quality of the design evaluated using the fuzzy comprehensive analysis method. The results demonstrate that this human-AI collaborative design process is effective in addressing product form, function, and structural challenges. This research elucidates the direction for human-machine collaboration in the AI context and proposes new pathways for AI application in product design.

The need for alignment between business strategies and business processes is today manifested in many different ways. This chapter presents experiences from a collaborative process modeling and process design effort performed at Intersport Sweden. The main purpose with the process modelling and process design was to serve, as a solid base for the transformation of Intersport Sweden into the future. In this effort an important part was that the new process design was in clear alignment with the new strategic business model. By a collaborative co-design approach for deriving and designing business process models diverse stakeholders’ knowledge and interest were captured in the development of tangible process descriptions of the future. The new strategic business plan has through collaborative process design been given a meaning and participating actors have become committed to implement this new business strategy.

At the beginning of 2020, the virus called "COVID-19" spread rapidly all over the world. One of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus was social distance rules. Hence, employees and students had to work remotely using communication tools. In the design field, professionals and students working remotely during the pandemic, were limited to the possibilities of the communication tools they used while developing the design process, and they found ways to use these facilities in line with their practice routines in the physical environment. In this article, the tools used during the collaborative design processes conducted remotely during the pandemic were examined with a questionnaire study. Even though designers worked digitally due to the necessity to continue their work in this period, it was observed that they had positive experiences with the special tools they used. However, the transfer of tacit knowledge to design projects in the collaborative design process has been restricted in the collaborative design process due to limited spatial communication. While many designers were discovering the tailored tools for this purpose they could already use, many improvements were suggested through the unaware needs became explicit ones.

Collaboration is one of the effective approaches that help us to share knowledge together and exchange ideas within a team. Sometimes, novel worthy knowledge that is not held by the members emerges because of the collaboration. Such knowledge often contributes to create prime solutions in the collaboration process. However, the mechanism of generating such new knowledge is implicit. In this paper, a representation model of effects of collaboration in a design process is proposed. We can illustrate what new knowledge can be gained from a collaboration by using the proposed model.