Abstract:
Design changes are necessary to sustain the product against competition. Due to technical, social, and financial constraints, an organization can only implement a few of many change alternatives. Hence, a wise selection of a change alternative is fundamentally influential for the growth of the organization. Organizations lack knowledge bases to effectively capture rationale for a design change; i.e., identifying the potential effects a design change. In this paper, (1) we propose a knowledge base called multiple-domain matrix that comprises the relationships among different parameters that are building blocks of a product and its manufacturing system. (2) Using the indirect change propagation method, we capture these relationships to identify the potential effects of a design change. (3) We propose a cost-based metric called change propagation impact (CPI) to quantify the effects that are captured from the multiple-domain matrix. These individual pieces of work are integrated into a web-based tool called Vatram. The tool is deployed in a design environment to evaluate its usefulness and usability.
