The optimization of function deployment in design

Abstract

New Product Development (NPD) is important for companies to retain their competitive advantage, to lead the customers and create a new market. Developing a product with creativity and innovation are the critical factors to make the product successful. Moreover, optimizing a product before launching it to the market will give customers more satisfaction. To address the above issues, this thesis proposed a new product development cycle for innovative product development together with a Function Deployment Model (FDM) to aid conceptual design. The proposed model involves the used of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) techniques to translate customer needs to engineering characteristics. It also uses an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize the customer requirements while a Linear Programming (LP) optimization method is used to determine the feasible solution of the design variables amid limited resources. Then, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Numerical Optimization techniques are used to optimize the product before launching. To aid the study, a FDM Development Tool system with Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed for the designers to implement the proposed model easily. A case study of the proposed model on a real life example, called the "Rock Corer" is used, to demonstrate the capability and usefulness of the proposed model. The design was for a multi-function sampling instrument used in the ESA (European Space Agency) Beagle2 Mars Express mission.