Transcript Advanced design support

Lifecycle Knowledge (and information)
Management
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Dr.ir. Wilfred van der Vegte (1st part)
Dr. ir. Regine Vroom (2nd part)
Recap from ADS: types of knowledge
BUT: Formal knowledge and explicit knowledge aren’t synonyms;
Implicit knowledge and informal knowledge aren’t synonyms.
There is knowledge that is explicit but not formal
informal knowledge
explicit knowledge
explicit
implicit or tacit
formal
informal
knowledge
knowledge
knowledge
??
characteristics
not directly recordable,
let alone processable
a person’s skills
in accomplishing
a task
reproducible,
recordable
processable
examples
textual
description
in a book
programmed
instruction
for a machine
Q: Can you explain why formal knowledge is not contrary to informal knowledge, but
rather a vague overlap between them exists. How can you clearly explain the difference?
Recap from ADS: general knowledge flows & types of KM
make explicit
implicit
or tacit
knowledge
convert
formalize
explicit
informal
knowledge
macro-level
KM
formal
knowledge
store
use by people
micro-level
KM
use by machines
Macro-level issues
Macro-KM is typically dealt with by the company
management and management-supporting staff (HRM)
Two issues:
• Management of KM tasks allocated to humans:
“managing knowledge by managing people”
• Allocation of tasks between humans and ICT
systems
Management of KM tasks allocated to humans: stimulate
knowledge flows
• Generation of new knowledge: incentives for innovation &
creativity, recruit creative people, ...
• Capturing existing knowledge: courses, lectures, company
library, ...
www.eepulse.com/documents/pdfs/
• Knowledge storage:
if it has to be in people’s minds, strive for
redundancy;workforce_management-4-26-06.pdf
nourish human capital, ...
• Knowledge distribution: colloquia, job rotation, ...
• Knowledge use: right people for the right job, ...
• Make profit from company knowledge: patents, ...
Q: The importance of the IKM is made clear in the text, but how should we imagine this
topic in real companies? Do big companies have an IKM-department like e.g. Human
Resources? Are there people working on the implementation of IKM-systems as a full
time job or is it part of the company culture which means no special people are in
charge of IKM
Allocation of tasks between humans and IT systems
• Both humans and machines have their specific strong points
and weak points MABA-MABA
• If the computer is best for a given task according to MABAMABA, it does not mean that computer support (e.g. software
that performs the task) is actually available
• Important motivation to put knowledge into computers is
the risk of being too dependent of the availability of people.
Example: ‘design history’
• Downside of computer systems: hardware & software can
become obsolete
PLM – Product Lifecycle Management
What is it? According to cimdata.com
• A strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of
business solutions that support the collaborative creation,
management, dissemination, and use of product definition
information
• Supporting the extended enterprise (customers, design and
supply partners, etc.)
• Spanning from concept to end of life of a product or plant
• Integrating people, processes, business systems, and
information
How it started: PDM – Product Data Management
store
store
designer
manufacturing & assembly
paper or informal
explicit computer storage
formal explicit computer storage: PDM system
knowledge flow
Life-cycle knowledge flows
part manufacturing
product assembly
packaging
distribution
designer
other stakeholders
retail
use
service
repair
knowledge flow
end-of-life
Life-cycle knowledge flows
collection &
preparation by
•designer
•expert
•ICT
part manufacturing
product assembly
store
packaging
distribution
store
designer
other stakeholders
retail
use
paper or informal
explicit computer storage
formal explicit computer storage
PLM system
store
knowledge flow
collection &
preparation by
•stakeholder
•expert
•ICT
service
repair
end-of-life
Life-cycle knowledge flows
collection of
knowledge
by
by expert
by ICT
none stakeholder (knowledge
(automated)
/designer
author)
preparation
of knowledge
for processing
by expert
by ICT
(knowledge
(automated)
author)
type of
stored knowledge
none
explicit
informal
(paper,
video,
audio recording)
*KBS: knowledge-based system
formal
(database
or
KBS*)
formal
(typically
data
mining)
PLM
Most advanced conventional PLM systems
collection of
knowledge
preparation
of knowledge
for processing
type of
stored knowledge
Q (part): What kind of
by
by expert Requires tightly
products
PLM currently
by ICTisprocesses
controlled
none stakeholder (knowledge used for?
(automated)the
throughout
/designer
author)
lifecycle.
Where is that possible?
• aerospace
• shipbuilding
by expert • civil engineering
by cycle
ICT of a bridge)
(life
none
(knowledge
•(automated)
construction
author)
• large-scale printers
(Océ!)
• ... i.e., industries with
explicit
formal
formal
limited # of
informal
(database
(typically
stakeholders, small
(paper,
or
data
production volumes,
video,
KBS*)
mining)
not consumer products
audio recording)
For most consumer products, this type of PLM =PDM
*KBS: knowledge-based system
Life-cycle knowledge flows
collection &
preparation by
•designer
•expert
•ICT
part manufacturing
product assembly
store
packaging
distribution
store
designer
other stakeholders
retail
use
paper or informal
explicit computer storage
formal explicit computer storage
PLM system
store
knowledge flow
collection &
preparation by
•stakeholder
•expert
•ICT
service
repair
end-of-life
Examples of lifecycle knowledge flows
• Designer to part manufacturing, no storage:
Designer explains details of technical drawing to the mould
maker over the telephone
• Designer to part manufacturing, storage on paper prepared by
designer (explicit informal):
Technical drawing
• Designer to part manufacturing, storage in computer by
designer prepared by ICT (formalized):
CAD model for NC milling
• Designer to user, storage on paper prepared by experts
(explicit informal):
User manual
• Designer to recycler, collection & preparation by
designer/manufacturer, storage on product (text/graphics)
(explicit informal)
Material codes on products
Examples of lifecycle knowledge flows
• Designer to user or repairperson,
storage in computer by experts (formalized):
Knowledge-based car diagnostics system
(http://www.metacog.com/example2.htm)
Examples of lifecycle knowledge flows
• Part manufacturing to
designer, no storage:
Mould maker calls designer to
report a tight tolerance on the
drawing that cannot be realized
• Part manufacturing to designer,
collection & preparation by
experts, storage on paper
(explicit informal):
Handbook with dimensioning
guidelines for various
manufacturing processes
• Part manufacturing to designer,
collection & preparation by experts,
storage on computer (formalized):
DFM software
(dfmpro.geometricglobal.com)
Examples of lifecycle knowledge flows
• User to designer, collection & preparation by user, storage on
computer (explicit informal):
User posts a product review to a website
• Designer to designer, collection & preparation by designer,
storage on computer (explicit informal):
Design rationale capture software (process-based approach)
• Designer to designer, collection & preparation by expert,
storage on computer (formalized):
Design rationale capture software (feature-based approach)
 Designer: Pipes A and B must be connected at an angle
 System: You need a knee pipe to connect them. Specify angle.
 Designer: angle = 45º
 System connects pipes in CAD system with 45º knee pipe
and records as rationale: A and B had to be connected at a 45º angle
Examples of lifecycle knowledge flows
• Any stakeholder to designer, collection by ICT, preparation by
experts, storage in computer (formalized)
closed-loop product lifecycle management based on productembedded information devices (Kiritsis, 2009)
The holy grail of lifecycle knowledge management?
• Any stakeholder to designer, collection by ICT, preparation by
experts, storage in computer (formalized)
closed-loop product lifecycle management based on productembedded information devices (Kiritsis, 2009)
We can go further...
• Any stakeholder to designer, collection and preparation by ICT,
storage in computer (formalized)
closed-loop product lifecycle management based on productembedded information devices and data mining of collected
information
• Any stakeholder (including designer) to any stakeholder, collection & preparation by ICT, storage in computer (formalized)
Q (part): What will be the future role of IKM in (sustainable) design engineering in
relation to ubiquitous computing?
Application opportunity for consumer products: controlled flow of supplies
(coffee pads, printer cartridges, batteries, etc.)
Other questions
• When does PLM become profitable (market / product batch
size)? Are there cheap solutions for small market sizes?
Other questions
• The (...) KBE tools seem to be very engineering/technical
based, and give direction to decisions in for example material,
dimensions etc. However, in product design, the user aspects
are important as well, not only the technical features. Are there
also knowledge based tools available which deal with features
like colour, user experience, use cues etc.
• Reading material: last part of 8.1
• Aesthetics-related search engines based on data mining:
– Princeton 3D shape search based on data mining:
(http://shape.cs.princeton.edu/search.html invisible link)
– Similarity-based search engines for images:
(http://www.searchenginejournal.com/7-similarity-based-image-search-engines/8265/ invisble link)
– Font recognition search engine:
(http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/ invisible link)
Other questions
• Would IKM tools enable product designers to regard sustainable
solutions more easily, or that a data base can be used to offer
the best sustainable options?
• Most computer programs supporting design for sustainability
and LCA are actually knowledge-based systems
Other questions
• The paper on KMS presents a very good overview on
information and knowledge management in product design,
also from an industrial design perspective. Would it be possible
to also show / discuss more such interesting tools during the
lecture which can be useful to the students?
Other questions
• What phases of the product life cycle are the hardest to collect
information from?
• Especially the use phase, in particular the details (interaction,
manipulation, user decisions, ...)
Other questions
• How do you decide as a company whether or not to publish
(share?) your research (and development?) data? A lot can be
gained from open-source information sharing, but the company
also loses its IP.
Depends on lots of things:
• Other closely linked IP that you can protect?
• Can you generate income from additional sources (e.g.,
advertisements)?
• Can you share it in an incomplete way, for instance only the
end results without sharing the details on which these were
based, or only the details?
• ....