Modeling concurrent product design: A multifunctional team approach

A satisfaction-driven, multifunctional team approach is presented with appl ication to concurrent product design. This team approach is based on optimi zation formalism in which different teams are responsible to perform their specified functions by controlling the individual sets of design variables. The functions of each team should characterize different aspects of produc t design in the collaborative product development. In particular, the prefe rence of each team against a design alternative is formalized using fuzzy s et theory to seek the most favorite design that best fulfills the team goal . Two fuzzy set operators-"min" and "geometric mean"-are extended to aggreg ate team's satisfaction metrics to describe the non-compensative and compen sative relationships between teams. Team aggregation is based on the strate gic team paradigms derived from game theory and the concept of responsibili ty and controllability. As a result, five design models are explored to rev eal typical team interactions in design computing and then illustrated thro ugh the study of a design example.