A semantic-based visualised wiki system (SVWkS) for lesson-learned knowledge reuse situated in product design

In the process of product design, engineers usually find it is difficult to precisely find and reuse others’ empirical knowledge resources, especially the lesson-learned knowledge, which is usually not well collected by the organisation. This study proposes a novel approach, which uses a semantic-based visualised wiki system (SVWkS) to support lesson-learned knowledge reuse. The core of visualised knowledge search framework is a semantic-based topic knowledge map. The architecture of this knowledge map creation method is designed, which has five major modules: lesson-learned items pre-processing, topic extraction, topic relation computation, topic weight computation and topic knowledge map generation modules. Then a working scenario of SVWkS is briefly introduced. We have conducted three sets of experiments to evaluate quality of visualised results-knowledge map, the effectiveness of semantic-based visualised searching mechanisms and the performance of utilising SVWkS for knowledge reuse in outfitting design of a ship-building company. The first experiment shows that knowledge maps generated by SVWkS are accepted by domain experts from the evaluation since precision and recall are high. The second experiment shows a semantic-based visualised searching mechanism supported by semantic relations is more useful than a traditional keyword search in terms of precision and recall. The third experiment shows that SVWkS-based group outperforms keyword search-based group in both learning score and satisfaction level, which are two measurements of performance of utilising SVWkS. The promising results confirm the feasibility of SVWkS in helping engineers to find needed lesson-learned knowledge and reuse-related knowledge.     

Distributed knowledge sharing for collaborative product development

Product development is a knowledge-intensive activity in manufacturing enterprises. This paper analyses various forms of knowledge resources in the product development process and studies the representation scheme for them. Then a novel distributed knowledge sharing model is proposed for spreading and sharing knowledge among engineers in collaborative product development teams. In a collaborative team, engineers usually come from diverse disciplines; their demands for knowledge are also different from each other. The proposed knowledge sharing model could deliver the proper knowledge to the engineers who may need them. Moreover, our model is based on the engineers’ personal knowledge repositories rather than the centralised team knowledge repository in the collaborative team. The proposed model could bring out an efficient and proactive way for knowledge sharing among engineers in the product development process. The efficiency and usability of the proposed model are validated by experiments referring to the knowledge sharing in a real-world collaborative team of a manufacturing enterprise.     

The reuse of machining knowledge to improve designer awareness through the configuration of knowledge libraries in PLM

The nature of competition induces the need to constantly improve and perform better. For global aerospace manufacturers, this is as timely an epithet as ever as market forces urge for more growth, better financial return and market position. The macroeconomic aspect is compounded by the growth of product complexity and the need for higher product quality, hence the drive to reduce waste places emphasis upon production costs and the need to improve product performance. This paper focuses upon a rapid development and deployment method that enables the capture and representation of machining knowledge so that it may be shared and reused by design engineers to accelerate the design-make process. The study and mapping of information and knowledge relationships are described and put forward as a lightweight ontology. From this, a set of knowledge document templates were created to facilitate the capture, structuring and sharing of machining knowledge within a collaborative multidisciplinary aerospace engineering environment. An experimental pilot system has been developed to test and demonstrate that knowledge document templates can accelerate the sharing of machining knowledge within an industrial product lifecycle management environment. The results are discussed to provide a case for further development and application within the product domain.     

An engineering design knowledge reuse methodology using process modelling

This paper describes an approach for reusing engineering design knowledge. Many previous design knowledge reuse systems focus exclusively on geometrical data, which is often not applicable in early design stages. The proposed methodology provides an integrated design knowledge reuse framework, bringing together elements of best practice reuse, design rationale capture and knowledge-based support in a single coherent framework. Best practices are reused through the process model. Rationale is supported by product information, which is retrieved through links to design process tasks. Knowledge-based methods are supported by a common design data model, which serves as a single source of design data to support the design process. By using the design process as the basis for knowledge structuring and retrieval, it serves the dual purpose of design process capture and knowledge reuse: capturing and formalising the rationale that underpins the design process, and providing a framework through which design knowledge can be stored, retrieved and applied. The methodology has been tested with an industrial sponsor producing high vacuum pumps for the semiconductor industry.     

Design through making: crafts knowledge as facilitator to collaborative new product development

Collaboration between manufacturers and craft makers is believed by many crafts theorists to offer new originality, insight and specialist expertise to design for production. In practice, however, there exists a discrepancy between this ideal and a reality of unreconcilable cultural and methodological differences. This paper documents and discusses such a collaboration as an example of best practice with implications for managers, educators, designers and craft makers. It identifies a new role for craft makers with the appropriate knowledge and experience to act as bridges within companies, facilitating the adoption of design methodologies appropriate to changing priorities in the manufacturing industries.     

Improved new product development through enhanced design architecture for engineer-to-order companies

There are many challenges that face companies today in the new product introduction process. These can include reduced design times, fast times to market, improved quality and the need for constant price reductions in order to keep up with the competition. Engineer-to-order firms face even more challenges because of the ‘build to order’ way that they must do business. This study presents new ways for these companies to meet the challenges posed by the market using a business case relating to the product introduction process at a mid-size (～$75 million annual sales) engineer-to-order manufacturer of flexible printed circuits. The company has developed a new product introduction process that seeks to improve quality and delivery times as well as process development for the project at hand. These suggested outcomes of the improved process are generic and widely applicable to contract manufacturers involved in the new product introduction process enabling them to work closely with customers thereby effectively addressing their design concerns. The updated procedures are examined in-depth and the associated forms and record-keeping methods are presented and analysed. The new product introduction process utilises Deming's plan, do, check and act process improvement cycle. Finally, various contributions emanating from the study that enhance our understanding of any engineer-to-order new product development environment are presented.     

Integrated eco-design decision-making for sustainable product development

This paper presents an integrated eco-design decision-making (IEDM) methodology that is formed using three stages: life cycle assessment, an eco-design process (Eco-Process) model and an enhanced eco-design quality function deployment process. All product sustainability considerations are conducted within a special eco-design house of quality. This brings together the analysis of factors relating to manufacturing processes, product usage and end-of-life strategy. The concentration of environmental considerations in one place insures that product sustainability is central to any design development and that the implications of change are fully identified and justified. The IEDM methodology utilises of a set of Eco-Process parameters and their associated relationships to allow users with complementary knowledge to enter and access information in a timely and controlled manner. They are then able to contribute their expertise to support decisions with the aim of providing more sustainable products. An application of the approach is presented in the context of a case study considering the redesign of a single-use medical forceps. The materials and production methods used are investigated with a view to quantifying their environmental impact. The resulting IEDM methodology can be seen to be widely and easily applicable.     

Knowledge integration and sharing for complex product development

Product development is a highly creative and knowledge-intensive process that involves extensive information and knowledge exchange and sharing among geographically distributed teams and developers. How to best integrate such heterogeneous product knowledge has become an extremely important knowledge management (KM) subject associated with product development. Product development knowledge integration and sharing is becoming a key issue in the enterprise KM. This paper addresses the challenges of product development knowledge integration and sharing during product development. The aim of this research work effort is to develop a method to enhance the integration and sharing of product knowledge during the development phase. This study presents a systematic approach to developing knowledge integration and sharing for product development. The proposed approach includes the steps for designing a framework of product development knowledge sharing, developing representation model for product development knowledge, designing product development knowledge sharing process, designing product development knowledge integration ontology, developing knowledge integration and sharing method for product development based on ontology, and implementation of product development knowledge integration and sharing method. The proposed method could bring out an efficient and proactive way for knowledge integration and sharing among product developers in the product development process.     

Bridging customer knowledge to innovative product development: a data mining approach

In the big data era, firms are inundated with customer data, which are valuable in improving services, developing new products, and identifying new markets. However, it is not clear how companies apply data-driven methods to facilitate customer knowledge management when developing innovative new products. Studies have investigated the specific benefits of applying data-driven methods in customer knowledge management, but failed to systematically investigate the specific mechanics of how firms realised these benefits. Accordingly, this study proposes a systematic approach to link customer knowledge with innovative product development in a data-driven environment. To mine customer needs, this study adopts the Apriori algorithm and C5.0 in addition to the association rule and decision tree methodologies for data mining. It provides a systematic and effective method for managers to extract knowledge ‘from’ and ‘about’ customers to identify their preferences, enabling firms to develop the right products and gain competitive advantages. The findings indicate that the knowledge-based approach is effective, and the knowledge extracted is shown as a set of rules that can be used to identify useful patterns for both innovative product development and marketing strategies.     

New product development in new ventures: the quest for resources

Innovation and new product development (NPD) are becoming more important as strategic initiatives. Yet, innovation creates challenges for most existing organisations, thus leading to the emergence of new ventures (NVs) as vehicles to deliver innovation. NVs present owners and management with unique opportunities and challenges. On one hand, the NV can focus its attention on specific innovation(s) without having to compete with other goals and departments for resource access. Resources are critical to the successful development and launch of new products and can come from financial lenders and/or suppliers. However, because they are new and because their only asset of worth is the highly risky innovation, NVs are at a strong disadvantage in securing access to these resources. This study explores the effectiveness of using personal equity investments as a strategy for securing access and for enhancing NPD success. Using signalling theory as the theoretical framework and data from 745 NPD projects representing manufacturing innovations, this study finds that equity investment is particularly successful in its NPD impact although not impactful with suppliers. As a signal, it can be argued that equity is a strong, high-quality signal. Reasons for these findings and directions for future research are provided.     

Analytic hierarchy prioritisation of new product development activities for electronics manufacturing

New product development (NPD) is a managerial process, performed by many activities. The purpose of this paper is to present the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to prioritise activities of NPD for manufacturing companies of electronic products. Mathematical modelling was the research method adopted. An electronics cluster located in the southeast region of Brazil was studied. Therefore, 10 of the 42 activities from an NPD model were suggested to be excluded for the electronics companies. These activities have less than 0.5% overall priority. The results from the AHP application were welcomed by the companies’ NPD experts.     

复杂产品开发工程管理的 动态决策理论与方法

复杂产品开发是一个技术与管理深度融合的系统工程。本文阐明了复杂产品开发工程管理应该从战略统筹的高度整合开发工程实践的多元价值目标,提出了复杂产品开发工程的管理思路,构建了由开发项目组合的战略选择、开发工程的分解与分级优化、开发过程的动态管理、技能型员工调度、供应商协同管理以及相应的决策支持系统技术组成的动态决策理论体系框架,设计了多种优化、调度与决策模型及其求解方法,提出了基于信息资源库和决策方法库的复杂产品开发决策支持系统技术与多阶段反馈式复杂产品开发决策支持系统技术,总结了复杂产品开发工程管理动态决策理论体系中的几类决策方法,并展望了云计算技术在复杂产品开发工程管理中的应用前景。     

Intangible capital,knowledge and new product development competence in supply chains: process,interaction and contingency effects among SMEs

Leveraging the strengths of a firm’s supply chain partners for new product development (NPD) has become essential to satisfy rapidly changing customer demands and to remain competitive. Firms are, therefore, aiming to further their NPD competence, which we define as the ability of the supply chain to improve and generate new products and services, based on the processes and relationships established with suppliers and customers. This study examines how intangible capital and knowledge further the development of NPD competence within the context of a supply chain. A theoretical model, based upon resource-advantage theory, is tested via structural equation modelling utilising survey data collected from 195 small- and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing industry reporting on their primary supply chain. Our findings indicate that more easily transferable capital manifests itself in explicit knowledge and less easily transferable capital manifests itself in tacit knowledge. We further identify complementarities of the two types of intangible capital as influencing knowledge type development. More importantly, we find that the two types of knowledge differ in their ability to influence NPD competence in the supply chain, and that these links are moderated by relationship length. Supply chain management implications for academics and practitioners are presented.     

Improving the design phase through interorganisational product knowledge models

This paper focuses on the use of interorganisational knowledge models with the purpose of standardising engineer-to-order (ETO) products. Such product variant reductions can lead to decreased costs for both the ETO company and its suppliers without reducing sales. In spite of the attention that supply chain integration has received in the literature, supply chain integration with a focus on the integration of product knowledge in ETO companies and their suppliers has not received much attention. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to define this type of supply chain integration. The concept is investigated by a case study, which supports the claim that supply chain product knowledge integration is an approach for increasing the competitiveness of ETO companies and their suppliers. Given the gap in the literature, the paper may potentially open a new horizon for studying supply chain integration.     

The role of relationship promoter in new product development collaboration

Since new product development (NPD) collaborations with external partners have become the next generation in NPD practices, relationship promoters have become especially relevant as key contributors to the success of this type of inter-organisational collaboration. To realise successful outcomes in NPD collaborations, partners face the challenge of effectively integrating the role of relationship promoter into their existing and essential relationships of trust. It is within this context that this paper examines the role of the relationship promoter, by analysing its moderating effect on the relationship between trust and the outcomes of NPD collaboration – including new product competitiveness and partner satisfaction. We test our hypotheses against survey data from 107 innovative firms involved in NPD collaboration with the help of relationship promoters. The results show that, while a non-significant influence can be reported about the presence of a relationship promoter in terms of partner satisfaction, the relationship promotor weakens the influence of trust on new product competitiveness, making trust less important when it comes to creating a competitive new product.     

Multi-generation pricing and timing decisions in new product development

When planning for the introduction of a stream of new products into the marketplace, managers must consider both the timing and dynamic pricing decisions to determine an appropriate entry strategy into the marketplace. Literature in new product development (NPD) typically addresses optimal timing and pricing decisions independently. We develop an analytical model of coordinated product timing and pricing decisions when there are two generations of a new product under consideration. Factors driving the timing and pricing decisions include the unit sales and cost relationships for each generation as well as NPD costs for introducing the next generation of products. We derive analytic results that characterise the optimal timing and pricing strategies for a single product rollover scenario. We analyse several numerical examples to illustrate the interplay between optimal pricing and time-to-market strategies under more general settings.     

Modelling engineering change management in a new product development supply chain

The changes within a new product development (NPD) process are handled differently depending on the stage of the project. The changes during the initial stages of the project are addressed by design iterations, while the changes after the product design is complete are addressed using a formal engineering change management (ECM) process. The ECM process is a complex process, especially under a collaborative environment, where various independent entities work together for a common cause of product development. The interactions between the NPD and ECM processes have rarely been investigated in the research community. In this paper, we attempt to study the interactions between the various NPD and ECM process parameters by modelling the processes and simulated the model to understand the parameter interactions. The organisations in a supply chain have been characterised based on their interactions with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) during the NPD process. The organisation process templates representing the NPD and ECM processes of each type of organisation in the supply chain have been modelled. The templates have been used to develop a simulation model representing the NPD and ECM processes for a supply chain. The process variables, such as processing rates, resources, resource composition, resource allocation priority, processing quality and phase overlap, have been included in the model. The results indicate that most of the variables and interactions among the variables have a significant influence on the NPD lead time. By identifying the status of?the NPD process, the decision-makers can use these results to develop appropriate management policies to govern their product development projects.     

Review of supply chain configuration and design decision-making for new product

The nature of competitive markets continuously pushes manufacturers to develop new products to meet the increasingly diversified customer demands. Manufacturers thus have to handle the complexities generated during the total life cycles of various product types, from product design to procurement, production, marketing and recycling. Though some management practices in mass customisation help to improve the performance of manufacturing systems, there are still some fundamental problems not covered. Joint decision-making of product and supply chain design, for example, is one of them. The existing industrial practice tends to treat these two problems separately. Decoupling these two problems decrease the design complexity but may lead to suboptimal decision outcome. To enhance understanding of the interconnected decisions for supply chain management and product design, this review collects related literature on this topic and focuses on the analysis of existing papers from an operation research perspective.     

Technology solutions for product lifecycle knowledge management: framework and a case study

Information technology has promoted our society gradually into knowledge economy from product economy. Value creation requires more and more knowledge and information to support enterprise activities. Knowledge management (KM) as an activity has already existed, and will make the organisation and individual have stronger competition strength, and make better decisions. In order to respond to the industrial trend towards knowledge management, this paper investigates and proposes a framework for product lifecycle knowledge management that utilises product maintenance data across the lifecycle of the product. A case presented in this paper is a maintenance knowledge service system to prove the framework method.     

Product service systems,after-sales service and new product development

After-sales service is a critical element in the successful marketing of many products. Capital goods, for example, manufacturing equipment, require after-sales service such as maintenance and repair in order for customers to get the full value from them. Some manufacturers have started to offer customers an integrated product and service, termed a product-service system in the academic literature. However, in order to deliver such integrated offerings, a different approach to new product development (NPD) is required. This is because the product design influences after-sales service requirements, and so this needs to be considered during NPD. However, researchers have largely ignored the relationship between NPD and service. To address this gap, six in-depth case studies were conducted at leading companies that offer a combined product-service offering, to identify how service requirements are typically evaluated at the design stage. The results show that at companies where after-sales is an important element of the business, service requirements are systematically evaluated during NPD through the involvement of after-sales personnel and the use of field service data to set design goals.