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Item type:Publication, Access status: with files , Structured reflection to support design method validation and adaptation in product architecture design – a case study(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2026-10-26); ; ; ; Design methods should support engineers in efficiently developing technical systems but are often considered difficult to understand and apply. Conventional method validation focuses on performance outcomes, providing little insight into how users experience methods during application or adaptation. Structured reflection has been discussed to uncover misunderstandings and identify improvements, but its systematic application in method development remains underexplored. This article investigates how reflection can support design method adaptation in early validation. A multiple-workshop case study was conducted with 20 participants applying four methods under comparable conditions during the Product Architecture Design Summer School. Reflection was systematically planned, guided and analyzed through coded audios. The dataset includes four planning documents, 20 Canvas documents, 400 minutes of recordings and questionnaire feedback on reflection tools. Results show recurring reflection patterns: reflection is strongly process-oriented; action planning emerges only after descriptive phases ; social aspects are rarely addressed without explicit prompts. While reflection tools were perceived as useful, guiding questions require simplification for intuitive use. A four-stage framework for Reflection-Driven Method adaptation is proposed, supporting researchers in planning, executing and analyzing reflection as a method validation instrument. The study demonstrates how reflection can produce actionable improvements and offers a reproducible approach for early method validation in engineering design.Publicationtype: Journal Article9 15 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: with files , An approach to the test design for smart composite vessels enabling remaining useful life estimation(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2026-07-02); ; 19 16 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: with files , Incorporating field effects into the design of modular product families(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2023-07); ; ; ; With advancing digitalization, new technologies with more and more digital components make it necessary to integrate new components into current and future products. Sensors and actuators, such as motors, emit electromagnetic and thermal fields that can greatly affect product performance. Recent work has considered fields at the functional level using functional structures and at the system level using DSM. In this paper, the effects of fields on product architecture are investigated at the component level. Using an appropriate visualization, the impact of fields on the product structure is considered. Architectural guidelines are then used to develop suitable product structures. The methodological approach is then applied to a product family of vacuum cleaner robots. The overlaid field information helps to gain deeper insights into the product architecture. The approach is useful for representing alternative structures. The new mapping of functional and structural relationships by moving module boundaries against fields can help promote architectural innovation.Publicationtype: Conference Paper22 39 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: with files , Facing extreme uncertainty–how the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced product development(Taylor & Francis, 2023); ; ; ; The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global disruption, but little is known about how it impacted product development. Based on interviews of 24 practicing product development leaders, we find that COVID-19 generated a unique combination of external and internal uncertainties and thus had several direct impacts on product development. Initial adaptations were reported in the level of innovation pursued, the development processes and the resourcing. In terms of level of innovation and resourcing, no uniformity in adaptations were observed: opposite changes were made across radical/incremental, expanding/reducing, local/international and internal/external collaboration balances in the different companies’ product development activities. Process adaptations were more uniform in direction, focusing on increasing flexibility and agility. In terms of product development methods for different phases, we find companies quickly seeking creative approaches to replace their traditional methods in idea generation, prototyping, customer interaction, validation etc. with virtual means. Furthermore, changes in human interaction quality, particularly informal interaction, were seen to have far-reaching, unintended negative consequences on their creative efforts, whether in product development, development process or resourcing. Overall, the results highlight the diversity of adaptive choices available to respond to external uncertainties, though more research is still needed on how these influence longer term resilience.Publicationtype: Journal ArticleScopus© Citations 3 56 111 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: without files , How to Use the Levers of Modularity Properly-Linking Modularization to Economic Targets(2022-07); ; ; ; Product developers are faced with the challenge of covering an ever-increasing external variety with as little internal variety as possible. Modular product architectures offer one way of resolving the challenge. They have an impact on all life phases and on economic targets. These effects are represented in the Impact Model of Modular Product Families. A large number of modularization methods can be found in the literature. The modularization methods consist of different activities: decomposition of product, analysis and revision of components, and reintegration to modules. Module drivers play a major role in reintegration, as they determine which components together form a module. It is not yet clear what effects different modularization methods involving different module drivers have on economic targets. For this reason, the module drivers are examined in their role as levers of modularity and integrated into the Impact Model via access points. By documenting the results in a specially developed uniform method step description and the Impact Model, we enable the selection of modularization methods with regard to their economic impact. The introduction is followed by the state of research. In Sec. 3, the research problem and the research approach are presented. In Sec. 4, the generic method step description is applied to seven modularization methods. Based thereon, the modularization methods are compared with each other with regard to their addressed economic objectives. In an explanatory example, the method selection made possible by this is presented. Finally, the results are discussed and an outlook is given.Publicationtype: Journal Article84 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: without files , Impact of Modularity Decisions on a Firm's Economic Objectives(2020-04-01); ; ; ; Research in modularization of product families reveals numerous individual cause and effect impacts of modularity on the firm. While many modularization methods are present in the literature, an overall combined picture of the interrelations of modular product structures on the firm is yet missing. This makes the construction of an economic business case for modularity difficult. The aim of this work is to show a causal network of how modular product structures affect a firm's economics through modularity's impact on the firm's activities over its products lifecycle phases. Therefore we introduce a literature based impact model on the basis of three main cause and effect node types, being (1) modularity property causes leading to (2) product life phase effects, leading to (3) economic impacts. We show how modularization decisions on a product family structure can impact activities in the product life cycle differently and the resultant economic outcomes. The cause and effect model is a combined summary of the corpus of knowledge found in the literature, highlighting for example that modularity can have an initial negative delaying effect on the development time for a platform followed by a positive reduction in product variant development times, and can a positive impact on reduced manufacturing costs. For validation the model was evaluated by industrial experts against nine case studies of major product-family-wide design projects, marking effects that were experienced and observed in their modularization projects.Publicationtype: Journal Article424 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: with files , PhD research learning in product architecture design(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2019-07-26); ; ; Publicationtype: Conference PaperScopus© Citations 1 281 247 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: without files , Global Views on Modular Design Research: Linking Alternative Methods to Support Modular Product Family Concept Development(2016-07-01); ; ; ; Modular product platforms have been shown to provide substantial cost and time savings while still allowing companies to offer a variety of products. As a result, a multitude of product platform methods have been developed over the last decade within the design research community. However, comparison and integration of suitable methods is difficult since the methods have, for the most part, been developed in isolation from one another. In reviewing the literature in modularity and product platforms, we create a generic set of 13 platform design steps for developing a platform concept. We then examine a set of product platform concept development processes used at several different companies, and from this form a generic sequence of the steps. We then associate the various developed methods to the sequence, thereby enabling the chaining together of the various modular and platform design methods developed by the community.Publicationtype: Journal Article130