The purpose of this paper is to analyse the challenges in the servitization journey of product-centric firms from an ecosystem perspective, considering both intra-firm and inter-firm levels. Prior research addresses the challenges of servitization in many sectors from different perspectives. However, the majority of studies primarily focus on the provider of an offering. There is a lack of in-depth studies on analysing servitization challenges from the broader set of network actors including customers, suppliers, and sub-suppliers at the intra-firm and inter-firm levels. A multiple case study method was used to analyse five product-centric firms from different industries that were engaged in servitization. At intra- firm level, our analysis shows that ‘coordination’ is a major challenge for the provider, supplier, and sub-suppliers, and that ‘uncertainty’ and ‘risk’ is a major challenge for the provider, customer, and supplier. At inter-firm level, ‘partnership management’ found to be a most significant challenge for provider, customer, supplier, and sub-suppliers. The study contributes to the discussion of the relational view approach for servitization research.

Engineering knowledge forms an essential part of our planetary fight against climate change. Traditionally, engineering curricula emphasizes the importance of technical knowledge and encourages to specialize in niche areas, where engineers develop themselves into experts. However, it is important to be able to reflect on complex societal challenges from a variety of perspectives to produce not only innovative, but also long-lasting and inclusive solutions for the greater good. This paper aims to understand the extent of systems thinking abilities of engineers by differentiating experts from novices. The study traces sustainability connections made by professional engineers and master's level engineering students when solving engineering design problems. This qualitative study highlights seven recurring themes that relate to the global sustainability discourse and describe a problem-centred approach through a real-life case that focuses on paper and pulp production, through a thematic analysis of 59 responses. The results portray system-level differences in how novice and expert engineers approach sustainability questions and how these differences shape their solution spaces.

Design representations are important tools for designers in the design process. To help designers choose the appropriate representation, taxonomies have been proposed based on type, degree of fidelity, and when to use them. However, Design representations may also play an important role in designers' communication with users and enabling users as co-designers. Therefore, new taxonomies, focusing on design representations’ potential mediating roles in collaborative design processes with users, have been developed. The purpose of this interview study, with twelve designers within Swedish industry, was thus to investigate how designers use design representations in communication with users in the design process. The study indicates that the designers mainly interacted with users in order for them to answer specific design questions or to evaluate design solutions. If design representations’ value for facilitating communication and collaboration with users should be emphasized, we need to shift from teaching mainly taxonomies related to fidelity levels or when to use them in the design process, and rather educate future designers about design representations inherent potential to mediate and enhance the dialogue with users.

Numerous visualisation tools based on digital and cross-reality (XR) platforms are emerging in industrial design. They offer new possibilities and promising advantages to the designers but also raise challenges for design education. This study investigates the learning experience of emerging tools in education and its influences on tool-use behaviours and attitudes in design practice. Digital sketching is selected for the case study as the emerging tool compared to more established tools (e.g., traditional sketching and CAD). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 practising designers to compare their learning experience of digital sketching versus traditional sketching and CAD modelling in formal education. Results indicate that designers’ learning experience in education can have an influence on not only their skill sets but also attitudes towards engaging with emerging visualisation tools as they progress in their careers. The study suggests that embracing emerging design visualisation tools in education now is essential for helping our future designers be more resilient and flexible with tool selection and use in their future design practice.

Today's rapidly evolving and changing market dictates constant changes in design requirements during the development process of a product. If development teams are unable or unwilling to adapt to these changes, this will ultimately lead to an uncompetitive product. How the change in requirements will affect the development process depends on the complexity of the product and the development phase in which the change in requirements occurs. The principles of Agility and the methods that follow these principles help in the successful introduction of changes in the product development process. The paper provides guidelines for the development of complex physical products taking into account the principles of Agility. The guidelines were set based on a critical review of the e-bike drive development process.

Flexibility analysis helps improve the expected value of engineering systems under uncertainty (economic and/or social). Designing for flexibility, however, can be challenging as a large number of design variables, parameters, uncertainty drivers, decision making possibilities and metrics must be considered. Many available techniques either rely on assumptions that are not suitable for an engineering setting, or may be limited due to computational intractability. This paper makes the case for an increased integration of Machine Learning into flexibility and real options analysis in engineering systems design to complement existing design methods. Several synergies are found and discussed critically between the fields in order to explore better solutions that may exist by analyzing the data, which may not be intuitive to domain experts. Reinforcement Learning is particularly promising as a result of the theoretical common grounds with latest methodological developments e.g. decision-rule based real options analysis. Relevance to the field of computational creativity is examined, and potential avenues for further research are identified. The proposed concepts are illustrated through the design of an example infrastructure system.

In this paper we use formal tools from category theory to develop a foundation for creating and managing models in systems where knowledge is distributed across multiple representations and formats. We define a class of models which incorporate three different representations---computations, logical semantics, and data--as well as model mappings (functors) to establish relationships between them. We prove that our models support model merge operations called colimits and use these to define a methodology for model integration.

A comprehensive domain independent system-level perspective of conceptualization of design is a major driver for successful product development. Such a general design model, Integral Design, was developed based on a specific Dutch design method, Methodical design, which was aimed specifically for applications in the Mechanical Engineering domain. The design method was specifically developed with the help of experiences designers and is meant for young students in a multi-disciplinary design context, such as building design. Integral design provides a suitable framework, existing of phases and specific steps, for guiding users through the design process. It support not only the designers but also helps them to make the process explicit and to communicate the actions and results to their stakeholders. The focus in this paper is on presenting the overall frame work of the design method. In the Netherlands in several bachelor and master educational programs at Technical High schools and the University of Technology Eindhoven use this model to teach students mechanical engineering design and building services design. As such it is one of the most popular design method in the Netherlands.

This paper presents an exploratory case study where video-based pose estimation is used to analyse human motion to support data-driven design. It provides two example use cases related to design. Results are compared to ground truth measurements showing high correlation for the estimated pose, with an RMSE of 65.5 mm. The paper exemplifies how design projects can benefit from a simple, flexible, and cost-effective approach to capture human-object interactions. This also entails the possibility of implementing interaction and body capturing in the earliest stages of design, at minimal effort.

Enterprises evolve continuously, usually gradually, but sometimes rapidly in the face of disruptive events. The purpose of this study is to analyze the transformation process of the design consultancy in the face of challenges presented by advanced technology, economic change, and systemic shifts by applying selected methods and tools from the ARIES (Architecting Innovative Enterprise Strategy) framework. The study uses IDEO as an example to discuss the organizational structure of design consultancies, and describes how IDEO has evolved in the context of change. This study illustrates some emerging challenges that the design consulting industry is facing now and will face in the future, and how these challenges will affect organizational culture and structure, the design consulting process, the recruiting criteria, and the designers, as well as envisioning possible paths for the future of design consultancy.

Sustainability is influencing the automotive industry. Car manufacturers are increasingly prioritizing sustainable materials. The production of these still pose environmental challenges. This paper addresses the trends related to sustainable car interiors. It emphasizes the importance of understanding how customers perceive these new materials. Seven in-depth interviews were conducted, followed by a survey with 106 participants to obtain generalized insights. The results will reduce the uncertainty regarding customer expectations for sustainable car interiors.

Gender is a crucial factor for creativity in design. Although the participation and recognition of successful and prominent women in the field of design seems to be increasing, many more men are still recognised and regarded as creative. This paper analyses the gender differences in design creativity. First, a summary of studies on gender differences in creativity in general is presented. It then discusses three critical aspects of gender differences in design creativity. Finally, some ways in which women's creativity can be encouraged and supported are outlined.

Various tools for participatory design approach have been developed to support users to engage design process. Doll scenario is proposed as a generative tool for letting participants make and enact scenarios. However, suitable context to practice doll scenario is unclear in comparison with other tools using scenario. Therefore, our overall objective is to increase understanding of characteristics of making scenario in two different ways of expression; with doll and storyboard. We developed a doll scenario method, doll staging. The tool was evaluated in comparison to storyboard at a workshop which is a part of a new product development project in a corporate. The workshop was evaluated by semi-structured interviews with the participants and observations of the workshop and design outcome. The result suggests that doll staging allows participants to think from users’ perspective in developing new idea. These findings provides new direction to choose scenario based design tools according to objective or context of design project. We also discuss potentials and research directions to use tools for developing scenario in corporate contexts.

Breakthrough technologies introduce a radically new capability or a drastic performance improvement. However, the existing engineering design literature does not specifically pay attention to them. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for breakthrough technologies, aiming for a more detailed characterization of breakthrough technologies. First, based on a literature survey, we reflect on the relationship between breakthrough technology and innovation. In addition, we explore the relationship between breakthrough technologies at the component and system level. Next, we propose a conceptual framework with dimensions in which breakthroughs may occur and the corresponding expansion of concepts and knowledge, drawing from C-K theory. We subsequently apply the framework to the case of a laser sail-propelled interstellar probe. We conclude that the relationship between component and system-level breakthrough technologies requires further exploration. Furthermore, the coupling between the breakthrough technology and market breakthrough in the form of a new business model seems interesting for future work.

Despite the recognized importance of datasets in data-driven design approaches, their extensive study remains limited. We review the current landscape of design datasets and highlight the ongoing need for larger and more comprehensive datasets. Three categories of challenges in dataset development are identified. Analyses show critical dataset gaps in design process where future studies can be directed. Synthetic and end-to-end datasets are suggested as two less explored avenues. The recent application of Generative Pretrained Transformers (GPT) shows their potential in addressing these needs.

This paper addresses the problem of finding a robust optimal design when uncertain parameters in the form of crisp or interval sets are present in the optimization. Furthermore, in order to make the approach as general as possible, direct search methods with the help of sensitivity analysis techniques are employed to optimize the design. Consequently, the presented approach is suitable for black box models for which no, or very little, information of the equations governing the model is available. The design of an electric drivetrain is used to illustrate the benefits of the proposed method.

Conceptual design projects are increasingly known as an intense decision-making process. Much of the decision-making is comparing the degree of preference between choices. In the complex projects of the upstream business of oil and gas, good decisions are crucial for success. Decisions are typically made within a dynamic environment, wide range of uncertainty, and have to account for the asset life cycle. This paper reflects on the application of the decision quality framework with a focus on decision modelling. Using an industrial example, a systematic approach to visualise and improve decision making process is proposed. The approach applies a Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) and Decision Quality frameworks and identified opportunities for future research.

To help industries in their sustainable and circular transition from internal combustion engine production to electric motor production, the deployment of (i) a sound environmental impact assessment methodology, such as life cycle analysis, coupled with (ii) Design for Re-X tools, such as circularity indicators, is instrumental. To demonstrate the industrial relevance and complementary of both approaches, two consecutive workshops are conducted with a major original equipment manufacturer of recreational boats and their associated engines. On this basis, two circularity indicator-based tools were used to quantify and enhance (i) the circularity potential of the electric outboard as a whole, and (ii) the circularity performance of the two most impactful components, based on the LCA results: the electric motor unit and the lithium-ion battery pack. In all, the practice sessions supported the generation of strategic and operational ideas to improve the circularity of the electric outboard. As the industrial participants found both frameworks easy to use and efficient, all the details and resources used to conduct, replicate, or adapt such workshops in other industrial contexts are shared.

This research proposes a group model building workshop method that uses causal loop diagrams to foster capabilities for sustainable product development based on feedback and observations from several cases. The method's potential to enhance sustainability system thinking skills and to identify relationships between sustainability criteria and traditionally identified requirements is evaluated. The method can trigger discussion, visualize complexity and dependencies of sustainable design problems. Other application areas are e.g., sustainability training for practicing engineers and students.

The discourse surrounding sustainable consumption and production has evolved to encompass sufficiency strategies in addition to efficiency and effectiveness. Product-service systems (PSSs) can promote sufficiency by replacing traditional product-intensive systems with dematerialized services and changes in ownership structures. Sufficiency-oriented PSS may, however, generate rebound effects which offset potential sufficiency benefits or even result in backfire. This paper examines the connection between sufficiency-oriented PSS and rebound reviewing 12 empirical studies addressing rebound.