SEVEN YEARS OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN INDUSTRY – EXPERIENCES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPPORTING ENGINEERING DESIGN WITH ‘THINKING TOOLS’

Abstract

At the centre of the present contribution is the part of the engineering design process in which the embodiment design is created. On the basis of the author's experiences in industrial engineering design and the management of engineering design projects and engineering design teams the attempt is made to describe the creative engineering design process and thus make it more vivid. The function is in the centre of company´s interest because cost-effective fulfilment of function is the main selling criterion of any product. It is shown how function arises in the interaction of several components of a product and in their interaction with the product’s environment. Engineering design is the pre-thinking of and documenting of an “embodiment” which is established to enable the function of the product. This process will then be described. On that base possibilities and requirements for academic research for promoting these activities are shown. After that, industrial experiences will be described which were gained in working closely with the Contact&Channel-Model. It will be shown that “thinking tools” can help to support the processes necessary for creating a new product.